Winter is students' midsummer dream

Theatre Guild

A student-focused production of one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, A Midsummer Night's Dream, will be presented by the Theatre Guild this month.

A large cast of 23 students from Adelaide, Flinders, the University of South Australia and the Adelaide College of Arts will perform the classic 16th century Bard wedding play under the direction of local theatre designer Cassandra Backler.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's most loved works, partly because it's so accessible," Cassandra said. "It's also very funny and is the first introduction to Shakespeare for a lot ofpeople."

This month's play marks a concerted effort to bring the Theatre Guild back to its roots, focusing on its core stakeholders - students.

"This show is literally giving back the theatre to students," Cassandra said. "Seventeen of the cast members are University of Adelaide students, including the four lovers who form the centrepiece of the play."

For those not familiar with the comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream features three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta.

The main plot involves two sets of couples (Hermia and Lysander, and Helena and Demetrius) in a four-way love triangle. Thrown into this mix are a group of amateur actors (known as "mechanicals") who are planning to put on a play for the Duke's wedding and use nearby woods for their rehearsals.

The forest is inhabited by fairies, who manipulate the mechanicals and cause a lot of mischief for the mortals.

"It is pure light entertainment and we are putting a contemporary face on it, drawing on familiar references for the audience," Cassandra said.

"A central theme is that sometimes with the best of intentions, parents want their children to do things that they (the children) perhaps don't want to do.

"In this story, we have a situation where Hermia refuses to follow her father's instructions to marry her chosen suitor, Demetrius, and decides instead to elope with her lover Lysander."

Hermia's friend Helena, who has recently been rejected by Demetrius, gets wind of the situation and tries to win back his favour by revealing plans of the elopement.

"Demetrius is a good-looking, well-educated and well-behaved boy on the surface, but it is only skin deep. Lysander is a brooding, bad boy - today's equivalent of James Dean. From a parental viewpoint, he's not someone you want your daughter to marry.

"Helena is a normal girl, although slightly nerdy, and Hermia is the unconventional emo goth arts student," Cassandra said.

Lysander and Demetrius are played respectively by Law/Arts students Ronald Densley and Alex Antoniou, while Teaching/Arts student Sarah Agius takes the role of Hermia and Music/Arts student Rachel Burke plays Helena.

"For many of these young actors, this is their first introduction to the Theatre Guild," Cassandra said. Some have been stars of their Year 12 drama class and while they're not studying drama at university, they are keen to keep pursuing their passion."

A Midsummer Night's Dream opens on Saturday 7 August and runs for two weeks. For dates and ticket details visit: www.adelaide.edu.au/theatreguild

Story by Candy Gibson

For more information about the Theatre Guild - and to see performances - visit Open Day Sunday 15 August.