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{{Infobox | {{Infobox Production | ||
| title = | | title = A Midsummer Night's Dream | ||
| image = | | image = A_Midsummer_Night's_Dream_(2025).jpg | ||
| caption = A Midsummer Night's Dream promotional image | | caption = A Midsummer Night's Dream promotional image | ||
| dates = | | dates = 15–17 May 2025 | ||
| venue = [[The Tower Theatre]] | | venue = [[The Tower Theatre]] | ||
| director = [[Graham Jeffery]] | | director = [[Graham Jeffery]] | ||
| producer = [[Karen Prineas]] | | choreographer = [[Natalie Cornish]] (Movement Director) | ||
| | | producer = [[Karen Prineas]] | ||
| writer = [[William Shakespeare]] | |||
}} | }} | ||
The [[Folkestone-Hythe Operatic and Dramatic Society]] presented [[William Shakespeare | The [[Folkestone-Hythe Operatic and Dramatic Society]] presented [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' on 15th–17th May 2025 at [[The Tower Theatre]], Folkestone. | ||
=Foreword= | =Foreword= | ||
It started with a thought. An inkling. How would the Fairies present Shakespeare's funniest, most enchanting comedy, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''? Would it be a most rare vision? A thing full of mirth and magic? The summer solstice has long been celebrated with bonfires, feasting and merrymaking; midsummer is the night of the year when magical thinking is given full rein, so why not let the spirit world take flight? | It started with a thought. An inkling. How would the Fairies present Shakespeare's funniest, most enchanting comedy, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''? Would it be a most rare vision? A thing full of mirth and magic? The summer solstice has long been celebrated with bonfires, feasting and merrymaking; midsummer is the night of the year when magical thinking is given full rein, so why not let the spirit world take flight? | ||
So, the thought became an idea and then turned into a Dream | So, the thought became an idea and then turned into a Dream — the Dream you are about to share. However, to make Dreams come true takes others who share the vision and I have been blessed with a true Dream team, both onstage and off. To the entire cast and crew I say thank you for sharing the magic, for bringing your exceptional talents to create a very good piece of work, and a merry. I would like to give special thanks to Karen and Natalie for their help and support. They stopped the Dream becoming a nightmare! | ||
Thank you also, dear reader, for sharing our Dream with us. And remember; if we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear. | Thank you also, dear reader, for sharing our Dream with us. And remember; if we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear. | ||
| Line 21: | Line 22: | ||
Enjoy the magic. | Enjoy the magic. | ||
'''[[Graham Jeffery]]''', '' | '''[[Graham Jeffery]]''' ''Director'' | ||
=About the Play= | |||
One of Shakespeare's most popular and widely performed plays, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is set in Athens and in the nearby forest. The play consists of several interconnecting plots, overarched by the celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen Hippolyta. Most of the action occurs in the magical woodland realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon. One theme involves conflict and confusion among four Athenian lovers while another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play which they hope to perform before the wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by Fairies who manipulate the humans, while the Fairy King and Queen, Oberon and Titania, are engaged with their own domestic problems. | |||
The play was written around 1595/6 when Shakespeare had probably already completed ''Romeo and Juliet'' and, although it is not known exactly when ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' was first performed, it was possibly written as an entertainment for an aristocratic wedding. It would certainly have been performed at The Theatre and, later, at The Globe. Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" in C major, written in 1842, is one of the best known pieces from his suite of incidental music to the play. | |||
''I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, | |||
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, | |||
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, | |||
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: | |||
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, | |||
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; | |||
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, | |||
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in. | |||
'''William Shakespeare''' ''A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II Scene I'' | |||
=William Shakespeare= | |||
[[William Shakespeare]] was an English playwright, poet and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. His known works consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets and three long narrative poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. | |||
