21 Jul 2026
Deborah Heath is at Chiswell Green United Reformed Church for Breakaway Theatre’s take on the Bard’s comedy classic…
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a popular summer Shakespeare choice for a reason – it lends itself well to outside staging, replacing the need for creating a forest indoors. It also benefits from having a very well-known plot, making it an accessible choice for audiences.
This year, Breakaway performed their production in two venues – their old friend, The Inn On the Park in week one, and as a new venture, the beautiful gardens of the Chiswell Green United Reformed Church in week two. On entering the space, I could immediately see why – the grounds are well sized and peaceful with the newly built hall behind giving both a practical and attractive backdrop, particularly when the fairy lights were turned on. There were no cheeky dogs running into the space although at times, the cast had to manage with the interruption of the local parakeet population.
Breakaway chair, Elaine Hartless, explained that they were drawn to this new space partly because it is such an important hub for the Chiswell Green community.
Community is simply at the heart of everything Breakaway do – giving opportunities to local people to try something new and make connections. It is testament to their friendly ethos that the company attracted a massive cast from neighbouring towns, two of which joined purely on the strength of their last production ‘The Actress’.
Sue Sachon made her Breakaway directing debut – it is always great to see the work of a new creative, working with popular company regulars such as Graeme Shaw and David Martin. There were lots of new faces too and Sue did a great job of creating a strong team. The four lovers were particularly impressive in this regard, with Rebekka Sandwell’s frustrated Helena bouncing well off Melissa Carr’s sincere Hermia.
Tarik Abbas as Lysander and Nate Chatterley as Demetrius, who were a good double-act, delighted us all with their fight scene. However, due to its positioning, it did rather distract from the well-performed exchange between the two girls. Perhaps this was partly the challenge of performing in two different spaces.
Vocal projection is difficult in an outdoor space and I must commend Manjit Rostom (Starveling) for a consistently powerful delivery. Anne Hollis gave strong characterisation as Quince, Jo Micallef was a convincing Hipployta, and Roy Bookham’s Bottom was very popular with the audience. Sally Ripley’s energetic and eloquent performance of Puck throughout the play linked all the strands well.
Costumes had been well sourced although could have been elevated further by having a stronger link or theme. Perhaps using a common colour palette or defined historic period. Some were Victorian, yet Egeus wore a natty 1920s style golfing outfit. The Burgandy fairy capes were very well chosen and employed by the actors, instantly defining the characters. A little more cohesion here would have been great.
In an outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, very little is needed in the way of scenery and for this reason I would have liked to see the fabulous outside natural resources being employed more, particularly when the four lovers got lost in the forest. One option might have been to bring the actors through the audience, desperately trying to find their way, another would have been to use the surrounding trees on the perimeter. I daresay the director was holding back a little because of using two different spaces.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a great example of the benefits of community theatre. The small Breakaway community has deservedly grown, and I sincerely hope to see many of their new members staying for the next production. However, their community of supporters has also increased by staging the play in two venues.
I hope that Breakaway continue to bring delight next season, both in the Inn on the Park and in Chiswell Green. This was a truly heartwarming production and I look forward to seeing their next offering.
