The fairies, with their grubby faces and bovver boots, look and behave in part like naughty children who have raided the dressing-up box and in part like escapees from the local lunatic asylum. Demetrius and Lysander are Edwardian gents, the kind that will be the first to volunteer to be slaughtered when leading their chaps over the top of trenches. But for now, the garden is sunlit and, as ever at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, this play weaves its own summer magic as dusk turns to night and the moths take wing.
As is so often the case at this venue, the production is solid without being inspired. However, the setting and atmosphere lift it and there is plenty to enjoy, particularly in the Mechanicals' final rendition of Pyramus and Thisbe, a delightful mix of theatrical hissy-fits and morris-dancing.
Dream is, of course, about transformations of the mind and soul, but Ian Talbot's production is also a journey to maturity for its young lovers, who move from children playing at being grown-up to adulthood in a single night. When they are finally awoken by the hunting party, they have the embarrassment of two pairs of Adam and Eves who have suddenly realised that they are naked. There is, perhaps, a suggestion that maturity comes at a price: loss of innocence.
There are other nice things, too, particularly in Titania and Oberon's feisty relationship and the sense that Oberon very much regrets what he has done to his lover in making her fall in love with Bottom (played with comic dignity by Russ Abbot). On a cold, cheerless night, the production's deficiencies would undoubtedly be more apparent; on a balmy evening, when the park is packed with families, it serves very nicely.
· In rep until September 8. Box office: 08700 601811.
