A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Last week, our new Year 13 Drama students presented an abridged version of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.  

In the afternoon, the students took their production to Pulford Lower School. The year 3 and 4 children really enjoyed seeing the play which included facts about Shakespeare’s life and a 35 minute version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.  The children giggled at the donkey, the lion and several made references to how much they loved the wall. The bright costumes and fast pace of the production kept the young audience focused throughout. The traditional dance at the end saw the audience clapping along enjoying the flute and bodhran played skilfully by Isabel and Antonio. 

In the evening the cast refined the performance for a public performance in the theatre.  The actors were really pleased to see such a large audience of family, friends and staff. Feedback included “That’s the best production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream ever”, “I really thought it was going to be boring but it was great fun”, “I literally couldn’t stop laughing”, “Shakespeare in 40 minutes – perfect!”.

Performance is at the heart of Drama and Theatre Studies A level and getting the whole class performing together as an ensemble was so beneficial. Their next performances will be in November when they perform devised pieces based on themes from “The 306 Day” by Oliver Emmanuel using the methodology of Bertold Brecht.

It was a fun-filled and exciting project, featuring fantastic performances.  Both audiences thoroughly enjoyed themselves – well done to everyone involved!