MERRY Mechanicals Theatre Company’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was an ambitious open air event at Old Down Country Park, September 1-3, writes Tony Domaille.

The group was forced into a move from their original chosen location but the walled garden was ideal as a backdrop to the action.

Director Andrew Cullyer had carefully chosen and marked out the play space and it worked very well with the audience having really good sight lines.

All the production values were good but the lighting and sound were excellent.

Many congratulations to Ceri Dash for her original music which complimented the production really well.

There were some very good actors in this production, meeting the challenge of Shakespeare’s language i.e. English, but not as we know it!

Chris Holland, who played Egeus, showed how good actors make Shakespeare really accessible to modern day audiences with crisp, clear delivery born of a complete understanding of the text.

This fantasy tale of love found, love lost, fairies, magic and mayhem was very well portrayed by the whole cast.

It is not possible to mention everyone, but Cameron Hall as Lysander, Georgie Leonard as Hermia, Kofi Jomoa as Demetrius and Rebecca Haselhurst as Helena gave strong portrayals as four the young lovers.

There were also stand out performances from Sarah Cullyer as Titania the Fairy Queen and the exceptional Lizzie Lindsell as the mischievous Puck.

Their costumes were also the pick of a great mix.

I cannot easily express how impressed I am that new group Merry Mechanicals took this venture from scratch to the excellent evening we all enjoyed.

It was a remarkable achievement and I am sure they can now build on this success.

Andrew Cullyer’s ambition paid off and pleased an audience of more than eighty people on the first night.