Cast announced for A Midsummer Night’s Dream

20 Jun 2022 | General News

A magical experience that will transport audiences to an enchanted forest near Athens for a night of magic and mayhem, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream connects members of the local Hull community with theatre once again. Celebrating the messy business of love and one of Shakespeare's most popular and widely performed plays.  

The show will be directed by Tom Saunders, also known for the 2021 production Hull and High Water and Our Mutual Friend, part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017. Over 60 performers aged 11+ took to the stage to present this classic story by Charles Dickens, adapted by Bryony Lavery and transported to the banks of the river Humber. A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been created with the same intentions of putting local people and voices centre stage to present something large-scale, with all the high-quality values of a Hull Truck Theatre production.  

In this cast of 40+ people from Hull Truck Theatre’s local area, our aim has been to encourage people of all ages, from all backgrounds to come together to create a piece of theatre, in doing so discovering new or awakening old interests. The process has also been a chance for people to talk together about where they live, what they want to see and what they need from theatre, to be in a room with other local people with similar interests, providing a social environment to build relationships and inspire an interest in the arts, including the understanding of all areas of a production, the writing, choreography, costume and set design, directing and of course performing.  

Tom Saunders, director on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Associate Director of Creative Learning said:  

“This city is full of extremely talented people, so I’m delighted to be placing the voices of local people at the heart of Hull Truck Theatre’s 50th anniversary year. Shakespeare’s rich and beautiful language paired with Hull’s vibrant and creative communities will be an absolute treat.” 

At Hull Truck Theatre we champion members from our youth theatre alumni, our retired theatre makers in Act III and those who have not worked with us before who might have joined us in one or more of our taster workshops. This will be an exciting time for local participants who will be performing possibly for the very first time on the main stage at Hull Truck Theatre.   

We are committed to making sure that everyone can enjoy live theatre, whether as an audience member or by taking part. We passionately believe that theatre has the power to unlock creativity, spark joy, build confidence and encourage empathy and understanding of the world around us. Participants often make lasting connections and friendships, as well as having fun.  

Sadly, during the rehearsal period, we lost one of these friends, Hugh Newsome. Hugh was a long-standing member of Act III and greatly liked by participants and staff alike. We're grateful to everything he has contributed to the theatre and the performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Sat 9 July is in celebration of his memory.