REVIEW: The Lovers - Shake & Stir Theatre Company

The Lovers by Shake & Stir Theatre Company

Queensland Performing Arts Centre in association with Brisbane Festival

Book, music, and lyrics by Laura Murphy

Directed by Nick Skubij

Choreographed by Yvette Lee

Designed by Isabel Hudson

Lighting Design by Trent Suidgeest

Sound and Video by David Bergman

Fight and Intimacy Direction by Nigel Poulton

Musical Director Heidi Maguire

Shakespeare has been leading us into the enchanted forest of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for over 400 years, and each time we stumble back out a little transformed. That’s the magic of the Bard. His themes remain universal, elastic, and endlessly ripe for reinvention. The Lovers grabbed that legacy and sprinted straight into club culture, neon fantasy, and full emotional meltdowns.

I was lucky enough to see The Lovers twice, once in preview and again closer to closing, and I could easily have gone back a third time just to relive the collision of Shakespeare’s wit with Laura Murphy’s electrifying score. Her original songs were unmistakably pop-inspired, but never felt like a carbon copy of anything. It stood confidently on its own, full of punch, humour, and those little lyrical zingers that kept the audience laughing.

The design team went all in and spared no expense. Isabel Hudson’s set was a visual feast, beginning in structured Grecian drapery and columns before transforming into a lush, glowing forest dripping in pinks, florals, and soft fantasy textures. A central tree bloomed mid-stage, surrounded by cascades of petals, starry projections, and layered curtains that shimmered like a dreamscape. The production design was Shake & Stir at their boldest: cinematic projections, non-stop lighting, and not one but three revolves to create a hypnotic carousel of bodies and chaos that only director Nick Skubij could wrangle with such precision. The upstage band laid down killer beats, and the entire thing looked like the glittery love-child of Six, & Juliet, and 2am at The Beat.

Trent Suidgeest’s lighting carved the stage into hypnotic slices of color and shadow, sometimes exploding with strobe-heavy chaos and other times melting into romantic softness. David Bergman’s projections and video design wrapped the world in movement, and his sound design gave the five-piece band a fierce, pulsing presence. Costume-wise, the transformation was just as satisfying. The Athenians began in structured, slightly frumpy layers with ruffs and muted tones, before shedding them in the forest for vibrant, modern, playful looks. Hermia stepped into a pastel skort costume that gave her complete freedom to jump, roll, and run around. Puck and Oberon wore elaborate circus fantasy outfits, as if they were the ringmasters of the chaos.

Jayme-Lee Hanekom burst in as Puck with a rapid-fire rap introducing the lovers with flair. Nimble, mischievous, and completely unbothered, she bounced through the show with cheeky confidence, belting out “Nailed it” after being a magical menace. Stellar Perry’s Oberon was the definition of electric. Stellar floated in as the hottest cupid-core deity I have ever seen, tearing through “Down to Love (DTF)” and “Magic Touch” with endless riffs, powerhouse vocals, and enough stage presence to make the gods jealous.

Loren Hunter as Hermia was a pocket rocket of confidence and determination. “Perfect Little Princess” showcased her strength early, while later numbers like “Wrap Around Me” saw her leaning into that confidence with full rom-com heroine energy. The disco ball moment in that number was giving full awkward high school prom night. By Act 2 she had descended into unhinged chaos with crazy eyes and full feral energy. Her verbal annihilation of Helena was vicious as she shifted from pretty princess to deranged woodland gremlin. The nightmare sequence, “Hiss Hiss Bitch,” with Puck and Oberon rapping in cages, was pure club fever dream - very TS Reputation album meets Mean Girls' Someone Gets Hurt.

Natalie Abbott as Helena completely stole hearts. She was the ultimate third-wheel bestie: faking joy for her coupled-up friends, frustrated at her own failures, and always dancing on the edge of heartbreak. Her solo “Chasing My Tail” is my new life anthem. She has the PERFECT pop tone, sparkling comedy, and aching puppy love all rolled into one.

Jason Arrow swaggered in as Demetrius; a gold-dripped, charm-soaked, unapologetic f*boy. He dripped false dreams and false confidence, relentlessly chasing Hermia while harshly rejecting Helena, aching to ‘taste forbidden fruit’. He had the audience grooving through his number "I Want What I Cannot Have", which carried an RnB edge, a little Ne-Yo ache, and a touch of MJ flair.

And then there was Matt Verevis’ Lysander, the adorable goof of the story. Boy band meets Elvis, with a voice to match. His lovesick, spellbound behaviour was played for maximum comedy; the embodiment of the heart eyes emoji. The duet “Start Over” with Loren was pure rom-com bliss, dripping with swoony clichés, sincerity, and that line about Taylor Swift suddenly making sense because “now I know what she’s singing about”.

Choreographer Yvette Lee laced the show with movement that never stopped pulsing. Her work exploded in the number “Gimme Gimme”, where the boys zipped across the stage like golden retrievers in heat while the girls tried desperately to wrangle them with their 'nay-nays'. Nigel Poulton’s fight and intimacy work threaded tension or tenderness into every tangled moment. The “To Die For” quartet delivered exquisite harmonies and dramatic use of the revolves.

I have seen several versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but the Demetrius vs Lysander fight over Helena in this production topped all of them. Act Two surprised me with its emotional depth. The show found moments of sincerity in the heartbreak, the confusion, the best-friend fallout (which can hurt more than romantic heartbreak), and what it means to love authentically without losing yourself. The final number “How To Love” landed with enormous cheers and a wave of warmth across the room.

Laura Murphy’s adaptation didn’t simply modernise Shakespeare. It remixed him, reclaimed him, pumped him full of pop adrenaline, and let the women take the reins. The original prose sat proudly in the script, sprinkled with added jokes like “Remember a time when we didn’t have to swipe right?” The score was entirely original. There was no jukebox familiarity here. Just fresh, fearless bangers threaded with hilarity and heart. The comedy was constant, often driven by exaggerated physical acting that helped bring Shakespeare’s prose to life in a way that felt clear, accessible, and rightly ridiculous. Pop culture references were scattered throughout, landing easily with the knowing audience members. The women were fierce, the men were soft and vulnerable, and love was treated as the glorious battlefield it is in the original.

I walked in wearing my best fairy outfit hoping to see a little magic. I walked out buzzing, heart full, head spinning, already counting down until I could see it again. If you’re into Six, &Juliet, feminist remixes, or simply want Shakespeare shaken, stirred, and dipped in glitter, The Lovers was an absolute treat. If this is what Shake & Stir Theatre are brewing, I can’t wait to see what mischief they conjure next year!