★★★★½ A fast-paced romp in the spirit of Shakespeare, if not always to the letter.

Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
September 8, 2016

Peter Quince, the director of the mechanicals, opens Filter Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with a Prologue, a mile-a-minute stand-up routine tailored for the Brisbane audience. Played by Ed Gaughan, Quince thanks the cabin crew of Singapore Airlines and in the breaths between introducing the action, comments on Brexit, Clive Palmer and Pauline Hanson, promises a cameo appearance from a famous Australian actor in the role of Bottom and compares the A Midsummer Night’s Dream to The Matrix (though perhaps Inception would be a more apt reference).

Right from the start of Sean Holmes and Stef O’Driscoll’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the fourth wall lies in ruins – the audience is brought along for the whole ride – and Shakespeare’s play within a play kaleidoscopes into a play within a play within a play. This one isn’t for Shakespeare purists.

^{Harry Jardine as Oberon, photo © Atmosphere Photography}

The set resembles a crumbling public toilet (or underground train station?), paint peeling from concrete, with...