A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare's Globe
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
JONATHAN Munby will direct A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the second production in this year’s Totus Mundus season at Shakespeare’s Globe.
One of Shakespeare’s most sparkling comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains some of his most dazzling dramatic poetry. From the harsh Draconian court of Athens to the wild freedom of the woods, individuals fight to establish who they are.
Sexuality, identity and trust are explored in a world where nothing is quite what it seems, where the boundaries of reality are blurred and where our worst fears become a living nightmare.
The cast includes Siobhan Redmond (as Titania/Hippolyta), Tom Mannion (as Oberon/Theseus), Christopher Brandon (as Lysander), Pippa Nixon (as Hermia), Oliver Boot (as Demetrius), Laura Rogers (as Helena), Michael Jibson (as Puck) and Paul Hunter (as Bottom).
Redmond’s stage credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Royal Shakespeare Company), Perfect Days (West End), An Experienced Woman Gives Advice (Manchester Royal Exchange) and Mary Stuart (National Theatre of Scotland). On television, she has appeared in The Smoking Room, Holby City, The Bill and Between The Lines (as Detective Sergeant Maureen Connell).
Mannion has appeared on stage as Lophakin in The Cherry Orchard (Crucible Theatre), Antony in Antony and Cleopatra (Manchester Royal Exchange) Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing (Open Air Regent’s Park) and Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Royal Shakespeare Company). His television credits include Casualty, New Tricks, Taggart and Belle de Jour .
They will be joined in the cast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Peter Bankolé, Jonathan Bond, Adam Burton, Richard Clews, Robert Goodale, Michael Matus, Sam Parks, Bethan Walker and Sian Williams.
Munby’s directing credits include Henry V (Royal Exchange, Manchester); The Canterbury Tales (RSC Stratford, Washington USA and West End as one of three directors presenting the complete tales); and A Number and The Comedy of Errors (Crucible). He has also worked extensively at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, where his productions include Tartuffe, The Venetian Twins and Dancing at Lughnasa.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which will use live music and dance, reunites long-term, award-winning collaborators Munby; designer Mike Britton (The Vertical Hour and That Face at the Royal Court, Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra at Shakespeare’s Globe); and composer Olly Fox, who has worked on numerous projects with the National Theatre, Old Vic, Royal Court and The Royal Shakespeare Company.
Dates: Saturday, May 10 to Saturday, October 4, 2008.
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Gallery