M.I.A review at the Enmore Theatre

MUSICAL THEATRE

THE LOVERS

Theatre Royal, November 5

Until November 16

Reviewed by JOHN SHAND

★★½

What a shame. Given A Midsummer Night’s Dream was Shakespeare’s first masterwork, you’d think that even when bastardised into pop musical, it had half a chance of being better than this. At the very least you might expect it to improve upon Bell Shakespeare’s premiere production of The Lovers three years ago.

Wrong on both counts.

It’s not that Laura Murphy’s musical is without merit (including using Shakespeare’s dialogue), but this revamped Shake & Stir production dilutes those strengths. As I said three years ago, the decision to expunge Titania and Bottom leaves only Oberon and perhaps Puck of Dream’s most enthralling characters because three of the four lovers are surely amo