A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s most magical comedy of love, mischief and donkeys, comes roaring into Southwark in a production for anyone aged 8-88 – the perfect introduction for those new to Shakespeare’s plays, but also for those who wish they were shorter and funnier.
The play is set in London, 1905. On a wet and dreary afternoon, the Jenkins siblings decide to put on a play to stave off their boredom.
Nancy insists it should feature a Queen and have at least sixteen characters. Robert will only join in if he gets to die a horrible death, and reckons there should be some pirates. And Cecil wants to be a lion. And a fairy.
There can’t possibly be a story mad enough to fit all of this in, surely?
Director Toby Hulse comments “The story that is told in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is universal, and, as human beings, we haven’t changed all that much. We still do foolish things when we fall in and out of love; we still want to believe in happy endings; and we are still a little bit frightened by things that go bump in the night. What is exciting about the play is that it has all sorts of humour in it, from the sort of painful observation of human behaviour that we might expect from The Office, to the sort of daft slapstick we might expect from The Chuckle Brothers, to the sort of outright nonsense we might expect from Morecambe and Wise. This will be a production for everyone – those who know the play and those who don’t, Shakespeare-lovers and Bard-a-phobes, regular theatre-goers and those coming to see it for the very first time”.
The cast: Martin Bassindale, Daisy Ann Fletcher, Fintan Hayeck, Lara Grace Ilori, Andy Umerah and Dewi Wyke.
Southwark Playhouse Borough , 77-85 Newington Causeway, London, SE1 6BD. Dates & Times: 5 – 27 September 2025: Wednesday – Saturday: 7pm;
Monday to Wednesday Schools Matinees: 1pm; Saturday Matinees: 2.30p.
Booking and full details: https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/a-midsummer-nights-dream/ – 020 7407 0234
