When I was young, our most exciting school outing was a Geography field trip to the Fens to look at the intensive agriculture in the area and the effects of peat shrinkage. Things seem to have changed and you can't help but feel pangs of envy for the gaggle of pubescent students who were taken to see The Kaos Dream. No doubt they were expecting to learn more about A Midsummer Night's Dream, from which this play is adapted, for the sake of their GCSEs. They seemed surprised, and pleasantly so, to be presented with a Hermia pole-dancing in her underwear, a drag-queen Titania and a variety of burlesque performers with dildos.

Kaos are known for the eccentricity of their productions which like much original drama can be hit-and-miss affairs. By taking the most bawdy interpretation of some fairly innocuous lines and adding their trademark physical theatre, they have turned Shakespeare's play, traditionally enjoyed with a picnic on a fine Summer's evening, into a piece of theatre more sexed-up than the Government's dodgy dossier.

However, I'm sure you are more interested in the work's dramatic qualities. Although all the dialogue is taken from the original, the plot has been hacked about and condensed which, whilst distilling the warped sexuality of the storyline has left it stripped (if you'll excuse the pun) of all subtlety. The end result is not so much a two-hanky romance as a whole-roll-of-Kleenex sex comedy.

The grand finale, or should I say 'climax', is the Pyramus and Thisbe play within a play, where Bottom's head is turned not into an ass but an arse (you see what they did there), with much flatulent humour. The cast remove most of their remaining clothing, the men retaining leather posing pouches and the ladies down to their nipple tassels, as Thisbe's wall sportingly provides a glory-hole for her, and our, entertainment. The remaining loose ends of the plot are quickly dealt with, leaving the audience exhausted, but satisfied.

This play was enjoyable for many reasons, none of them particularly noble, though for the teenagers it probably won't have improved either their understanding of A Midsummer Night's Dream or their eyesight. It will, however, have given them a theatre experience they will always cherish, which surely can't be a bad thing?

Sadly, Kaos have lost their funding in the Arts Council purge and will no longer tour. The world of theatre will be a much less exciting place without them.


The Kaos Dream plays at the Lakeside Arts Centre from 21st to 23rd February 2008.

A presumably more conventional version of A Midsummer Night's Dream will play at the Lace Market Theatre from 5th to 8th March 2008.
 

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