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Set up around the concept of a night out, the widely acclaimed PurpleCoat Production’s rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a dizzy, drunken take on the classic—complete with scary club dancing and plenty of sex jokes.

The fabled and boozy love triangle was refreshing in that the characters were portrayed quite innovatively: Helena was a sheepish nerd, Demetrius irritatingly arrogant, the slightly nauseating Lysander donned a toupee and too little clothes, and Hermia was superficial yet endearing, singing her heart out into a pink hairbrush. The greatest character depictions however had to be in Oberon and Puck, who were brilliantly garbed in full ‘Batman and Robin’ gear—the former of whom was in the habit of whipping silly-string out of his neon bum-bag to use on unsuspecting club goers.

Where the production did hugely succeed was in making itself just kind of messy and gross—like your mate on the floor in the bar’s toilet—which arguably works in sight of the general “night out” theme. For all its efforts, though, it just never quite reached quite what it was trying to. What with the unavoidable comparison of Gavin Quinn’s phenomenal adaptation of the same play, running just weeks prior at the Abbey, perhaps it’s the timing that can ultimately be blamed. Regardless, while at times amusing, and less often properly hilarious, the production in general was simply trying too hard.

See Jamie Tuohy’s review of PurpleCoat’s production of Hamlet, also running in Smock Alley, here.