A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare
Festival Theatre
Aug. 7 to Oct. 30
Opens: Aug. 21
Duration: 2 hrs, 45 mins
Photo of Yanna McIntosh and
Geraint Wyn Davies
by David Hou
Support for the 2009 season of the Festival Theatre is generously provided by Laura Dinner and Richard Rooney
Production Co-Sponsor
About the Play
In an enchanted forest, a quartet of mismatched lovers and a gang of hapless actors cross paths with the king and queen of the fairies, resulting in a night of moonlit mirth. Love triumphs at dawn – but not before trickster Puck has had his way with all.
This brilliantly orchestrated comedy of confusion and desire probes the very nature of love.
Content Advisory The play’s fairy world is often seen as Shakespeare’s expression of the idea (later articulated by Freud) that our waking lives are largely driven by our subconscious libidos. Thus the fairies in this production are presented as sexual beings. Like most Shakespearean comedies, Dream also includes bawdy Elizabethan wordplay, which may be explicated by gesture or other stage business. The production uses gunfire and smoke, and herbal tobacco is smoked on stage.
Our recommendation: Suitable for most ages but may not be of interest to younger children.
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