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In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the pompous actor Bottom has his head transformed into that of a donkey by the mischievous sprite known as Puck (or Robin Goodfellow, depending on how specific you want to get). Much hilarity ensues as Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, falls in love with him after being drugged with […]

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Hollywood, the Dream Factory, is the apt setting for the latest cinematic update on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Fran Kranz, Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe, and Rachael Leigh Cook are among the cast in the new Midsummer adaptation. HitFix has an exclusive early look at the film. The new vision of one of the Bard’s greatest comedies is set in present-day Hollywood, a place where glamorous stars, commanding moguls, starving artists, and vaulting pretenders all vie to get ahead. The Athenians are Hollywood glitterati, the mechanicals (Bottom and his troupe of wannabe actors) are film students, and the fairies of the forest are hippies in Topanga Canyon, nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains just east of Malibu. Staging or filming a Shakespeare project four centuries after the incomparable playwright lived and after countless artists have already mounted productions of his plays poses several challenges. (Yes, really four centuries,...

William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Directed by Christian Amato

The Theater Project

September 20-28, 2013 (Closed)

The Players Theater, MacDougal Street, NYC

Christian Amato's direction of A Midsummer Night’s Dream displays that he posses a comedic theatrical maturity far beyond what one might expect for a twenty-five year old director. Mr. Amato so accurately channeled the spirit of the 70's theater of John Vaccaro, Ron Tavel, and Charles Ludlum that upon leaving the theater I expected to be transported back to that raucous and innovative era, one in which the energy of The Village reflected the hoopla we were witnessing on stage. [Need I say I quickly woke up to the disappointment that it was 2013, and The Village and the world were now radically different.] Mr. Amato in his hilarious production, has recreated anew and in a contemporary context that which made devoted audiences keep returning for more works by the creators of the “ridiculous” mode in New York theater.

If the reader needs a refresher on the plot of his classic,...

New York -- There is life after Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. In her first New York stage venture since her rocky experience as the original director and co-creator of that Broadway blockbuster, Julie Taymor will return to her artistic roots with an Off Broadway production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Starring David Harewood (Homeland) as Oberon, Tina Benko as Titania, Max Casella as Bottom and Kathryn Hunter as Puck, the production will inaugurate Theatre for a New Audience's new home, the Center for Shakespeare and Classical Drama in Brooklyn.  Photos: Broadway Musicals That Have Sung

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Christina Ricci is to star in an off-Broadway production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The actress will play Hermia in the William Shakespeare-penned play in a limited run from March 28 to May 6. Tony Award winner Bebe Neuwirth will co-star with Ricci as Titania in the classic play, which was written in the 1590s. Ricci last starred on the New York stage with Laura Linney and Eric Bogosian in the 2010 production of Donald Margulies's Time Stands (more)...