Dream, RSC review ★★★★★

For its latest production Dream, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) invites a home audience watching from anywhere in the world to venture into a virtual forest, where a cast of seven actors-come-avatars are bringing to life the world of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Dream is a collaboration between Manchester International Festival (MIF), Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) and Philharmonia Orchestra. Directed by Robin McNicholas of experiential art collective MLS, the production promises audio by Nick Cave, an opportunity to interact with the performers (who are attached to motion sensors) and a chance to directly influence the narrative. In reality, the presence of these big pulls is questionable; Cave lends the production a spoken narration rather than his more sought-after music, while the opportunity to engage with the action is limited to brief moments of clicking and dragging fireflies through the forest. But for a repertory theatre company of the RSC’s stature to lead the way in bringing to life a show using such experimental technology is exciting.

Dream, 2021/Marshmallow Laser Feast/Paul Mumford

Dream was originally scheduled to run as a live immersive production this spring at the RSC’s home in Stratford-upon-Avon. While reimaging such a technical production for the virtual sphere has been a huge undertaking for the company, it’s not the first time artistic director Gregory Doran and his team have experimented with virtual reality. In 2016, the company’s hi-tech production of The Tempest saw actor Mark Quartley attached to motion sensors in order to conjure a vision of the sprite Ariel hovering phantom-like above the stage – to breathtaking effect.

While Doran could not have foreseen that in five years' time, such technology would prove a wholly necessary way of bridging the gap between auditorium and an audience trapped at home because of a global pandemic, the success of The Tempest most surely gave the company the confidence to draw on such technology again.

Dream, 2021/Marshmallow Laser Feast/Paul Mumford

Crucially, what we’re presented with here is the world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, rather than the play itself. Snippets of Shakespearean script edited by Pippa Hill are littered throughout, but the narrative of the 50-minute production is thin. In lieu of a solid plot is the chance to explore the forest through the eyes of its fairies, led by EM Williams’ Puck, who becomes a faceless, 3D avatar on entering the woodland.

Cobweb (Maggie Bain), Moth (Durassie Kiangangu), Peaseblossom (Jamie Morgan) and Mustardseed (Loren O'Dair) all make an appearance too, but blink – or succumb to a computer malfunction – and you might miss them; this is a production which relies on fast broadband. After struggling through a couple of frozen frames, you may wonder whether the camera panning out of the forest to reveal the impressive technology behind the production is a momentary glitch, but in fact, it’s an intentional and fascinating insight into what’s really happening in the seven-metre square studio space in Portsmouth’s Guildhall, where Puck is being carried by a team attached to motion sensors, while 48 motion cameras are recording their movements.

Photo: Stuart Martin

The forest conjured up here is magical, lent a dream-like quality by its moonlit trees, leaf-swept floor and darting fireflies. The Philharmonia Orchestra’s score, pre-recorded before lockdown, adds to this, coming into its own in a high-octane storm sequence.

At present, Dream feels a little unfinished. But this brave and groundbreaking project – born out of necessity, and a bid to keep theatre alive during the Covid-19 pandemic – opens a window onto a future in which hi-tech experiences could run alongside live theatre, taking audiences deeper into the worlds behind the plays.

Dream is running until Saturday 20 March 2021. The production is available to stream via dream.online and is accessible from mobile, desktop or tablet. Click here to book tickets.