One does not usually associate Benny Hill with Shakespeare, but not only does he appear, but does a very creditable job of playing Bottom. This is one of those cases where one has a chance of seeing a performer out of what seems to be their normal role, and in this case it works quite well. Appearing quite within what would seem a normal role, is Peter Wyngarde as Oberon. He is up to his usual standard of excellence, as is many of the performers in the play. The real limits of the performance are mainly those caused by being a live Telecast from 1964. If you can find this at all, it will probably be at your main library. Whether or not it is worthy of adding to a collection, it is certainly worth seeing at least once.
4 Reviews
Bask in Joan Kemp-Welch's "Midsummer Night's Dream"
eparis213 August 2022
This black and white version of Midsummer is unexpectedly magical, delicately balancing the poetry and the comedy. This fairy kingdom - ruled by a Titania and Oberon who are powerful, impulsive, not entirely kindly beings - seems genuinely otherworldly despite the inclusion of Mendelssohn's music and ballet dancers.
Though Patrick Allen's Theseus occasionally rants and rages, the play is well acted, with engaging young lovers and amiable, thickheaded mechanicals.
In his scenes with Titania, Benny Hill's Bottom is charmingly bashful.
However, the mechanicals are so much in earnest during the performance of Pyramus and Thisby that Theseus and the young lovers seem cruel in their responses.
Though Patrick Allen's Theseus occasionally rants and rages, the play is well acted, with engaging young lovers and amiable, thickheaded mechanicals.
In his scenes with Titania, Benny Hill's Bottom is charmingly bashful.
However, the mechanicals are so much in earnest during the performance of Pyramus and Thisby that Theseus and the young lovers seem cruel in their responses.
Benny Hill's High Point
W.B.3 September 2000
Benny Hill was, in my opinion, to British television what Jackie Gleason and Milton Berle were to American television. But there is one fundamental difference between Mr. Hill and the aforementioned American comics, and it could be summed up in one word: Shakespeare. Mr. Gleason often talked about doing a TV production of "Hamlet," in which he would get to spout off the famous "To be, or not to be" line. But Mr. Hill actually DID a TV production of a Shakespeare play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," in which he played Bottom. He more than held his own amongst all the fine players who surrounded him. It is only a shame that in the twenty-eight years left of his life, he never did anything that came close to such true artistry.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Coxer999 June 1999
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