Preview: Shakespeare In Leicester

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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Gloucestershire’s popular Players bring “dream” all-male Shakespeare show to Leicestershire

UK tour A Midsummer Night’s Dream: June 1 - August 18

LEICESTER: Jewry Wall Museum - Friday, August 16

“A ravishing production” - The Stage

“A miracle of lightning-fast costume changes; careful scene plotting; ingenious use of voices off and exuberance, versatility and talent. Michael Dyer’s production is refreshing and warm” - Somerset County Gazette

“Michael Dyer ensures it lives up to its claim of summer fun for all the family, extracting every ounce of humour possible from its many moments of moonshine, madness and magic. Hugely enjoyable, Shakespeare at its best” - The Cornishman

Gloucestershire’s acclaimed Festival Players will uncork the magic of A Midsummer Night’s Dream when they return to Leicester this month.

The Players, who this year celebrate their 28th year of touring outdoor Shakespeare productions, has grown in strength since acquiring the long-established London-based Theatre Set-Up and the new-look Players now bring audiences a combined 60 years experience of professional touring theatre.

The company’s penultimate performance this summer will be in the grounds of the historic Jewry Wall Museum on Friday, August 16 at 7.30pm (gates open for picnics from 6.30pm). The audience should bring their own seating. The museum grounds contain one of Leicester’s most famous historic landmarks, the  Jewry Wall, part of the Roman town's public baths and thought to be one of the tallest surviving pieces of Roman masonry in the country. The Museum itself contains many relics from Bosworth and Richard III’s coat of arms.

Tickets £12/£10 concessions available on (0116) 2254971 or (0116) 2532569.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream will feature an all-male cast (a sometimes controversial hallmark of the Festival Players). Just six actors will punch well above their weight, playing multiple roles demanding quick costume changes, as well as performing as musicians.

The show will be directed by Worcestershire-based Michael Dyer. It will be his ninth consecutive all-male production in a row for the Players. “It is of course totally authentic - we are following in the footsteps of Shakespeare’s own Globe Theatre when all roles were taken by men.”

www.thefestivalplayers.co.uk