ON THE SUBJECT
A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Stephen Heatley
With original music by Patrick Pennefather
September 20-29, 2007
Frederic Wood Theatre
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, CANADA
All shows start at 7:30 p.m.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM By William Shakespeare
Directed by Stephen Heatley
Original Music by Patrick Pennefather
An intoxicating elixir of passion, magic and mischief makes our season opener one of Shakespeare’s most erotic plays. Like a shape-shifting fairy A Midsummer Night’s Dream changes form every time it is produced, often reflecting sensibilities of time and place. Theatre at UBC spares the rose petals to conjure a darkly comic Dream that is urban and gritty. This modern consciousness calls for other transformations, explains director Stephen Heatley. “When this play was first produced, the cultural imperative was such that boys played the female parts and in 2007 the reality is that there are not nearly enough roles – particularly in classical works – for women.”
"I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was." - Act 3
William Shakespeare [1564 – 1616] was the foremost literary talent of his age and a genius whose creative achievement has never been surpassed in any era. Influences on A Midsummer Night’s Dream are wildly eclectic and include classical Greek mythology, English fairy lore, Italianate love intrigue, and Elizabethan amateur theatricals. The action ignites when a magic love potion enthralls two sets of lovers, an amateur theatrical group, the King and Queen of the fairies - and not least of all, the audience who are transported to a midsummer night in a mysterious forest.
"Nothing before ( Dream) is its equal and in some respects nothing by him afterward surpasses it. It is his first undoubted masterwork, without flaw.” - Harold Bloom, Yale Sterling Prof. of Humanities, Literary & Cultural Critic
Director Stephen Heatley is also Theatre at UBC’s Program Chair. Before joining the faculty at UBC, he spent twelve seasons as Artistic Director of Edmonton's Theatre Network where he directed over thirty world premieres. Heatley was Associate Artistic Director of one of Canada’s very finest theatres, the Citadel, and he has directed for numerous companies in Edmonton, Saskatoon and across Canada. This summer he traveled to Turin, Italy to direct the World Premiere of Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Roald Hoffman’s compelling new work Should've - a play about the social responsibility of scientists and artists, at the 41st Annual International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Congress.
“…a radiant dream of the possibilities of theater.” – The New York Times, August 24, 2007
A Midsummer Night’s Dream features original music by award winning composer & adjunct professor Patrick Pennefather and showcases the work of BFA Acting Candidates Sarah Afful, Spencer Atkinson, Shaun Aquiline, Yoshie Bancroft, Hilary Fillier, Nick Fontaine, Gord Myren, Maura Halloran, Kim Harvey, Kate Hilderman, Aslam Husain, Courtney Lancaster, and Cecile Roslin. The Dream design team includes MFA Design Candidate Jen Darbellay [Costumes], BFA Design Candidate Lauchlin Johnston [Set and Lights] with BFA Candidate Julian Penzendorfer [Stage Manager].
Director’s Notes - Stephen Heatley
I thought there were parts of this delightful comedy that were scarier and more cruel than other productions of the play I have seen
This play is arguably Shakespeare’s most produced and best-loved comedy. If you are a regular theatre-goer and have seen a few of Shakespeare’s plays, you are likely to have seen A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM before, perhaps several times. It makes sense. The play is accessible, has a compelling storyline and is full of charm…and charms. The first time I had any contact with the play was as a first year theatre student, seeing a group of traveling actors who did a program of theatrical excerpts from 
famous plays. They included the “Piramus and Thisbe” extract from Act V of DREAM. I thought it was one of the funniest things I had ever seen. We have decided to include it as the opening production of the Theatre at UBC season for lots of reasons. It provides wonderful design, production and acting challenges for theatre students and it is a great play to put on the curriculum of many English and Theatre courses. The reason I wanted to direct is because I had a hunch about it. I thought there were parts of this delightful comedy that were scarier and more cruel than other productions of the play I have seen (including a production I directed fourteen years ago). There are elements of the play’s structure that I didn’t understand but was fascinated by. These are good reasons, as far as I am concerned, to tackle a play, particularly in a university setting. The entire company has dug into these textual questions with energy and enthusiasm and I am grateful for everyone’s contribution in the search for answers. I hope our search provides an engaging evening in the theatre for you.
You will notice that we have mixed up the casting in regards to gender
You will notice that we have mixed up the casting in regards to gender. In Shakespeare’s time (late 16th, early 17th centuries), the cultural reality disallowed women from performing on London stages. The characters in Shakespeare’s company were all performed by men and boys. Although Shakespeare 
wrote extraordinarily rich and nuanced female characters, he just didn’t write very many of them. As it comes down to us in the 21st century, our cultural reality is that there are never enough good roles for women to play in classical theatre. So, we have decided in our production to address the difference in these cultural realities by mixing up the casting pool. All the characters remain the same sex as Shakespeare wrote them. We have just introduced our own rules around the sex of the actor playing each role. Actors are actors and the challenge for anyone playing a role is to find a way to empathize with their character and present that person as faithfully as possible. We have just added the challenge for some of our actors that they have to empathize with and present a character of the opposite sex. In this way, we have rebalanced the issue of “not enough roles for women” and given everyone in this talented graduating class something challenging to do.
Although it is already September, I hope you enjoy A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.
Stephen Heatley
