A Midsummer Night's Dream
Writer
William Shakespeare
Director
Gabriella Bird
Location
The Sainsbury Theatre
Dates
Saturday 31 August at 7pm
Tuesday 3 September at 2pm
Wednesday 4 September at 7pm
The running time is approximately 2 hours 45 minutes (including an interval).
About the show
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy by William Shakespeare that intertwines the lives of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors with the magical antics of fairies in a forest. As the lovers escape to the forest to resolve their romantic entanglements, they fall victim to the mischievous fairy Puck, who uses a love potion to create chaos.
Meanwhile, the fairy king Oberon and queen Titania are embroiled in their own dispute, adding to the confusion. The play concludes with multiple marriages and the successful performance of a play by the amateur actors.
Gabriella is a London-based theatre director and dramaturg with Turkish-Cypriot and Maltese heritage.
She studied Theatre Directing at Royal Holloway University with Katie Mitchell, as well as with the Young Vic Directors' Programme, British Youth Opera and was Apprentice at Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in 2011-2012. From 2020-21 she was a Creative Associate at Jermyn Street Theatre and is currently working as Assistant Director at the RSC.
In 2016 she co-founded theatre company Plain Heroines whose recent productions SCRATCHES was nominated for an Offie and VAULT Festival award. Their debut production Madwomen in the Attic was shortlisted for the Eddies' Award, the NSDF award and was EdFringeReview's Critic's choice. The 4th Country was runner up for the 2020 Charlie Hartill Prize and transferred from VAULT Festival to Park Theatre in 2022.
As Director her work is often has music at its core and often incorporates or features Actor Musicians, frequently collaborating with students at Rose Bruford College. As Associate Director she has worked both nationally and internationally at theatres including the RSC, Sheffield Crucible, Theatre by the Lake, English Theatre Frankfurt, Deutsches Theater Munich and Jermyn Street Theatre.
Gabriella also works as an educator and facilitator, adapting and directing Shakespeare for Schools and running workshops for Youth Theatre and Young People. Her recent production of Macbeth toured with Orange Tree Theatre, Reading Rep and Guildford Shakespeare Company to schools and theatres across the UK and The Hague, Netherlands.
William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright and actor whose plays have had an enduring presence on stage and screen. He was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre (sometimes called the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period). With a rich and diverse portfolio of work that continues to be adapted into the modern day, Shakespeare is hailed as one of the most important literary figures of the English language.
Contains some scenes of a sexual nature and one scene of choregraphed violence.
Creative Team
* LAMDA staff member or visiting artist
Director
Gabriella Bird*
Designer
Tara Usher*
Lighting Designer
Avery Elliot*
Sound Designer
Poppy Morley*
Intimacy Directors
Sam Goodchild*
Enric Ortuño*
Choreographer
Anna Alvarez*
Voice Director
George Ryan*
Producer
Rebecca Lyle*
Cast
Demetrius
Max Allen
Hermia
Abigail Devine
Lysander
Elliott Diner
Starvelling (Moon) / Moth / Puck 2
Austin Evans
Puck 1 / Philostrate
Keenan Heinzelmann
Bottom 1 / Snout (Wall)
Alex Holliday
Flute (Thisbe) / Fairy 1
Pepper Jensen
Helena
Eileen MacDonald
Peter Quince / Fairy Cobweb
Zaven McCarty
Theseus / Peasebottom
Jacob Proctor
Oberon
Dani Rimada
Egeus / Snug (Lion)
Andrew Vose
Hippolyta / Titania
Beatrix Whilde
Bottom 2 (Pyramus) / Snout (Wall) / Mustardseed
Diego Zozaya
Production Team
* LAMDA staff member or visiting artist
Stage Manager
Ronan McKenna
Deputy Stage Manager
Mia Stubbings*
Rehearsal Stage Manager
Anya Williams
Props Supervisor
Lucy Rees*
Production Manager
Jas Meara Wall*
Chief Lx
Jacob Eckhardt*
Construction Manager
Callum Walker*
Prod Carpenter
Peter Johnston
Production Sound Engineer
James Knight
Crew/Tech
Anabel Smeaton