A midsummer night ‘s dream

The story of Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, four young lovers who have run away to the forest of Athens to seek freedom from the rules being imposed on them, begins like a game. And like a game the story continues; a game of misunderstandings, reversals and magical interventions, as the fairies, their queen and the “rude mechanicals” join in. A kind of dream, in which the imagination sanctions the most extreme and sometimes risky leaps into deepest desires, hidden eroticism and the corridors of the unconscious.

One of Shakespeare’s best-known and multifaceted works returns to the National Theatre. The great Elizabethan dramatist, inspired by a fantastical Athens that gives full rein to his inexhaustible imagination, delivers an intricately plotted play in which comedy is dominant, while at the same time touching on controversial issues. Michail Marmarinos approaches the work with his own distinctive directorial reading. In his staging, which reopens the Rex Theatre, he is assisted by a highly talented cast of well-known names and bright new talents.

Translation : Dionyssis Kapsalis
Direction : Michail Marmarinos
Music composition : Dimitris Kamarotos
Songwriting: Violet Louise ( Louisa Kostoula )
Set design : Eva Manidaki
Costume design : Dora Lelouda
Costume collaborator : Danai Koureta, Veriko Mgeladze
Movement : Fotis Nikolaou
Lighting design : Giannis Drakoularakos
Masks : Martha Foka
Video-Archive : photographs Daphni Toli
Assistant to the director : Sylvia Louliou
Assistant to the set designer : Maro Tsanga

Cast:

Theseus Angelos Papadimitriou
Egeus Giorgos Biniaris
Lysander Nikos Kouris
Demetrius Argyris Pantazaras
Philostrate Evgenia Dimitropoulou
Peter Quince Yiannis Voyiatzis
Nick Bottom
Panagiotis Papaioannou
Francis Flute
Electra Nikolouzou
Tom Snout Giorgos Kritharas
Snug Haris Tsitsakis
Robin Starveling Giorgos Biniaris
Hippolyta Dioni Kourtaki
Hermia Ioanna Pappa
Helena Ioanna Tsirigouli
Oberon Periklis Moustakis
Titania Dioni Kourtaki
Puck Evi Saoulidou
Fairies Foivos Rimenas