Southend Shakespeare Company's
2018 Summer Tour
A Midsummer Night's Dream
2018 Summer Tour
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Southend Shakespeare Company's Summer Open Air Tour has kicked off with a fabulous performance in front of 400 people at Belfairs Woods and the sun hasn't stopped shining since. The good weather looks set to continue shine this week for their performances at Leigh Library Gardens on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with performances starting at 7.45pm.
Bring a seat or blanket to sit on, pack a picnic or just a bottle and come along to enjoy the laughter, music and magic of one of Shakespeare's best loved plays.
Bring a seat or blanket to sit on, pack a picnic or just a bottle and come along to enjoy the laughter, music and magic of one of Shakespeare's best loved plays.
Theseus, duke of Athens, has conquered Hippolyta, the Amazon queen, and is about to wed her. However, he also has to make a judgement— Egeus objects to his daughter Hermia wishing to marry Lysander, when he would prefer her to marry Demetrius. Theseus upholds the father’s right to choose; with Hermia having only the choice of marrying Demetrius, becoming a nun or death!
Hermia and Lysander seek refuge in the forest near Athens, but before they leave they tell Helena of their plan to elope. Hoping to win Demetrius’s favour, Helena tells him Hermia’s whereabouts and follows him to the forest, when he goes in search of Hermia. The forest is also full of fairies, who have come for the duke’s wedding. Oberon, the king of the fairies, has quarrelled with his queen, Titania, and intending to punish her for her disobedience, drops magic juice into her eyes as she sleeps, causing her to fall hopelessly in love with whatever person or creature she happens to see when she awakes. Noting that the human lovers in the forest are also at odds, he orders Puck to drop the love juice into Demetrius’s eyes so that Demetrius’s one-time affection for Helena will be restored. However, Puck mistakenly administers the love juice to Lysander, who then happens to see Helena when he awakes. He falls hopelessly in love with her.
Hermia and Lysander seek refuge in the forest near Athens, but before they leave they tell Helena of their plan to elope. Hoping to win Demetrius’s favour, Helena tells him Hermia’s whereabouts and follows him to the forest, when he goes in search of Hermia. The forest is also full of fairies, who have come for the duke’s wedding. Oberon, the king of the fairies, has quarrelled with his queen, Titania, and intending to punish her for her disobedience, drops magic juice into her eyes as she sleeps, causing her to fall hopelessly in love with whatever person or creature she happens to see when she awakes. Noting that the human lovers in the forest are also at odds, he orders Puck to drop the love juice into Demetrius’s eyes so that Demetrius’s one-time affection for Helena will be restored. However, Puck mistakenly administers the love juice to Lysander, who then happens to see Helena when he awakes. He falls hopelessly in love with her.
After trying to correct the problem by putting the juice in Demetrius’s eyes, both young men are in love with Helena and neither with the poor deserted Hermia. This situation does not make Helena any happier, though. She comes to the conclusion that they are all making fun of her. Hermia and Helena fall out over this contretemps, while the young men have become fierce and even would-be murderous rivals of one another for Helena. Hermia’s ‘lack of inches’ mentioned in the quarrel scene probably comes from Shakespeare’s need to accommodate a young boy actor originally playing the role. In the same woods a group of artisans are rehearsing an entertainment for the duke’s wedding.
Ever playful, Puck gives one of the “mechanicals,” Nick Bottom, an ass’s head; when Titania wakes, she falls in love with Bottom. After much general confusion and comic misunderstanding, Oberon’s magic restores Titania and the four lovers to their original states.
|
|
The duke invites the two couples to join him and Hippolyta in a triple wedding. The wedding celebration features Bottom’s troupe in a comically inept performance of their play, The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe.
|
Dates are as follows:
Thu 12th, Fri 13th July and Sat 14th July at 7.45 pm at Leigh Library Gardens £10.00 Adults £8.00 Concessions General Information 01702 473163 Please bring your own seating Advance Booking not required Information 01702 473163 |
|