Midsummer! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Twenty-six characters. Nine actors. One unforgettable dream. Step into a bold new vision of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Fresh, fast and fiercely funny, experience the UK premiere of this iconic Play On Shakespeare modern verse translation. Brought to life by a cast and team of Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama artists, this is not your mother’s midsummer. Bursting with magic, mischief and queer transformative joy, don’t miss the next generation in the making.”

I will admit something before we begin: I am not normally the biggest fan of Shakespeare. So when I tell you that MIDSUMMER! had me laughing, completely invested and genuinely enjoying the language, that is the strongest endorsement I can give it. Adapted by Tony Award winner Jeffrey Whitty, this modern verse translation keeps the bones of Shakespeare’s story while giving it a freshness that makes the whole thing feel surprisingly accessible. The result is fast, funny, visually inventive and full of energy.

Kim Weild's direction is great. What I particularly loved is the immersive environment created around the audience. Rather than simply presenting Shakespeare to us from a stage, the production makes us feel as though we have been dropped into the world alongside the characters. It adds so much to the experience. There is a real sense of playfulness to the staging, and the direction understands that A Midsummer Night’s Dream should feel slightly unruly. This is a world where things are constantly going wrong, identities are shifting, and nobody quite has control of what is happening. Weild embraces that chaos without allowing it to become messy. The result is a production that feels incredibly alive.

Julie Adams's lighting is incredible. The production has layers upon layers, and the lighting is a huge part of what makes it such a visual feast. Rather than simply illuminating the actors, it helps create different worlds and moods within the same space. The design's richness complements the immersive staging beautifully. It's the kind of lighting design where you can watch the show again and notice something you missed the first time.

Rachel Laurence's sound is mostly very good. The music is generally strong, allowing us to hear the performers clearly while still contributing to the production's atmosphere. That balance is particularly important here because the show is so energetic. A lot is happening visually and sonically, but the sound design never overwhelms the performers. The levels are well judged, and the sound contributes to the sense that we have stepped into a completely different theatrical world.

Zhuang Kang's set is lovely and simple. And that simplicity works brilliantly. Rather than building an enormous forest or trying to recreate every location literally, the production creates enough of a framework for our imaginations to do the rest. It keeps the story centre stage while still giving the performers a wonderfully flexible environment to play in. I particularly enjoyed the cloths hanging throughout the space. They look beautiful, feel organic within the environment and become another layer of the visual storytelling. They add texture without cluttering the stage. It is a lovely example of how a simple design can be incredibly effective when it understands the world of the play.

Bri Johnson's costume design is really nice. There are some fun takes on familiar Shakespearean ideas. Still, they never feel as though the production is simply dressing everybody up in modern clothes for the sake of saying, look, it’s Shakespeare but modern! Instead, the costumes offer a clever familiarity alongside something fresh and contemporary. The variations between characters help establish who we are looking at while also fitting beautifully into the production's wider visual language.

Jeffrey Whitty's adaptation is brilliant. The important thing is that it doesn’t feel like Shakespeare has been stripped away completely. The core moments, relationships and comic situations are still there, but the modern verse gives the language a freshness that makes it considerably easier to engage with. It feels familiar yet new. And that is not an easy balance to strike. There are moments where you recognise exactly what is happening from Shakespeare’s original, but the way it has been phrased makes it feel as though you are hearing it for the first time. The result is a production that proves Shakespeare doesn’t necessarily need to be made less Shakespearean to be accessible. Sometimes he needs someone to find a different way to let us hear him.

There may only be a song at the beginning and the end, but the music by Rachel Laurence is genuinely lovely. The songs are catchy without feeling like they have been shoved into the production to make it a musical. They bookend the experience nicely and add another layer to the show’s modern identity. And, much like the adaptation itself, they feel familiar yet new and exciting. I wouldn’t have complained if there had been more.

The performances from the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama ensemble are excellent. Nine actors take on twenty-six characters, and while not every performer is required to multi-role, those who do make the switches look remarkably effortless. Every performer gets their opportunity to shine. Every performer gets laughs. And, crucially, every performer feels like they understand the world they are creating together.

A particular standout for me was the pairing of Celia Evans as Hermia and Suri Noelle as Helena. Both give wonderfully rounded performances, balancing comedy and emotion with real precision. Their relationship becomes one of the production's emotional anchors, and both performers demonstrate an impressive ability to move between the ridiculousness of the comedy and the vulnerability underneath it. There is also something incredibly exciting about watching a company this young work with such confidence. If this is an indication of what the next generation of theatre artists are bringing to the industry, the future is in very safe hands.

MIDSUMMER! is a brilliant example of how you can take a classic and make it feel exciting without losing what made it a classic in the first place. The modern verse is accessible without feeling dumbed down. For somebody who normally isn’t the first person in the queue for Shakespeare, I found myself completely invested in this production. It is funny, energetic, visually gorgeous and surprisingly moving.

MIDSUMMER! is the UK premiere of Jeffrey Whitty’s modern-verse adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It has sadly now closed at the Fringe, but keep an eye out as this was a fantastic production with an astonishingly brilliant cast.

🎟️ Book tickets for MIDSUMMER! at Edinburgh Fringe