Desirée DeCoste
Beaver Staff
Singing into Napanee on Aug. 7th at the Allan Macpherson House will be Driftwood Theatre’s 25th annual Bard’s Bus Tour performing A (musical) Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Dubbed ‘theatre under the stars’, the performance begins at 7:30 p.m.
Originally created by Driftwood in 2004 and performed again in 2012, the play is a colourful, upbeat, jazz-infused musical celebration of theatrical proportions with everything performed live and entirely a cappella using the magical quality of voice.
Driftwood Theatre brings accessible, live outdoor theatre across Ontario with contemporary Canadian takes on Shakespeare.
“Driftwood’s goal is to make theatre as accessible as possible,” said D. Jeremy Smith, artistic director for the Driftwood Theatre Group. “We believe everybody should have access to professional theatre and these really great stories.”
He adds anyone turned off by Shakespeare in high school was likely because it was being taught during English and it’s not, it’s poetry and performance. Shakespeare’s stories tend to come alive when people inhabit the relevant to today characters and relationships.
“This particular play is a sort of love letter to the idea to the notion of finding companionship, and about finding your place in the world,” Smith expressed. “And who hasn’t loved someone who hasn’t loved them back? Who hasn’t chased after the wrong person? Who hasn’t found love and companionship in unexpected places? We all have and that’s what this play is about.”
For Driftwood’s 25th season they will imagine the play using Shakespeare’s text as an outdoor summer theatre experience for the entire family.
Four lovers and one group of unlucky tradespeople experience a chaos-filled night in the forest as they stumble across the mischievous Puck and the magical denizens of the faery kingdom.
A (musical) Midsummer Night’s Dream ensemble includes Steven Burley as Bottome, Nick Dolan as Demetrius, Nathaniel Hanula-James as Lysander, Kelsi James as Helena, Ahmed Moneka as Puck, Marissa Orjalo as Hermia, Siobhan Richardson as Titania, James Dallas Smith as Oberon, accompanied by musical director Tom Lillington and vocalist Alison Beckwith.
The creative team includes composers Kevin Fox, Tom Lillington, production designer Julia Kim, dramaturge Myekah Payne and stage manager Kelsey Rae.
“Driftwood represents an opportunity for people to pay what they can afford,” Smith told The Beaver. “Bring your family, bring your kids and bring a picnic it’s all laid out to be informal, community building and designed to be inspirational in that way.”
All performances are pay what you can admission.