Melbourne Reviews

The performance of Shakespeare in the park has become a summer tradition in Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens.

Puck and his fellow fairies from Midsummer Night’s Dream have often cast their magic over audiences as bewitching hour falls over rare and stately trees – but, this time, the magic is delivered by more down-to-earth, human hands.

“The Mechanicals” is how Puck rather rudely refers to the bunch of amateur Athenian actors who hope to have their play chosen as entertainment for the forthcoming ‘royal wedding’ between mythical regents Theseus and Hyppolyta. In modern parlance The Mechanicals are what we might call ‘tradies’: a carpenter, a weaver, tailor, joiner, bellows mender and tinker.

In director Glen Elston’s modern variant, A Midsummer Mechanical's Dream, the self-appointed lead thespian, Peter Quince (the carpenter) doesn’t instantly get to perform his play of choice, and the other five persuade him to try out some other options, supposedly written by Snug (the joiner)’s ‘Uncle Bill’.

Even in this slightly complex set-up the audience has been roped into a bit of pantomime participation, and the stage is set, literally, for a night of romping chaos.

First play suggestion is [loosely based on] Macbeth, which goes well until Peter Quince as Lady Macbeth is unhappy with being killed off, and Banquo refuses to die.

Countless more Shakespeare classics are given the Mechanicals’ treatment, including an overview of nearly all the Henry and Richard historical plays summarized in just a few minutes, an interpretive dance version of Romeo and Juliet (led by Tom Snout, the twinkle-toed Tinker), an excellent hip-hop version of King Lear, Hamlet in the kitchen, Othello as opera, and Anthony and Cleopatra: The Musical, which has legs for future development if anyone is brave enough.

The pace picks up as the play progresses, so the end when it comes seems a bit rushed.

It’s a super-fun night out (only on for a couple more nights), made all the more joyful as an excuse to wander around the gardens beforehand, then cosy up with a blanket, garden chair and BYO picnic. You can also buy food and drink there, and there are blankets and chairs for hire.