"A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Opera North.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Who'd have thought 400 years after his death we would still be enjoying the great poetry that Shakespeare wrote for the stage. This is one of his best comedies but in today's terms this could be seen as a fore runner of the "rom-com", After all, this is a love story for three of the couples featured which ends well for all three.

I'm not going to precis the story as you should know the tale of Hermia and her love triangle and the mischievous fairy, Puck who, on orders from the fairy king Oberon, throws the fairy spanner in the works, but then gets it all sorted out just in time for the happy ending.

Mix in the music of Benjamin Britten and could this production get any better?

You certainly get your money's worth with this Opera North production as I left the theatre at around 10.15, over three hours after the production started, which includes two intervals.

The gentleman behind me said that there was nothing catchy in the music and there were no memorable arias. I do not agree with this because just having an orchestra playing live feet away from you and playing Britten's music is memorable enough for me. Live orchestras in the theatre may soon be a thing of the past, replaced by a backing track, and no one wants that, especially for productions like this or ballet.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is one of my Top Five Shakespearian works, and this production was a dream to watch, and this cast. along with the large, and young cast of fairies, was superb.

Anyone who is part of Opera North guarantees you a great vocal experience, in the same way as any dancer from the Northern Ballet are at the top of their class, so I don't need to tell you how good the vocals in this production are. If the performers weren't the best, they wouldn't be there.

James Laing is Oberon, King of the Fairies. The first thing you notice about James is his very distinctive voice, again the same person behind me asked his theatre buddy if he was playing a female version of Oberon due to his singing voice - the charlatan! James has a distinctive counter tenor voice that grabs your attention as soon as he opens his mouth. 

Daisy Brown is Tytania, Queen Of The Fairies. This Tytania is possibly one of the sexiest Fairy Queens that I've seen in any production, but also one of the most playful. Her scenes with Nick Bottom, as the ass, are saucy but full of fun.

Costumes for Oberon and Tytania look like something from a stylish Sci Fi show, as you can see in the photos.

Daniel Abelson is Puck, aka Robin Goodfellow steals practically every scene he is in. Brilliant comedy scenes every time he appears, especially when he is hurrying the young cast of fairies off stage with another round of breaking the fourth wall. This is a really physical role which shows off his flexibility and dance skills.

The four lovers are Siân Griffiths (Hermia), Peter Kirk (Lysander), Camilla Harris (Helena) and  James Newby (Demetrius). Theses characters shine a light on the wit of Shakespeare, and in this production the action with this quartet is set in the Swinging Sixties with the costumes reflecting Carnaby Street style. Ladies you also get to see Lysander and Demetrius wrestling in their underwear! Hermia and Helena also get to show off some saucy silky slips as well.

The Mechanicals, the acting group who perform for Shakespearian royalty, prior to the wedding, consist of Henry Waddington (Nick Bottom), Dean Robinson (Peter Quince), Nicholas Watts (Francis Flute), Frazer Scott (Snug), Colin Judson (Tom Snout) and Nicholas Butterfield (Robin Starveling). 

The wonderful thing about Shakespeare's plays is that they can be set in any era, and with this particular area of this play, the staging and costumes for The Mechanicals can be given free will for the Director to have fun with. Once more, this section comes across as different to any other that I've seen in the past and the costumes are simply superb, especially Tom Snout's "The Wall".

Molly Barker is Hippolyta, The Queen of The Amazons, and another incredible costume.  Andri Björn Róbertsson is Theseus, Duke of Athens, whose costume is just as stylish and eye catching.

The four fairies employed for serving Tytania are Kitty Moore (Peaseblossom), Dougie Sadgrove (Moth), Lucy Eatock (Mustardseed) and Jessie Thomas (Cobweb).

I mentioned the young fairy cast and the others are Willow Bell, Reggie Blood, Sienna Christou, Hope Day, Bethany Doy, Toby Dray, Olivia Dunning, Joseph Hall, Neil Hargreaves, Aurora Harris, Lars Hunter, Evie Marsden, Felicity Moore and Lyra Schofield. What a treat it must be for such a young group to sing and perform with such an incredible company as Opera North.

Conductor Garry Walker, headed up a wonderful sounding orchestra.

Director Martin Duncan and Revival Director Matthew Eberhardt.

Set Designer Johan Engels, has created a wonderful set with columns of what looks like perspex, meaning that you could see misty images of the characters behind them. In the air were giant clear balloons, almost in a crown formation. Apart from these main features, the rest was left to the performers. What brought the above features to life was a lovely lighting design by Bruno Poet with Revival Lighting by Richard Moore.

