EDFRINGE REVIEW: Knight's Dream (Muchadoaboutmusicals)

Knight’s Dream – ★★★☆☆ – Promising

Muchadoaboutmusicals
17-22 Aug
Review by Rebecca Mahar
 
Inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Muchadoaboutmusicals present the new musical Knight’s Dream, set in an almost-five-star rated bar where a night out takes an unexpected turn.

The cast of Knight's Dream, Liverpool preview show. Pic: Muchadoaboutmusicals.

Knight’s Dream, written and directed by Constance Evans with choreography by Erin Bruda, makes clear immediately what the focus of its story will be: the opening number “Love Drug,” describes a substance that “makes your pulse increase, your eyes dilate, the first person you see is your soulmate.” A riff on King of the Fairies Oberon’s use of the flower love-in-idleness in MSND to make both the young lovers and his own Queen Titania fall in love where they otherwise wouldn’t have, Love Drug now becomes something more clearly sinister: the active ingredient in a spiked cocktail called Oberon’s Sneer.
 
Oscar Pendragon (Tom Foley), owner of the bar, and his long-suffering fiancée Tulisa (Hedda Nordahl-Hagen) are the Oberon and Titania analogues of the show, with Carmen (Penelope Heydt), Hailee (Amy Bossom), Luka (Daniel Rossiter), and Theo (Max Willmott) as the translated Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius, respectively. For those familiar with the source material, the basic premise is as expected: both Luka and Theo are infatuated with Hailee, who is going out with Luka, and Carmen pines after Theo, who shows no interest in her. 

Charlotte Teeples as Bartender with the cast of Knight's Dream, Liverpool preview show. Pic: Muchadoaboutmusicals.
 
Where things take a turn, however, is when Oscar slips the discontented Tulisa a measure of Love Drug to keep her in his thrall, aided by the (Puck stand in) Bartender. The Bartender (Charlotte Teeples), meanwhile, despite an early good deed of keeping “Pervy Paul” (also Foley) and his sidekick Tim (Ryan Addyman) away from the quartet of young people, offers Carmen Oberon’s Sneer to give to Theo— and of course, Luka ends of drinking some as well, leading to both of them clinging on to Carmen and leaving Hailee in the cold. 
 
The storyline involving Tulisa and Oscar is by far the darkest and most serious, with it becoming clear that this spiking incident is the latest in a long history of abusive behaviour in a profoundly unhealthy relationship, and the show tackles Tulisa’s decision to leave with care. On the side of the lovers, however, Knight’s Dream does far less to adapt the story to address the modern issue of drink spiking. Although all does not end happily ever after as in MSND, there’s no real resolution or consequences for anyone. A few lines blame Carmen for everything, Oscar carries on as the twenty-fifth richest person in the country, and no one seems to care about the “morally neutral” Bartender’s role in all of it.

Daniel Rossier as Luka and Amy Bossom as Hailee, Liverpool preview show. Pic: Muchadoaboutmusicals.

Musically the show is serviceable if a bit underwhelming: songs come at expected and appropriate places and are well performed, though at times too low for some of the cast’s voices. A highlight is the love duet between Luka and Hailee, though Rossiter’s questionable technique of wrapping his hand around the windscreen of the microphone can make him more difficult to understand. Heydt brings the house down with “More Like Hailee,” in which Carmen pours out her insecurities, a skilful translation by Evan’s of Helena’s early monologue bemoaning her supposed inferiority to Hermia.
 
Knight’s Dream is an ambitious project, with a core of values behind it that are clear in their intentions, even if they encounter some turbulence in the execution. A commendable effort by a young company, this is a show full of potential for further development.
 
Running time: One hour with no interval
Venue: Lower Theatre at theSpace @ Niddry St (Venue 9), Niddry St EH1 1TH
17-22 August 2026 
Time: 8:50pm
Tickets: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/knight-s-dream

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