Part educational, part entertainment, two cornerstone plays of William Shakespeare get dusted off in this riot of a theatrical experience that will have you saying, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” in no time.
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“Love’s stories written in love’s richest books. To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes,” and so goes one of the many beautiful lyrical words of The Bard, Shakespeare in one of his most special comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. One need not even be an avid fan of his literature to recognize that his poetry and plays wraps itself ever-so tenderly in your heart and mind. Admit it, your heart is aflutter with just this one-shot line, what more an entire production of the scope of his work.
The riotous and merry interweaving of love and feuding fairies with clunky, awkward amateur actors and a magical potion to add confusion and mayhem, A Midsummer Night’s Dream stands at one end of the shelf of works of William Shakespeare, which is set to make its international debut in Manila direct from the UK through the award-winning Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre Company. On the other end, the latest production brought to us by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, producer’s of some of Manila’s beloved and best-selling shows such as Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Mamma Mia, The Sound of Music, and Cats, sees a necessary double-billing with the other more known work of Shakespeare, Macbeth, the bloody, political, and psychologically stirring telling of one’s rise and demise through ambition and power.
Making its first appearance in the historic city of York in the United Kingdom last year, Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre is set to deliver a thrilling and intimate theatrical experience with a gamut of breath-taking, spine-tingling and side-splitting moments. Raking in critical and mainstream acclaim, Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre does quite a lot with this production. Part education, part entertainment, the plays are set in a bustling Elizabethan Village, as was written and also, inspired by the famous London Rose Playhouse in 1587, which features a 13-sided pop-up, built from state-of-the-art scaffolding, corrugated iron and timber, and comprised three tiers of covered seating with an open courtyard for standing ‘groundlings.’ Now, how’s that for a cultural immersion?
“As with all the productions we bring to Manila, we are thrilled to have yet another first for the country and an outstanding cast and creative team to deliver it,” says James Cundall, CEO of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions. “While Manila audiences will be seated in the comfort of Theatre at Solaire, rather than an open-air scaffolding structure, the two productions will be innovative, immersive and fun, with the actors making some of their entrances and exits through the audience. We will have dramatic sword-fights, bubbling cauldrons, wayward fairies, comic love scenes, gruesome murders, grand poetry and no shortage of fake blood! I believe Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre offers something for everyone, and will showcase heritage theatre at its best.”
“What’s done is done,” says Lady Macbeth chillingly, definitely making the hair on the back of our neck stand at a pass. True enough, the deed is done, and we cannot wait to sink our literature-loving teeth into this treat of a theatrical experience. There is no other way to it, our nerdy hearts are very, very happy right now.
Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre will run from September 17 to 22, 2019, at the Theatre at Solaire. For more updates, visit Ticketworld where tickets are on sale now.