Costume Designer is Ashley Martin-Davis. I loved the costumes for this show, especially the Sixties suits for Lysander and Demetrius and Theseus' flashy threads. The silver Sci Fi costumes for Oberon and Tytania were also pretty groovy also. Puck's satiny shorts and "hairy" tights were perfect for this playful pixie, and the simple fairy costumes for the young group of fairies made them all look as angelic as their singing. Costume wise this has to be one of the best designs for "Dream".

Completing the whole image for this cast are the wonderful wigs and marvellous make up, supervised by Jo Charlton-Wright.

Choreographed by Ben Wright. It all added to the fun of this production.

"A Midsummer night's dream" was a one off performance, but Opera North are at the Theatre Royal all week with "Ruddigore" by Gilbert & Sullivan on Thursday 21 November, and Mozart's "The Magic Flute" on Friday 22 November and Saturday 23 November.

Photo credits: Richard H Smith.

 "Occult Odyssey" by Niche Artefact.

Revolucion de Cuba, Nottingham.

"Niche" definition - "a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service" or "products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population".

"Artefact" definition - "an object made by a human being, typically one of cultural or historical interest".

Niche Artefact are a creative collective, based in Nottingham. They curate bespoke art shows at different venues across Nottingham - featuring creatives of every medium. The previous show being staged at Nottingham's Central library, this one staged at Revolucion de Cuba in the middle of town. Niche Artefact are inclusive to the LGBTQIA+ community and all allies.

I attended the last show and loved the entertainment, as well as the art work unveiled on the evening by local Nottingham artists. Tonight was just as diverse and special as the previous one.

The evening was hosted by the founder of Niche Artefact, Robin da Silva, Master of Ceremonies for the evening was David.

The evening started off with the whole cast kicking off the darkly themed evening with a song called "The Ballad Of The Witches Road" from "Agatha All Along", and from on then it got deliciously darker.

Milady Burlesque had travelled all the way from Germany for her appearance tonight. I was bowled over with Milady's aerial skills at the last Niche Artefact show, and this performance, with a Celtic feel, again highlighted the wonderful flexibility this lady has, combining athleticism with burlesque glamour. 

Not only does Milady Burlesque possess the above skills, but she has a gorgeous voice as well, which she also showcased in a couple of beautifully dramatic vocal performances on "Be Italian", from the film "Nine", and a powerful Disturbed influenced version of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence".

Niche Artefacts describe Serena Eadon as a "sensational live vocalist", and I would never dispute this description because that is exactly what serena is. She is sensational and a range that is as wide as Nottingham itself. Serena's first solo of the evening was a little French number called "Voila", and then the gorgeous "Moonfall", from the musical "The Mystery Of Edwin Drood". but the highlight of Serena's set for me was the duet with performance artist Ro De La Monja of "Phantom Of the Opera"; well, talk about drama!

Ro de La Monja's voice just seems to have got bigger and better since I last saw him a couple of months ago, and believe me it was good then. He soared in the opening song, "The Ballad Of The Witches Road", and his duet with Serena just made me love his voice even more.

Another fantastic artist I was pleased to see back was Priscilla Shona Krakow (PSK), who started off lip synching to one of my favourite Cher songs "Dark Lady". As part of the trio "The Cultettes", PSK joined forces with Dani Magic and Carrie On Love for a rendition of Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted To You". This was accompanied by a brilliant black and white film showing this naughty trio in action.

Carrie On Love made her Niche Artefact debut this evening, as well as her solo singing debut for Niche.

Dani Magic became the eighth wonder by treating us to Fleetwood Mac's "Seven Wonders".

This was truly a phenomenal evening of drag, burlesque and Queer entertainment. I thought my first taste of Niche was brilliant, but this evening took my Niche experience up another notch!

In between the live entertainment we also got to see the selection of Queer Art by some incredibly talented artists, who also explained the stories and/or inspiration behind their work. I absolutely loved the art work of The Sanderson Sisters, especially being a massive Bette Midler fan. For those not in the know, The Sanderson Sisters were the trio of witches in the film "Hocus Pocus", Winnifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mary (Kathy Najimy).

There were also poetry readings of pieces composed by their creators.

As you can tell, this is a real cultural evening, and something that is not commonplace in Nottingham, and especially from the Queer quarter. If they were commonplace, evenings like these would probably not be as special as they are. A happy, positive and completely inclusive evening of wonderfully talented people.

I really must also mention the lovely Zoe Ellis who kept the performance areas clear of props, among several of her duties on the night.

Segueing everything together was DJ Wilson Shaw, playing some wonderful tunes and ended the night with some boogieliscious beats.

Talking of which, the next Niche Artefact evening is the second week in February, when the theme of the evening is Studio 54, which is right up my boogie boulevard.

And if you can't wait until then, check out the Niche Artefact podcasts.

Thank you Robin and the rest of your fantastically talented and hard working group for another brilliant evening.

