Jonathan Broadbent Gets Fantastic Reviews

Jonathan Broadbent is currently starring in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' at the Lyric Hammersmith. Don't let the title fool you however, this is no regular Shakespeare play. Jonathan plays a super hero type character called Oberon and the Metro says 'you risk a sausage roll in the face' just by watching it.

Now that you're good and confused, read the review and you'll discover that the show is going down a storm with the critics;

“One of the pleasures of theatre is its capacity to surprise, and Filter is a company that delights in dumbfounding audiences.

This condensed interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream is joyously unorthodox.

It feels less like an account of Shakespeare's comedy than a meandering, blundering gig.

An irreverent introduction by Ed Gaughan's Peter Quince sets the tone. He likens the play to The Matrix. As Sean Holmes's production unfolds, that seems apt. It's a feast of simulated reality and hyperactive violence.

The text is followed some of the time. Indeed, the verse is savoured. But the interruptions are numerous: there are moments of juicily original humour, jolts of pantomime anarchy, and plenty of Filter's trademark sound effects to conjure up the wonderland of the Forest of Arden.

The performances are whole-hearted. The two that stand out are Jonathan Broadbent's Oberon, here an asthmatic and occasionally petulant superhero, and Ferdy Roberts's Puck, a roadie with a tool belt who bursts through the scenery like a raging bull.

In all its deranged freshness, this is perhaps best characterised as Shakespeare for people who think they don't like it. If you enjoy your Renaissance drama with an enormous side order of puerility, this is for you.

I'd say it was as mad as a box of frogs, except that I've never seen frogs splurging one another with blue paint and playing Pong. As Morpheus said, "No one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." “

Read the original article from the London Evening Standard.

Jonathan Broadbent has been voice over artist at Another Tongue voice agency for 10 years.