A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM | 16 June - 02 July

"A magical feast of fun and laughter" Essential Surrey

"A perfect evening of escapism" British Theatre Guide

"What better way to spend a warm summer’s evening" Guildford Dragon

“I have had a most rare vision. I had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was.”

On Midsummer Eve, two pairs of young lovers elope into a magical forest. Amidst the trees and the stars, the King and Queen of the Fairies are at war. Into this moonlit fairyland a troupe of wannabe actors emerge pulling out all the stops to put on the show of their lives. All three collide when one mischievous sprite decides to go rogue…

Exploding with colour, frivolity and sumptuous poetry, the enduring summer favourite A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens our magical 2022 summer season.

Staged at the enchanting Racks Close (As You Like It 2021, Robin Hood 2018), this former chalk quarry is now a wooded oasis, a stone’s throw from the High Street, and the town’s best kept secret.

Shakespeare’s raucous comedy is directed by the award-winning Abigail Anderson (Park Theatre London, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds), who last worked with us on our 2014 hit, The Canterbury Tales. The production promises to combine her distinctive, high-energy playfulness with GSC’s innovative use of found spaces:

“I have loved A Midsummer Night’s Dream ever since I was a child.  It is a near perfect play: like a laughter factory moving between banter, farce and slapstick, constantly raising the stakes and moving at a whipcrack pace.  There’s something to appeal to everyone and I can’t wait to bring the magical forest to life in the beautiful surroundings of Rack’s Close.”

Photography Matt Periera

This summer our awesome open-air company boast a wealth of experience from stage and screen, and we’re honoured to have them in Guildford.

Making their GSC debuts are Benjamin, Joseph and Jim. BENJAMIN graduated from Drama Centre in 2019 and has already worked with Frantic Assembly at the Lyric Hammersmith and Waterloo East Theatre. JOSEPH boasts credits from National Theatre, Royal Court and Birmingham Rep, whilst JIM has done extensive work with the National Theatre including Troilus & Cressida, Peter Pan, and The Merchant of Venice for both NT and RSC.

We're thrilled to have ROSALIND back with us (Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Feste in Twelfth Night in 2019), who has worked at the RSC and The Mil at Sonning. She has an ongoing drama and discussion podcast called Tales from Behind the Twitching Curtain. As well as playing the Dormouse/Cook in our 2018 Alice in Wonderland and Cressida in our staged reading of Troilus & Cressida in April, DEWI has worked with Netflix, BBC and the Almeida Theatre.

DAN was last with us as Malcolm in Macbeth (Feb 2020), and has worked with the National Theatre and BBC Radio 3.  ANNABELLE was also in our 2020 Macbeth and most recently Tales from Hans Christian Andersen in Autumn 2021, after which she began a tour Much Ado About Nothing in the US with Actors From the London Stage.

Since first working with us in 2009, JOHANNE'S roles for GSC include Brutus in Julius Caesar, Gertrude in Hamlet (2011) and Lady Macbeth (2013), as well as credits with the BBC, ITV, many regional theatres and King Lear with Sir Ian McKellen in the West End.

Completing the 'Dream-Team' is our fabulous Co-Founder SARAH who will be chalking up 39 shows for GSC this summer!

To get the full biographies our cast, make sure you pre-order our 36-page Souvenir Programme when you book your tickets!

ARTISTIC TEAM

Director – ABIGAL ANDERSON

Designer – NEIL IRISH

Sound Designer & Composer – MATT EATON

Fight Director - PHILIP D’ORLÉANS

Assistant Designer/Costume Supervisor – ANETT BLACK

Movement Director - LUCIE PANKHURST

Company Stage Manager - BETH MANN

Deputy Stage Manager - JULIA NIMMO

Assistant Stage Manager - EL WALDOCK