 "Notes From A Small Island" by Bill Bryson, adapted by Tim Whitnall.

Riverside Drama Company.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Recently there seems to be quite a few plays that are being performed locally that I've either not heard of or ever seen, and this is another one. This is great for me, and anyone else who likes discovering theatrical gems, such as this play.

It's 1973, Bill, a young man from Des Moines, Iowa, has arrived on the ferry at Dover. He intends to conquer the whole of the island, like Caesar attempted before him.

But Caesar didn't have to deal with counterpanes, kippers, Cadbury's Curly Wurlies, or Mrs Smegma the landlady's eccentric house rules. As Bill travels the length and breadth of Britain, through villages with names like Titsey and Little Dribbling, something strange starts to happen. Can it be true? Is he really starting to feel at home?

Travelling across time and space from the seventies to the nineties, this is a whistle stop tour of British culture through the eyes of an American who begins to ask why does a nation that produced Marmite, Gardeners Question Time and people who say "Ooh lovely" when they have a cup of tea, hold such a special place in his American heart?

Act One is his initial visit to the UK with Act Two revisiting the visit for his writing of the book, which is where this play is spawned from.

A dozen actors portray around eighty odd various characters with just the one constant in Bryson's role.

Jonathan Greaves, who looks remarkably like comedian Greg Davies, plays Bill Bryson. This is one hell of a role for Jonathan as he is on stage practically all of the time and also has the bulk of the script to recall, and he keeps the American accent throughout. Wonderfully funny and brilliantly entertaining. His story-telling is second to none and does it in such a way that you can't help but hang on to every word that Bryson has written. Jonathan is also the Assistant Director for this play.

Donna Osmond, Helen Newham, Lizzie Norris, Liz Turner, Moya Magee, John Sully, Jane Harris, John Hurley, Dave Round, Dave Wilson, James Haigh and Keith Salway complete the cast.

The whole cast are wonderfully versatile in the characters that they play, and there are some brilliant stand out performances.

Lizzie's wonderful Mrs Smegma with her rules regarding the two toilets, breakfast cards, counterpanes, coming in late (after 10pm) and water use is brilliantly observed and written, and Lizzie is an excellent character actor, and delivers the script with just the right amount of acidity.

Jane Harris's Cinema Usherette with the 3 pence snacks and 10 pence drinks (well it is 1973) announcements as if on a tedious loop is wonderfully monotonous.

John Hurley's Sir David Attenborough sections really did sound like Sir David, and it's not every day that you get to play God, now is it?

Dave Round corners the "nerd" characters perfectly, as well as the slightly perverse.

Dave Wilson's Rabbie Burns provided just one of the best accents of the night, and this production is a real accent fest, which I loved.

As I said, each actor play several roles and as Bryson, Brydon, Brysdon, Brylcreem (it was rare for the characters to get his name right, but they are British and Bryson is American), penned his observations about the various regions of England, Scotland and Wales, the regional accents were in abundance. The archetypal Geordie accent from Lizzie, John S, Jane and Dave R was wonderfully over the top. The Scottish accents were differentiated by the softer Edinburgh brogue and the more angry sounding Glasgow one, and the lovely sing-song Welsh accent. These plus the various other regional accents were well executed.

There's also  a band of singers who make a few appearances throughout ( I wonder if this is where "Family Guy" got the inspiration from with their acapella/barbershop group inserts). Donna, Liz, Jane, John H, Dave R and James made up the barbershop style group.

Directed by Celia Billau, this is a really fast paced production, the story telling is natural and the comedy is rapid fire. You can tell that Liz is a fan of Bryson and his book because that love for this novel shines throughout the production. Celia is also responsible for the backdrop projections which transport you around the country and also helps with moving the story on.

Set design is by Bob Baron. The only props permanently on stage were a garden bench and a table and chairs set. various other smaller props were brought on, and off stage, which kept everything simple and left everything uncluttered.

The lighting design, by Rob Osmond and Dave Martin, is simple but you need nothing more than simple lighting, so it works well. 

The Sound is by Keith Salway and Celia Billau, and the sound effects are almost like another cast member as there are so many and so well executed; the timing is perfect and really add to this production.

There are about as many costumes as there are characters, thanks to Janet Whyatt and Mina Holtom, but my favourite has to be that wonderful gold lame jacket.

This show is a perfect example of character acting, pace and timing, carried out by a group of very talented actors. It's very funny; funnier than I had expected it to be to be honest, but then again, I'd never really heard of Bill Bryson, or read his books, but I think Riverside may just have converted me, and I'll now be looking out for his books when perusing the charity shops!

"Notes From A Small Island" is at the Duchess Theatre until Saturday 16 November. Tickets though have nearly sold out, and after tonight, I can understand why.