A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Composer:
- Benjamin Britten. Conductor: Rory Macdonald
- Management:
- Royal Opera
- Cast:
- William Towers, Gillian Keith, Mark Beesley, Emma Selway, Ed Lyon, Jacques Imbrailo, Daniela Lehner, Katie Van Kooten, Matthew Rose, Mark Richardson, Andrew Kennedy, Jeremy White, Colin Judson, Krzysztof Szumanski, Jami Quarrell
- Director:
- Olivia Fuchs
- Design:
- Niki Turner
- Lighting:
- Bruno Poet
- Choreography:
- Mandy Demetriou
Production information can change over the run of the show.
The worlds of night and dreams formed a rich pool of inspiration for Benjamin Britten, yet Olivia Fuchs' A Midsummer Night's Dream, revived from 2005, strips away any sense of enchanted nocturnal atmosphere. Evocative lines of Shakespeare run around the auditorium's balcony in electric-blue neon striplights - and there's no set to speak of, except for a four-tier, neon-framed double bunk, within and around which the singers deftly climb. Distracting video projections - of water droplets, an owl flying, of Titania sleeping combine with Act III's sunrise (represented by a panel of orange lightbulbs) to turn this dream into a something closer to a nightmare...
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