The course of true love never did run smooth: a strict father and his headstrong daughter; star-crossed lovers and quarrelling fairies; mischievous imps, supernatural spells and people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Expect the unexpected as you are drawn into an enchanted forest on the most magical night of the year - Midsummer’s night... Read more …
Wee Stories’ re-telling of Shakespeare’s fabulous fairy-tale will be an entertaining, fast-moving and delightfully inventive night out for anyone aged 10 or over.
It's a fitful dream, but there are moments where the old Wee Stories finesse shines through.
Slimmed down to just 75 minutes – and presented by a cast of just four, struggling to cover some aspects of a story that really demands four lovers plus one other actor – this is an abbreviated and sometimes apologetic version of the play, designed on an unfortunate ageing-hippy theme by Natasha Jiggins, and invariably weakest when it attempts a jokey rewrite of the original, strongest when it focusses on the clear delivery of Shakespeare’s magnificent text.
The intention, emotion and basic plot is pretty much crystal clear.
This latest Wee Stories production represents a ‘compact and bijou’ remarkable introduction to Shakespeare for anyone aged about seven upwards.
Simultaneously evoking the magic of the original and making Shakespeare accessible to the young, without alienating the old, may be a tall order but Wee Stories manage it admirably.
On Tour, from Friday August 31, 2012, until Saturday October 6, 2012.