This year the NTU Drama Society will be putting on a play for your entertainment – William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will premier in March and run for one day only. That day, is the 19th March. Write it down immediately.
The Dream is a fascinating work that encumbers all manner of fears and desires; it questions taboos and conventions; defines us as human beings and through the expression of a single emotion, it lifts us to a transcendent state of being. That emotion is love: our understanding and misunderstanding of it; our bliss and agony in its revelling and most of all – our vindication of its divine form. Love conquers all, and love is the magic that fuels this timeless and compelling play.
Rehearsals are well underway and the performance looks very promising – hoping to manifest with a somewhat 1920s feel. The importance of costume as a method of representation shall not be lost, especially as the 1920s saw a massive change in the approaches to dress and style that is still evident today – giving it an ageless and everlasting identity. Although the style may be more contemporary, the staging will be more traditional, with direction that stretches over the naturalistic, melodramatic and into the methodology of Shakespeare’s own contemporaries, incorporating the Bard’s own intentions and allowing the directors to place their own twist on the action. Comedy of course should be a laughing matter, but the team aim to put on a professional and effective performance – which so far seems successful from the leadership by society presidents Georgina May Mills and Pippa Richardson, and the attitudes of the cast and crew to excel in all fields.
NTU Drama is a very young society, only having run for three years and A Midsummer Night’s Dream will only be its second full length performance, after a crowd-wowing ‘Importance of Being Ernest’ last year. To find out more visit the Nottingham Arts Theatre website or get in touch with the society.
Nik Charity
Tags: drama soc, midsummer nights dream, nottingham arts theatre, ntu, william shakespeare
