Shakespeare’s most popular comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” deserves its reputation, for here “the lunatic, the lover and the poet” combine with a magical world to create a perfect mix of comedy and romance. The play remains a timeless exploration of love in all its wonder and foolishness. It is also a fertility rite and a blessing on the children that love will spawn. Its conflict is rooted in the battle of the sexes.
A scene from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
TNT’s production begins by dramatizing the conquest of the Amazon Queen by Theseus and links the final comedy of Pyramus and Thisby to the drama. The fairy wood is a dangerous place, dangerous and exciting in the same way that Theseus’ Athens is dangerous and sterile. Shakespeare happily mixes traditional English spirits with classical heroes and fantastical creatures. What unites these traditions is paganism and that energy lies at the root of the production. Bottom is perhaps Shakespeare’s greatest clown. In TNT’s production, he will be played not just as a man consumed by vanity, but as a man trying to understand love without understanding himself.
The production will combine music and dances with powerful conflict that demonstrates not just the joy but also the pain and madness of love.
TNT attempts to unify the themes and characters and link the serious with the comic to create a faithful version of Shakespeare’s finest comedy.
Time: 7:30 p.m., May 12
Tickets: 80-380 yuan
Venue: Shenzhen Children’s Palace, 2002 Fuzhong Road 1, Futian District (福田区福中一路2002号深圳市少年宫)
Metro: Line 3 or 4 to Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit A