Μύ 
It's always a shame to see good intentions evaporate within minutes. Yet that's exactly what happens with "The Children's Midsummer Night's Dream", directed by Christine Edzard, who certainly put Sands Films on the cinematic map when she made the hugely impressive, multi award-winning "Little Dorrit", a six-hour feast which rejoiced in Dickens and good acting.
Her decision to use ordinary schoolkids from Southwark to interpret Shakespeare is perfectly understandable - keen as she is to tap into the their self-consciousness, directness, and enthusiasm - but this young troupe is of decidedly mixed abilities. The initial charm soon wears thin, since you quickly realise that children by definition cannot carry the experiences, the emotional layers, the soul of Shakespeare's adult characters, nor the richness of his language. Fun though it is at first to see Bottom falter in mid speech, Demetrius staring blankly while struggling to remember his next line, and Helena give entirely the wrong emphasis, you sense that even an audience of kids would gain more from an adult offering.
Apart from the charm, perkiness and photography (which does capture the mystery and magic), the other plus point is the structure which has children, immersed in watching a puppet version of the play, actually enter the play, becoming characters themselves. Imagine yourself as a teacher asking a pupil to read Shakespeare aloud, and being lifted by his zest, though gritting your teeth at his lack of understanding and messy delivery. A thoroughly British folly.