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. | |||
Shakespeare's early plays were primarily comedies and histories, and he then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them ''Hamlet'', ''Othello'', ''King Lear'' and ''Macbeth'', all considered to be among the finest works in English. In 1623, two fellow actors and friends published a definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works including 36 of his plays. Its preface includes a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival, who hailed Shakespeare with the now-famous epithet: ''not of an age, but for all time''. | |||
=Cast= | =Cast= | ||
==The Court of Athens== | |||
* [[Michael Manton]] ''as Theseus/Oberon'' | * [[Michael Manton]] ''as Theseus / Oberon'' | ||
* [[Merewyn Forrest]] ''as Hippolyta/Titania'' | * [[Merewyn Forrest]] ''as Hippolyta / Titania'' | ||
* [[Paul Moran]] ''as Egeus'' | * [[Paul Moran]] ''as Egeus'' | ||
* [[Jasmine Bradley]] ''as Hermia'' | * [[Jasmine Bradley]] ''as Hermia'' | ||
| Line 33: | Line 59: | ||
* [[Olivia Coley]] ''as Helena'' | * [[Olivia Coley]] ''as Helena'' | ||
* [[Ashbie Woolcock]] ''as Athenian Attendant'' | * [[Ashbie Woolcock]] ''as Athenian Attendant'' | ||
* [[Steve Hawkins]] ''as Puck/Philostrate'' | * [[Steve Hawkins]] ''as Puck / Philostrate'' | ||
==The Mechanicals== | |||
* [[Ben Forrest]] ''as Bottom'' | * [[Ben Forrest]] ''as Bottom'' | ||
* [[Richard Hawkins]] ''as Quince'' | * [[Richard Hawkins]] ''as Quince'' | ||
| Line 40: | Line 68: | ||
* [[Anthony Leyton-Thomas]] ''as Snug'' | * [[Anthony Leyton-Thomas]] ''as Snug'' | ||
* [[Navied Mahdavian]] ''as Starveling'' | * [[Navied Mahdavian]] ''as Starveling'' | ||
==The Fairies== | |||
* [[Charlotte Jury]] ''as Peaseblossom'' | * [[Charlotte Jury]] ''as Peaseblossom'' | ||
* [[Fry Fry]] ''as Cobweb'' | * [[Fry Fry]] ''as Cobweb'' | ||
* [[Bryony Griffin]] ''as Moth'' | * [[Bryony Griffin]] ''as Moth'' | ||
* [[Katy-Scarlett Coveney]] | * [[Katy-Scarlett Coveney]] 'as Mustardseed'' | ||
* [[Millie Forrest]] ''as Ensemble Fairy'' | * [[Millie Forrest]] ''as Ensemble Fairy'' | ||
* [[Evie Milton]] ''as Ensemble Fairy'' | * [[Evie Milton]] ''as Ensemble Fairy'' | ||
* [[Summer Bradley]] ''as Ensemble Fairy'' | * [[Summer Bradley]] ''as Ensemble Fairy'' | ||
=Production Team= | =Production Team= | ||
* '''Director''': [[Graham Jeffery]] | |||
* '''Director | * '''Movement Director''' [[Natalie Cornish]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Producer''': [[Karen Prineas]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Stage Manager''': [[Michael Pearce]] | ||
* '''Stage Manager | * '''Deputy Stage Manager''': [[Michelle Hartley]] | ||
* '''Deputy Stage Manager | * '''Prompt''': [[Caroline Dowling]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Vocal Coach''': [[Friesia Schuil]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Musical Arrangement''': [[Luke Jones]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Child Protection Officer''': [[Karen Prineas]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Lighting Design & Operation''': [[Chris Willcox]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Sound''': [[Chris Willcox]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Props''': [[Myra Collingridge]] & [[Sam Mills]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Costume''': [[Liz Rutland]] & [[Wendy Allum]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Illustration & Marketing''': [[Maisie Mason]] | ||
* '''Illustration | * '''Artwork / Graphic Design''': [[Malcolm Laye]] & [[Graham Jeffery]] | ||
* ''' | * '''Photography''': [[Chris Henry]], [[George Holness]] & [[Michelle Hartley]] | ||
* ''' | * '''FHODS Marketing''': [[Merewyn Forrest]] | ||
* ''' | |||
=For The Tower Theatre= | =For The Tower Theatre= | ||
* '''Events Manager | * '''Events Manager''': [[Michelle Hartley]] | ||
* '''Front of House Manager | * '''Front of House Manager''': [[Gary Ingoldby-Spate]] | ||
* '''Theatre Technician | * '''Theatre Technician''': [[Emil Jansen]] | ||
FHODS extends its thanks to the Front of House volunteers, Chaperones and Bar Team. Anyone interested in volunteering at The Tower Theatre can contact Joanne Pearce at [mailto:foh@towertheatrefolkestone.co.uk foh@towertheatrefolkestone.co.uk]. | |||
[[Category:2025 Productions]] | [[Category:2025 Productions]] | ||
[[Category:William Shakespeare]] | [[Category:Productions written by William Shakespeare]] | ||
[[Category:Productions at The Tower Theatre]] | |||
Latest revision as of 17:59, 23 July 2026
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | |
.jpg) A Midsummer Night's Dream promotional image | |
| Production Details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 15–17 May 2025 |
| Venue | The Tower Theatre |
| Director | Graham Jeffery |
| Writer | William Shakespeare |
| Producer | Karen Prineas |
| Choreographer | Natalie Cornish (Movement Director) |
The Folkestone-Hythe Operatic and Dramatic Society presented William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream on 15th–17th May 2025 at The Tower Theatre, Folkestone.
