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2025 Productions, Productions written by William Shakespeare, Productions at The Tower Theatre

A Midsummer Night's Dream (2025): Difference between revisions

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{{FHODS Banner
| eyebrow = FHODS Production · 2025
| title  = A Midsummer Night's Dream
| sub    = By William Shakespeare · The Tower Theatre, Folkestone
}}
{{Infobox Production
{{Infobox Production
| title        = A Midsummer Night's Dream
| title        = A Midsummer Night's Dream
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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.
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.


{{FHODS Section|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?
{{FHODS Foreword
| text  = 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!
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!
Line 29: Line 21:


Enjoy the magic.
Enjoy the magic.
| author = [[Graham Jeffery]]
| role  = Director
}}


{{FHODS Section|About the Play}}
'''[[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.
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.
Line 39: Line 30:
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.
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.


{{FHODS Foreword
''I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
| text  = I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
Line 48: Line 38:
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.
| author = William Shakespeare
'''William Shakespeare''' ''A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II Scene I''
| role  = A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II Scene I
''
}}


{{FHODS Section|William Shakespeare}}
=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.
[[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.
Line 60: Line 49:
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''.
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''.


{{FHODS Section|Cast}}
=Cast=
{{div col}}
==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''


{{FHODS Cast
==The Mechanicals==
| group1_label = The Court of Athens
* [[Ben Forrest]] ''as Bottom''
| group1_style = leads
* [[Richard Hawkins]] ''as Quince''
| group1 =
* [[Chris Henry]] ''as Flute''
[[Michael Manton]];;Theseus / Oberon
* [[Andrea Reid]] ''as Snout''
[[Merewyn Forrest]];;Hippolyta / Titania
* [[Anthony Leyton-Thomas]] ''as Snug''
[[Paul Moran]];;Egeus
* [[Navied Mahdavian]] ''as Starveling''
[[Jasmine Bradley]];;Hermia
[[Andrei Gheorghe]];;Lysander
[[Will Dean]];;Demetrius
[[Olivia Coley]];;Helena
[[Ashbie Woolcock]];;Athenian Attendant
[[Steve Hawkins]];;Puck / Philostrate
| group2_label = The Mechanicals
| group2_style = leads
| group2 =
[[Ben Forrest]];;Bottom
[[Richard Hawkins]];;Quince
[[Chris Henry]];;Flute
[[Andrea Reid]];;Snout
[[Anthony Leyton-Thomas]];;Snug
[[Navied Mahdavian]];;Starveling
| group3_label = The Fairies
| group3_style = leads
| group3 =
[[Charlotte Jury]];;Peaseblossom
[[Fry Fry]];;Cobweb
[[Bryony Griffin]];;Moth
[[Katy-Scarlett Coveney]];;Mustardseed
[[Millie Forrest]];;Ensemble Fairy
[[Evie Milton]];;Ensemble Fairy
[[Summer Bradley]];;Ensemble Fairy
}}


{{FHODS Section|Production Team}}
==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''


{{FHODS Crew
=Production Team=
| section1_label = Direction & Production
* '''Director''': [[Graham Jeffery]]
| section1 =
* '''Movement Director''' [[Natalie Cornish]]
Director;;[[Graham Jeffery]]
* '''Producer''': [[Karen Prineas]]
Movement Director;;[[Natalie Cornish]]
* '''Stage Manager''': [[Michael Pearce]]
Producer;;[[Karen Prineas]]
* '''Deputy Stage Manager''': [[Michelle Hartley]]
Stage Manager;;[[Michael Pearce]]
* '''Prompt''': [[Caroline Dowling]]
Deputy Stage Manager;;[[Michelle Hartley]]
* '''Vocal Coach''': [[Friesia Schuil]]
Prompt;;[[Caroline Dowling]]
* '''Musical Arrangement''': [[Luke Jones]]
Vocal Coach;;[[Friesia Schuil]]
* '''Child Protection Officer''': [[Karen Prineas]]
Musical Arrangement;;[[Luke Jones]]
* '''Lighting Design & Operation''': [[Chris Willcox]]
Child Protection Officer;;[[Karen Prineas]]
* '''Sound''': [[Chris Willcox]]
| section2_label = Design & Technical
* '''Props''': [[Myra Collingridge]] & [[Sam Mills]]
| section2 =
* '''Costume''': [[Liz Rutland]] & [[Wendy Allum]]
Lighting Design & Operation;;[[Chris Willcox]]
* '''Illustration & Marketing''': [[Maisie Mason]]
Sound;;[[Chris Willcox]]
* '''Artwork / Graphic Design''': [[Malcolm Laye]] & [[Graham Jeffery]]
Props;;[[Myra Collingridge]] & [[Sam Mills]]
* '''Photography''': [[Chris Henry]], [[George Holness]] & [[Michelle Hartley]]
Costume;;[[Liz Rutland]] & [[Wendy Allum]]
* '''FHODS Marketing''': [[Merewyn Forrest]]
| section3_label = Media & Marketing
| section3 =
Illustration & Marketing;;[[Maisie Mason]]
Artwork / Graphic Design;;[[Malcolm Laye]] & [[Graham Jeffery]]
Photography;;[[Chris Henry]], [[George Holness]] & [[Michelle Hartley]]
FHODS Marketing;;[[Merewyn Forrest]]
}}


{{FHODS Section|For The Tower Theatre}}
=For The Tower Theatre=
 
* '''Events Manager''': [[Michelle Hartley]]
{{FHODS Venue|
* Front of House Manager''': [[Gary Ingoldby-Spate]]
Events Manager;;[[Michelle Hartley]]
* '''Theatre Technician''': [[Emil Jansen]]
Front of House Manager;;[[Gary Ingoldby-Spate]]
Theatre Technician;;[[Emil Jansen]]
}}


<div class="fhods-footer-note">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].</div>
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:Productions written by William Shakespeare]]
[[Category:Productions written by William Shakespeare]]
[[Category:Productions at The Tower Theatre]]
[[Category:Productions at The Tower Theatre]]

Revision as of 17:55, 23 July 2026


A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream promotional image
Production Details
Dates15–17 May 2025
VenueThe Tower Theatre
DirectorGraham Jeffery
WriterWilliam Shakespeare
ProducerKaren Prineas
ChoreographerNatalie 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

The Mechanicals

The Fairies

Production Team

For The Tower Theatre

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.

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