Arts preview: A Midsummer Night's Dream as it was in Shakespeare's day

A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare's Globe Shakespeare's Globe in London has undergone some dramatic changes since Dominic Dromgoole took over as artistic director in 2005. "We've done a lot of new plays here, as well as the Shakespeare. We've also expanded our touring, and we've built a new theatre. It has been a thrilling helter-skelter ride, building the company," he says in his office, attached to what is now a twin-theatre complex. The open-air Globe opened in 1997, realising — posthumously — American actor-director Sam Wanamaker's dream of recreating the experience of watching Shakespeare's plays in the kind of theatre in which they were originally performed. Last January, a second performance space, called the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, opened in the Southwark complex. This is a reconstruction of another Elizabethan theatre, the Blackfriars Theatre. It's indoors, so plays can be presented all year round. Dromgoole says the Globe is running seven productions — four in the outdoor theatre and three in the indoor playhouse — and has productions of Hamlet opening in Kazakhstan and King Lear in New York. "We do a lot of travelling. We are trying to get our production of Hamlet into every country in the world in two years. It has so far played in about 50 countries, but China is a new territory [for the play]," he says. The Globe's touring production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which Dromgoole directed, was performed in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou, and it has since visited Taipei, Kaohsiung, Russia and Singapore. It will be performed at the Academy for Performing Arts Lyric Theatre from November 19 to 23, and then goes on to Beijing. "I think we were all nervous," says Dromgoole. The company brought The Taming of the Shrew to the Academy for Performing Arts last year. "We didn't know how well people knew the play and we didn't know whether people would feel intimidated by the classical tradition, and feel like they had to be well behaved. But we were thrilled by the vitality of the response, the youthful age of the audience, the excitement at the story and the vocal nature of the response." The play was performed with Chinese surtitles, but he says the English was understood. "Some of the questions we were asked about the text, and the way we presented it, were learned and sophisticated. The audience clearly knew the play inside out. There was a great knowledge of English, and there is obviously an appetite for Shakespeare, which makes it very enjoyable to play," he says. The surtitles are an unusual concession to technology. The Globe's touring productions try to replicate the experience of sitting — or standing — in the Globe itself in Shakespeare's day. This is easier at open air venues such as Fort Canning Park in Singapore than in the Lyric Theatre. But Dromgoole says the set is closely modelled on the stage of the Globe, so it is still possible to get the essence of the experience across. "We keep the lights up on the audience, so that the feeling of being in the open air and under the sun is retained. We try to not use lighting changes and recorded sound, and it's still the actors who are in charge of the storytelling," Dromgoole says. The original London production has been modified for touring. "Live music, which is such a big part of everything we do here, is a part of that show as well, and we've adapted the score to add a lot of Chinese instruments," he says. This is partly out of deference to the countries the company visits, but it's also historically accurate, he adds. "Four hundred years ago there was a huge amount of touring outside of England, and the company would pick up local musicians and sort of jam with the band. We are trying to retain something of that. Also, a lot of Chinese instruments are fantastic at describing the journey into the forest, which is a huge part of A Midsummer Night's Dream. They seem to speak for that very naturally and very easily." The play, which was first performed in the 1590s, is one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, and Dromgoole's interpretation was well received when staged at The Globe last year. "It's always an enormous success [in England] because it's such a fantastic, joyous central part of our own culture. But I think we discovered some new energy and some fresh meanings in it. We hugely enjoyed playing it," he says. The lead roles of Titania/Hippolyta and Oberon/Theseus are played by Janie Dee and Aden Gillett, and the cast is mostly new to the production. "The lovely thing about the Globe is we don't worry about previous productions. We always treat every Shakespeare play as new. As if it's never been done before and has just landed on your lap," explains Dromgoole. HKAPA Lyric Theatre, 1 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, November 19-22, 7.30pm, November 22 and 23, 2.30pm. HK$395-HK$795 HK Ticketing. Inquiries: 2547 7150

Arts preview: A Midsummer Night's Dream as it was in Shakespeare's day

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Shakespeare's Globe in London has undergone some dramatic changes since Dominic Dromgoole took over as artistic director in 2005.

Shakespeare's Globe in London has undergone some dramatic changes since Dominic Dromgoole took over as artistic director in 2005.