Foreword
It started with a thought. An inkling. How would the Fairies present Shakespeare's funniest, most enchanting comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream? Would it be a most rare vision? A thing full of mirth and magic? The summer solstice has long been celebrated with bonfires, feasting and merrymaking; midsummer is the night of the year when magical thinking is given full rein, so why not let the spirit world take flight?
So, the thought became an idea and then turned into a Dream — the Dream you are about to share. However, to make Dreams come true takes others who share the vision and I have been blessed with a true Dream team, both onstage and off. To the entire cast and crew I say thank you for sharing the magic, for bringing your exceptional talents to create a very good piece of work, and a merry. I would like to give special thanks to Karen and Natalie for their help and support. They stopped the Dream becoming a nightmare!
Thank you also, dear reader, for sharing our Dream with us. And remember; if we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear.
Enjoy the magic.
Graham Jeffery Director
About the Play
One of Shakespeare's most popular and widely performed plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream is set in Athens and in the nearby forest. The play consists of several interconnecting plots, overarched by the celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen Hippolyta. Most of the action occurs in the magical woodland realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon. One theme involves conflict and confusion among four Athenian lovers while another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play which they hope to perform before the wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by Fairies who manipulate the humans, while the Fairy King and Queen, Oberon and Titania, are engaged with their own domestic problems.
The play was written around 1595/6 when Shakespeare had probably already completed Romeo and Juliet and, although it is not known exactly when A Midsummer Night's Dream was first performed, it was possibly written as an entertainment for an aristocratic wedding. It would certainly have been performed at The Theatre and, later, at The Globe. Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" in C major, written in 1842, is one of the best known pieces from his suite of incidental music to the play.
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.
William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II Scene I
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. His known works consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets and three long narrative poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later.
Shakespeare's early plays were primarily comedies and histories, and he then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in English. In 1623, two fellow actors and friends published a definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works including 36 of his plays. Its preface includes a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival, who hailed Shakespeare with the now-famous epithet: not of an age, but for all time.
Cast
The Court of Athens
- Michael Manton as Theseus / Oberon
- Merewyn Forrest as Hippolyta / Titania
- Paul Moran as Egeus
- Jasmine Bradley as Hermia
- Andrei Gheorghe as Lysander
- Will Dean as Demetrius
- Olivia Coley as Helena
- Ashbie Woolcock as Athenian Attendant
- Steve Hawkins as Puck / Philostrate
The Mechanicals
- Ben Forrest as Bottom
- Richard Hawkins as Quince
- Chris Henry as Flute
- Andrea Reid as Snout
- Anthony Leyton-Thomas as Snug
- Navied Mahdavian as Starveling
The Fairies
- Charlotte Jury as Peaseblossom
- Fry Fry as Cobweb
- Bryony Griffin as Moth
- Katy-Scarlett Coveney 'as Mustardseed
- Millie Forrest as Ensemble Fairy
- Evie Milton as Ensemble Fairy
- Summer Bradley as Ensemble Fairy
Production Team
- Director: Graham Jeffery
- Movement Director Natalie Cornish
- Producer: Karen Prineas
- Stage Manager: Michael Pearce
- Deputy Stage Manager: Michelle Hartley
- Prompt: Caroline Dowling
- Vocal Coach: Friesia Schuil
- Musical Arrangement: Luke Jones
- Child Protection Officer: Karen Prineas
- Lighting Design & Operation: Chris Willcox
- Sound: Chris Willcox
- Props: Myra Collingridge & Sam Mills
- Costume: Liz Rutland & Wendy Allum
- Illustration & Marketing: Maisie Mason
- Artwork / Graphic Design: Malcolm Laye & Graham Jeffery
- Photography: Chris Henry, George Holness & Michelle Hartley
- FHODS Marketing: Merewyn Forrest
For The Tower Theatre
- Events Manager: Michelle Hartley
- Front of House Manager: Gary Ingoldby-Spate
- Theatre Technician: Emil Jansen
FHODS extends its thanks to the Front of House volunteers, Chaperones and Bar Team. Anyone interested in volunteering at The Tower Theatre can contact Joanne Pearce at foh@towertheatrefolkestone.co.uk.