Return to the Forest
It’s 20 years since we last put on a production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and here, a few of the company reflect on the play and its part in both TWC’s history and theirs…
Dan (Director)
I was 16 when I played Flute in TWC’s 1996 production. I remember coming on stage at Bewl Water and looking up at this huge sea of faces : more than 650 people had come to see our last night. It was amazing. Later on I went to drama school, worked as an actor (and now as an agent). How strange then, but also strangely wonderful, to be back directing the play for a new generation. Most of the current cast weren’t in our previous productions, and it’s honestly a privilege to introduce this boisterous, joyful masterpiece — often said to be the nation’s favourite play — to a new group of young TWC actors. It’s 400 years old, and still incredibly touching, incredibly funny. Evidently the English sense of humour hasn’t changed all that much.
Rupert (Flute)
This is only my second play with TWC (my second play anywhere for that matter), and I wasn’t sure how I’d take to Shakespearean dialogue. I didn’t even know he wrote comedies. But once I’d got the meaning sorted, it was hilarious! Full of life. A complete revelation really. The characters and their motivations are easily recognisable, even 400 years on. As for taking on Flute, well, it’s a big responsibility. I mean, I’ve seen a recording of a baby-faced Dan playing Flute 20 years ago. I can tell I’m walking in the footsteps of giants. :^) Luckily TWC are not only a talented group, but a positive bunch of people too. Joining them has been almost life-changing. And I’m proud to be a member.
Lucy-Ann (Helena)
I grew up surrounded by Theatre Workshop, and I remember watching the 1996 production when I was just six! The fairies were magical, the mechanicals hilarious, and the lovers meant to be together. You’d have seen me then in the front row with eyes as big as saucers, longing to be involved. Now I find myself a part of the legendary love triangle/quadrangle/tangle. The fairies have all the magic, mischief and poetry, but we have the most fun. The play revolves around the lovers,. The two friends are pushed to their limits and beyond, and come out the stronger for it. The two suitors, who seem to start with the upper hand, become pawns in the greatest game of all; the desperate, crazy, selfish, blind, obsessive yet wonderful thing that is love. I love them. I love it all.
Richard (Bottom)
I directed both the 1989 and 1996 productions of ‘Dream’ and played Oberon each time too. Playing Bottom this time is truly going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Obnoxious yet strangely endearing, he’s one of the most famous comic characters in English theatre. I love this play because it’s such a joyful depiction of truly English idiocy. It might pretend to be Athens, but in this play Shakespeare is showing the English at their best and worst. Bumbling working men with hearts of gold and brains of straw, young toffs behaving badly and yet finding themselves in the end. And the fairy kingdom, glimpsed in the shadows of the wild wood. Magical.
