A Midsummer Night’s Virtual Reality (2005)
Introduction
Written, produced and directed by Paddy Salmon
Co-directed by Pat Short, Vicki Salmon, Ben See and Brian Brazeau
« Let’s rock the ground... » says Oberon. And that’s just what we aim to do......
This year’s play is a home-brewed comedy scripted by Paddy Salmon (with a little help from the Bard!) A class of pupils with their harassed young teacher is trying to work out an “Interactive Computer Programme” based on Shakespeare’s
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
When the computer malfunctions, they are whisked away into a forest near Athens, where they start interacting with Shakespeare’s play in ways nobody imagined. They and the audience learn all about the play, but from the inside. A wedding is taking place, some lovers are having a hard time, a rehearsal is about to happen for a play put on in honour of the king, Theseus, and as the bewildered class and their teacher become lost in the woods, weird and wonderful fairies play tricks on them and the other actors in the drama. As the class begins to make sense of the events, so does the audience, we hope, and all the difficulties are disentangled by the end.
There is nothing more potentially tragic, nor potentially funny, than people in love. After “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare set himself to show just how funny falling in love can be, and in this play there are lots of laughs. There is a lot of “interaction” too, as well as plenty of magical music and dancing. The music and choreography, as usual, have been turned over to the pupils, who have come up with some fine original songs and sounds to make the Bard rock in his grave!
Dernière modification le 19-05-06 par
