This is a Hayman Theatre Company’s production at the Hayman Theatre, upstairs in Building 102. There is free parking in carpark B13 – multistorey – then follow the light trail from carpark.

Last Saturday was the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, in addition to being his 456^th birthday.

In this hour and a half edited version of the play, many of the main players have changed sex.

 The black set (designed by Amy Tamati) has layered rostra, with numerous white, gauze curtains draped from the ceiling. There were quite a few comical props provided by Sam Elliott and Jessica Nyanda Moyle for the ’ass scene’. Stage managed by Britany Manifis.

       The play opens with Theseus, Duke of Athens (Chris McIntosh), making love to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons (Alex Gerrans). For their wedding celebrations, Theseus has arranged four days of revelry.

     The Athenian nobleman, Egeus (Sally Davies), arrives with his daughter, Hermia (Jessica Nyanda Moyle – very good) who is in love with Lysander (Terence Smith), but Egeus insists that she marries Demetrius (Indiana Powell) who is besotted by her. When Egeus asks Theseus for his Royal support, Theseus warns Hermia that if she disobeys her father, she could be sent to a convent.

When Hermia’s friend, Helena (Anna Lindstedt), who was previously engaged to Demetrius, tells Demetrius of the eloping couple – she hopes he will love her again, but instead he rushes off to find them in the forest.

     Deep in the woods, a band of sprites, including the Fairy King, Oberon (Chris McIntosh), and his ‘Killer’ Queen, Titania (Alex Gerrans), are arguing about who should bless the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. Also in the forest are Quince (Annika Jane – good) and his artisans; they are rehearsing for their wedding entertainment – a madcap play. Quince’s inept group, including Snout (Caitlin McFeat), Flute (Kharla Fannon), Starveling (Lauren Beeton) and Snug (Eleanor Davidson) are struggling with even the most basic acting tasks.

       Oberon sends his dynamic servant, Puck (Daisy Coyle – outstanding performance), to obtain the juice of a magical flower, which, when dropped on the eyelids will make the sleeping person fall in love with the first thing seen upon waking. It is placed on the eyelids of Titania and Demetrius.

       Puck confuses the Athenians, instilling the liquid in the wrong eyes, resulting in the lovers becoming muddled. When Titania (Alex Gerrans – very good) awakes, the first creature she sees is Bottom (Maddie Mullins – great comedic delivery), whose head is transformed into that of an ass. Titania falls for this ass-headed weaver, feeding it unusual delicacies whilst giving him a ‘Bohemian’ treat.

   After the confusion, all the loves are reunited and the newlyweds watch Bottom and his fellows perform their bumbling ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ play. Puck and the Fairy (Dylan Dorotich) explain that the whole story has been ‘but a dream’.

The interesting and colourful costumes by Amy Tamati and Evangalyn Little (aided by Ellis Kinnear) covered a large range including soldiers, kings and an asses head – a novel, floral version.

Sound designer, Ben Collins, who has tackled major Heath Ledger productions, gave us powerful music, blended with well-known top hits from the 80s. The sound was operated by Brittany Manifis.

Lighting designer Karen Cook created some clever effects with the older style lamps. The lighting was operated by Chelsea Gibson.

Director Philip Miolin, with his assistant Olivia Dugandzic, have accepted a massive challenge by taking one of Shakespeare’s most loved plays and turning it on its head. For someone like myself who has seen this play numerous times, I found it refreshing, but no doubt the newcomers will have been confused, and the true, traditional classic lovers perhaps even upset.

The actors’ performances were very varied. There were a few stunning performances, but one or two actors who have proved themselves in the past, struggled with this new genre – or even the standard Shakespearean delivery. However, thanks to the director, the overall result was clever, fun and will certainly have made the students think laterally, on how to involve the audience and the auditorium.

This 80-minute (not surprisingly) play is being presented by the Theatre Arts Major Students at the Hayman Theatre Upstairs, Building 102, Curtin University, Bentley.

Performances commence nightly at 7.00 pm until Saturday 10^th October.

Follow the tea light trail from the free carpark, number B13 to the theatre.

Alistair Kennedy’s set is a high-class restaurant, built on a parquet floor revolve. The walls are stretched muslin, lit with blue light – thus allowing the action behind, to be seen on occasions. The scenery being built by Alistair Kennedy, George Ashforth, Reef Jennings and Georgia Lewis. To one side sits a musician (Eleanor Davidson) playing a flute. On the other side of the stage is the dining room in Louis’s home.

       In a restaurant, a nerdy, pedantic author, Louis (Kane Parker) is trying to broach the topic of marriage with his girlfriend, Claire (Lauren Beeton); however, the enthusiastic waiter (Jeremy Bunny) is determined to explain the ‘specials of the day’ to the couple. Louis has no culinary knowledge and relies on Claire to help him choose his food. It becomes obvious that Louis has not had anything published since he was at school, so he has now become a pathetic theatre reviewer.

      Later that night, back at home, Louis’s father (Alex Gerrans) is exasperated by his loser-of-a-son using up valuable space and oxygen in the house, and so evicts him. Tearfully, Louis’s Mum (Kayla MacGillivray) presses a box of his belongings into her son’s arms before sending him forth.

     Desperate and unemployed, Louis goes to see a major agent and publisher, Dan Kurtz (Tristan McInnes). Bumptious, Dan relies 100% on his personal assistant, Carol (Kharla Fannon) to run his office.

     After a tragic accident, it is decades before we catch up with Louis again. We find him shopping for flowers at Mathilde’s Florist Shop. He waits as Mathilde (Caitlin McFeat) serves a customer, a very proud mother (Ashleigh Ryan) looking for the best.

      What will happen to this major failure in life? Will he ever find the perfection he seeks?

Karen Cook’s lighting design (operated by Mai Han), along with Ben Wehrheim’s sound effects (mentored by Ben Collins) brought quite a few smiles to the audience in the restaurant scene. The impressive autumn effect was the work of Phoenix Hudson and Terence Smith, supervised by stage manager Jen Scullion. The numerous props (Shannen Santos) and well thought-out costumes (Alina Sulkowski) added greatly to the atmosphere of the play.

The actors were directed by lecturer, Phil Miolin with movement choreographed by Teresa Izzard; the action flowed at a wonderful pace. The script, which was aimed at mocking the way theatre productions are chosen and how they are produced, gave the actors a chance to do asides to the audience, and subtly ham up some situations. This dry humour was very well presented, bringing numerous belly laughs.

As well as mocking reviewers, the script contained an absolutely gross but hysterical optometrist’s nightmare – so I felt quite at home.

The standard of acting was first class, not a single weak link. Special performance mention of the pathetic Louis (Kane), who was physically abused throughout the play and his partner Claire (Lauren). The unrelenting waiter (Jeremy) and Dan (Tristan) who gave the most hyper performance of the year – tremendous.

This is a most original play in so many aspects, although a brief story thread had an odd similarity to the ending of Melissa Cantwell’s ‘The Song was Wrong’. Very well written, with some weird characters.

Treat yourself to a low priced ticket, and have 80 minutes of raucous fun. Certainly worth seeing.