SPECIAL EVENT: NATIONAL THEATRE AT HOME A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
WATCH PARTY AND DISCUSSION
SUNDAY JUNE 28 7 PM EDT
A REVOLVE HOME SCHOOL / RHIZOME DC CO-PRODUCTION
RSVP/DONATE: withfriends.co/event/4683794/
The Bridge’s 2019 version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream redefines how classical theater is played in the 21st century—maybe how live theater works, period. Fairies and Athenians strutted and fretted on moving platforms, surrounded by masses of audience members who moved with them, and broke into a rave on command. The fairies were acrobats and pole dancers; the design displayed overtones of both A Handmaid’s Tale and The Beyoncé Experience; and the general erotic byplay got just a little too pansexual to try to keep track of. And the Queen of the Fairies was Gwendoline Christie, Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones. This was not your junior high school’s MSND.
Nicholas Hytner’s live production was a mind-blowing wonder, just about the most interactive theater event since the 1960s. And NOW, beginning June 25 at 2 pm EDT, you can stream it for one week only, free, on National Theatre At Home’s YouTube channel. We feel like this calls for a special event, to share the most joyous Dream ever with your own online, sheltered-in-place, alone but not lonely, cohort of dukes and nobles, sages and fools, wood nymphs and spirits of the night.
Join Revolve Homeschool and Rhizome DC on Sunday, June 28 at 7 pm EDT for a discussion of the Bridge production led by Bernard Welt, with illustrations and notes on the history of the play and concepts of the dream in the age of Shakespeare. You have three options:
1. Join us for a YOUTUBE WATCH PARTY. Enjoy the production on Sunday afternoon and join our discussion after a break. (YouTube watch parties require an extension on your Chrome browser. Registrants will receive notice of the time of the watch party and instructions on requesting admission. The production lasts about 2 hours 20 minutes.)
2. Watch this history-making production in advance at National Theatre At Home YouTube any time from 2 pm EDT June 25 to June 28 and join our discussion on the 28th.
3. Join our discussion on June 28th as preparation for viewing the show on YouTube between then and 2 pm EDT Thursday July 2 when the stream ends. But be aware: There will be spoilers!
(National Theatre At Home schedules may be subject to change. This Revolve / Rhizome DC co-production is not associated with National Theatre Live.)
FIND National Theatre At Home’s announcement here: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/nt-at-home-a-midsummer-nights-dream
And a trailer sharing some dazzling and funny moments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBuHVFh2crU
(The active link to the stream will not appear at National Theatre At Home YouTube until about a day before the stream begins on June 25.)
This is for real a special event. Like any production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it’s meant for anyone of any age who enjoys theater—be aware that some of the comedy is very bawdy. Not a production for families that worry about their kids asking, “Mommy, why are those men kissing?”
Bernard Welt is Professor Emeritus at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at the George Washington University, where he taught courses in general humanities, film studies, and creative writing, as well as a course on contemporary revisions of Shakespeare in production. He is the author of Mythomania: Fantasies, Fables, and Sheer Lies in Contemporary American Popular Art (Art issues Press). In 2019, he delivered a talk on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the dream in the age of Shakespeare in conjunction with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Dreambridge, and the International Association for the Study of Dreams.