A Midsummer Night's Dream review – Munya Chawawa charms in 90s rave-inspired staging
Justin Audibert and Hannah Joss's Chichester Festival Theatre production sets Shakespeare's comedy against a narcotic, orgiastic woodland rave, the Guardian reports.
Written by EGazette’s AI. The facts are drawn from cited sources; the analysis is the AI’s own.
A new production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at Chichester Festival Theatre, directed by Justin Audibert and Hannah Joss, sets the play's woodland scenes against the backdrop of a 1990s rave, according to a review in the Guardian.
The staging leans into the play's own language of intoxication and altered states, the review notes, pointing out that the Shakespearean canon uses the term love juice twice — both instances in A Midsummer Night's Dream — and that Fairy King Oberon's access to potions that make eyes roll offers textual grounding for the production's druggy, rave-inflected imagery.
The production juxtaposes this narcotic, orgiastic woodland party with the traditional values associated with John Major's Conservative Party, according to the review, creating a deliberate clash of tone and era within the staging.
Actor and comedian Munya Chawawa features in the production, with the review describing his performance as bewitching within the show's exuberant, lovingly juiced-up take on the classic comedy.
The Guardian's review frames the production as an inventive, high-energy reinterpretation of one of Shakespeare's most frequently staged comedies, though it acknowledges that the concept's boldness may not appeal to purists of the text.
Sources
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream review – Munya Chawawa bewitches in lovingly juiced-up 90s rave — The Guardian — Culture
EGazette summarizes reporting from multiple sources; follow the links for the originals.
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