To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, Glenbrook Players are staging a lavish production of one his most loved works, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The play will feature innovative use of immersive colour and design, combining projection and bold lighting to evoke the very different worlds of foolish mortals and mischievous faeries – as these two worlds collide on the magical night of midsummer.
A key creative feature of this production came about when the directors, John Bailey and Ainslie Yardley, decided to surround the dramatic action of the play with music, much as Shakespeare himself used songs and instrumentation to evoke mood, establish character, and lead the audience through a magical imaginative space.
Ainslie and John enlisted Naomi and Carina, whose musical collaborations have included leading community music theatre and choral singing in the mountains and beyond.
The unusual nature of the brief drew the two musicians into the challenging task of music research, arranging, composing, integrating and directing. Most of all, they were excited to delve into the historic intersection of music and theatre, to create something unique within the artistic vision of the production, and specific to this cast and company. Carina’s bespoke original compositions feature throughout.
They drew inspiration from the music and practices of Shakespeare’s time, though very little record of that remains, despite Shakespeare’s inclusion of lyrical segments in the play, and sparsely worded stage directions for musical interludes.
The result is a musical experience that – rather than reaching for academic authenticity – serves to transport the modern audience through time and space to the distinct dramatic worlds of Shakespeare’s “Dream”: the Athenian (and Elizabethan) court with its aristocrats patronising their own rude amateur theatrical group of Mechanicals; the young and restless lovers as they flee through the woods; and the scheming, havoc-wreaking faeries.
Much as it is known to have been in Shakespeare’s day, the music is performed by a small but versatile band of musicians, with songs brought forth by the cast in various guises including the mystical, sometimes spooky, Faeries’ Chorus.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be performed at Glenbrook Theatre (corner Great Western Highway and Ross St), Friday and Saturday evenings ($25) and Saturday matinees ($22) November 18-26. Tickets are already selling fast, so book online at glenbrookplayers.com.au or call 4739 1110 for personal attention.
