Darker adaptation of Shakespeare comedy

A GROUP of actors, including Henley College alumni, are performing at Remenham parish hall this weekend with a gothic twist on a Shakespearean classic.

Midnight Circle Productions have devised A Midsummer Nightmare, adapted from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. directed by Cecilie Fray.

Actor Nadia Lamin, a Henley College alumnus, says: “We generally do gothic adaptations.”

The original Shakespeare play follows four lovers in a complex love triangle, with fairy king Oberon and his queen Titania in the background, using love potions.

The cast is nine-strong. Nadia plays Helena/Snug/Goblin and Niamh Handley-Vaughan plays Hermia/Snout Jr/Goblin.

Charlie MacRae-Tod plays Demetrius/Flute/Goblin, Daniel Pirie plays Lysander/Starveling/
Goblin, Chloe Orrock plays Oberon/Hippolyta, with Kennedy Jopson playing Titania/Egeus.

Jed McLoughlin is Bottom/Goblin, Sam Bird is Puck/Philostrate and Miles Blanch plays Quince/Goblin.

Niamh says: “This gothic twist in A Midsummer Nightmare is still fun but it kind of leans into some of the darker elements of the show. It’s all goblins that are inspired by English folklore.

“Instead of leaning into the pretty fairies prancing around, and it being light with Titania’s fairies, we’ve turned them into mischievous and antagonising goblins.

“It does also have immersive qualities and the audience feedback is that they felt like they were in the world with us.

“With the running gothic themes that already exist in Midsummer, we’ve kind of pinpointed those and drawn them out a little bit more.

“We’ve brought out the romance, the darker elements, the darker shadows within yourself, as people become more feral when they’re outside of society and go back to the wild a bit.”

Nadia, who grew up in Libya, came to Henley when she was 10 and went to Trinity Primary School and Gillotts School.

After studying performing arts at The Henley College, she went to East 15 Acting School in Essex.

Nadia says: “You become more animalistic and all societal norms drop, like etiquette. It’s a very physical piece as well and we work with a physical theatre company called Gecko.

“They come in and do a few days with us as movement directors and we also have fight choreography.

“We’re multi-roleing and one of the loveliest things that we had in the feedback was every single person mentioning how good the acting was from all of us and that the swapping of characters was really seamless.”

Four of the actors are from the Henley area.

Niamh says: “It’s just really special because both Nadia and I and Cecilie, the director, were Henley College students, so it’s really lovely to come home in that way and come back and do shows there.

“The show has renaissance-style costumes, so romantic and it’s very fun to watch. It’s very entertaining so people will have a great time.

“We’ve also got a lot of music in it. The music director is Miles Blanch, who is also a producer.”

Last summer, the company performed an immersive, outdoor interpretation of Wuthering Heights at the same venue. Niamh says: “It was really special because it was our last weekend of our tour and it was the perfect way to finish it.

“The audience was wonderful and it was so magical doing it at Remenham as it’s in the middle of the countryside and you feed off each other.”

Nadia adds: “It feels quite like bringing a lot of the community together, with lots of friends and people that we’ve known for years.

“We also pulled in a local mobile bar called Pingu, which will be selling cocktails in the names of the lovers. Whenever we go to a town, we want to include the community.”

The show is open air so audience members should bring seating, blankets and waterproofs if needed. The dress code is “goblincore”.

l Midnight Circle Productions presents A Midsummer Nightmare at Remenham parish hall tomorrow (Saturday) at 2pm and 7pm and on Sunday at 2pm. Tickets cost £22 and the show is suitable for ages 14 and over. For more information, visit linktr.ee/
midnightcircleproductions