A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

UKZN Drama and Performance Studies students present open-air Shakespeare!

Enjoy a crisp autumn evening under the stars with William Shakespeare and his most loved and delightful comedy about love and mischief, magic and mayhem, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which will be presented on the UKZN campus from May 19 to 24.

The Annual Shakespeare Festival returns to the wonderful Pieter Scholtz Open Air Theatre this year, after two years at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the 9th instalment of this marvellous festival which brings the works of Shakespeare to life by finding in them the vibrant magic of the theatre.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is loved by audiences for its exploration of unrequited love, love denied by parents and society, magic and mischief, and bumbling amateur dramatics. This production updates and localizes the classic play using elements of contemporary culture from gangster hip-hop to Bollywood musicals. A multiracial cast drawn from all years in the Drama programme has been brought together to create a production that seeks to popularize Shakespeare and re-introduce him to a whole new and diverse audience. A Midsummer Night’s Dream will show audiences Shakespeare in a vibrant and exciting new light, while celebrating our own unique South African identity in an intercultural explosion of sound, colour and action.

As with previous highly successful productions of Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night and The Winter’s Tale, the production aims to foster an appreciation of Shakespeare as an accessible and ‘living’ playwright, particularly for young people. This team’s previous production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was voted Best Production at the annual 2005 Fools Awards and garnered praise from audiences and critics alike, being described by reviewers as “superb” and “the funniest I have ever seen”, by teachers as “hugely enjoyable and incredibly alive”, and by pupils as “awesome”.

The production is co-directed by Mervyn McMurtry and Tamar Meskin, with designs by McMurtry and Rogers Ganesan, and features a cast of more than 40 young and exciting performers playing the wonderful characters that people this enduring and well-loved comic extravaganza. Don’t miss the opportunity to see Shakespeare alive and thriving under the Durban stars.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs nightly at 18h30 from May 19 to 24 at the Pieter Scholtz Open Air Theatre, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. Tickets R30 (R10 students, scholars, pensioners and block bookings over 10). Teachers bringing scholars are admitted free of charge. Secure parking is available on the campus grounds.

Contact Claudette Wagner for bookings and/or information on 031 260 3133 or email: wagnerc1@ukzn.ac.za or fax 031 260 1410.