Shakespeare 4 Kidz - S4K's Dream: Sheffield Review

Quelling large numbers of squawking kids, tanked up to the eyeballs with fizzy drinks and multi-coloured sweeties, is no mean feat; doing it by performing Shakespeare could seem sheer madness! But, fear not, Shakespeare 4 Kidz have children's entertainment down to a fine art, and it all works a treat.

titania and bottom.jpg Okay, Shakespeare's original Dream is outrageously camped up and linguistically dumbed down into a singing, dancing musical; yet, while the endless fun and frolics ensure a vibrant, enjoyable live theatre experience for Key Stage 2 and 3 children, Shakespeare’s story and characters come over crystal clear, creating a sound basis for more detailed exploration of the original (which is pretty silly, anyway!)

What with magic potions, muddles, misunderstandings, love, marriage and fairies, comedic possibilities, visual and verbal, are endless, and, operating along the lines of TV's Horrible Histories and Maid Marion and Her Merry Men, characters, now exaggerated caricatures, quickly win the children over. Meaty little Demetrius, poseur and narcissist, is beautifully portrayed by Harry Smith and long, lanky, lady-like Lysander by Luke Glover, their height difference providing great visual comedy, compounded by the short Hermia (Harriet Dobby) and tall Helena (Clare Reilly.)

Some of the protracted panto silliness could prove over-the-top for even the most fun-loving of adults, but it certainly elicits giggles from primary schoolers and keeps them engaged. They thoroughly enjoy the camp naughtiness of green Hobgoblin, Puck (Noel Andrew Harron) and the overblown shenanigans of a large Bottom (Sean Luckham). The Mechanicals are a great laugh, while the whole cast demonstrates fun and enjoyment as well as obvious hard work.

Though sprinklings of Shakespeare’s poetry and rhyming couplets feature from time to time, language and references are largely contemporary (Harry Potter, Strictly Come Dancing, ’Oh, chill out!’), so no-one gets lost. A two man band does a wonderfully jolly job of accompanying all the lively song and dance routines and creating sound effects, while costumes show clearly who’s from Athens and who’s from Fairyland (even when both Kings and Queens are the same actors), and a minimal set with Greek columns and prettily lit trees is just enough.

Fine entertainment, then - or was it all a dream?

What they say about us:
S4K HAMLET: "Too often in our busy lives we never seem to make time to thank people for the good things and yet we always seem to moan when things go wrong! However I would like to thank you for an outstanding performance of Hamlet at the Sands Centre in Carlisle. Two weeks ago we had the workshop which was great and really broke the play down for the children ( and some of the staff too) to understand. We have been busy studying Hamlet as well as Macbeth at school."

What they say about us:

S4K HAMLET: "Too often in our busy lives we never seem to make time to thank people for the good things and yet we always seem to moan when things go wrong! However I would like to thank you for an outstanding performance of Hamlet at the Sands Centre in Carlisle. Two weeks ago we had the workshop which was great and really broke the play down for the children ( and some of the staff too) to understand. We have been busy studying Hamlet as well as Macbeth at school."