A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s comedy classic open air
Probably Shakespeare's most performed comedy is also the most misunderstood. Mathias Schönsee's new production at the Globe Berlin leaves behind the romantic, explanatory performance tradition as well as the burlesque. Here comes a "Midsummer Night's Dream" that is closer to the author, close to the text (translation: Christian Leonard).
Four young lovers flee the strict laws of Athens and get lost in a forest full of ghosts and elves, get caught up in the maelstrom of their longings and passions, dream of heaven and fall into the abyss. On Midsummer's Eve, the spirits of nature whirl everything upside down and play their tricks on people, shattering all the rules and reshuffling the cards. A sensual, turbulent round dance that juxtaposes the uniform civil society with the exotic jungle. The ensemble becomes a band and accompanies the play with magical live music.
At its core, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is about love. In Shakespeare's work, it falls from the sky like a hawk, cannot be tamed, breaks every norm. Shakespeare's love is neither a romantic ideal nor a solidarity pact against loneliness. It is like a struggle with a wild animal that longs for tenderness. But at the court of Athens, strict laws prevail: children must follow their father's will, women are subject to their husbands. The forest with its strange, driven creatures is like a dark mirror of this standardised world. In the moonlight, the passions that are suppressed in the city become visible. These two spheres are translated into simple poetic images and dazzling costumes. The unusual stage scenery of the Globe Berlin does the rest, because it promotes the audience's imagination and thus the fascinating, original ability of theatre to create palaces and forests in the imagination, which is also what Peter Brook's work stands for. Real people are shown in all the masks and play forms. The characters are tragic and comic at the same time in their earnest endeavour and failure.
Featuring Helena Krey, Lea Sophia Geier, Saskia von Winterfeld, Adrian Stowasser, Anselm Lipgens, Florian Kroop, Peter Beck, Uwe Neumann
Director: Mathias Schönsee / Music: Bernd Medek / Set design and costumes: Ira Storch und Katharina Piriwe / Make-up: Deborah Marie Klein / Assistant to director: Gabriela Ganc / Translation, dramaturgy and production management: Christian Leonard
Funded by the NEUSTART KULTUR program with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Karin and Uwe Hollweg Stiftung.
Sprache
Dauer
2 Stunden
Pausen
1
Web
(...) brilliant is Peter Beck. In the role of the dorky elf Puck (...) he enchants in particular through his play with eyes and facial expressions (...).
As dusk falls, seagulls and bats fly over the oval, the moon glistens through the trees. The location, the play and the atmosphere in the Charlottenburg Globe truly match each other, as Shakespeare would surely call it today.
Bruno Dietel: "Midsummer Night's Dream" at the season opening at Globe Berlin
Rbb24 inforadio, early review 2.6.2023
As if in a fever dream, the interwoven plot lines of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" finally unfold, the lovers run into the Athenian forest while the fairy queen Titania and her husband Oberon wish each other to hell. The impudent elf Puck, Titania's sidekick, is played by a brilliant Peter Beck. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" comes across more contemporary when the craftsmen, reinterpreted as actors, are looking for project funding or when topics such as gender or sexualised violence come up. (...) The production also lives from the spectacular overall scenery, when the wind drives through the fairground trees in the evening glow while Titania confesses her love to the donkey.
Amelie Sittenauer: Titania im Abendrot, taz Berlin Kultur on 15.6.2023
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Globe Berlin
Sömmeringstraße 1510589 Berlin
16,00 EUR - 25,00 EUR
Globe Berlin Theater gGmbH