“The course of true love never did run smooth,” says Lysander in A MidSummer Night’s Dream. We saw the romantic comedy during its current run at Shakespeare in the Ruins performed in its traditional venue at a former Trappist monastery just outside of Winnipeg.
And in the play ‘the course of true love does not run smooth’ with the characters running into all sorts of troubles before they are finally reunited with the person they are destined to love.
The theme of the play is relatable. In real life the course of true love has its twists and turns and highs and lows and challenging times as well as mountain top experiences.
This summer’s rendition of the play by Shakespeare in the Ruins brings across the theme well and is entertaining.
But as I watched I couldn’t help but be reminded of a version of the play I saw a decade ago when the Shakespeare in the Ruins Company performed A MidSummer Night’s Dream in Central Park just a short distance from my downtown home.
I loved the way families who lived nearby came over to see the show
and neighbourhood children stopped their soccer games enthralled by the action.
I loved the way one little girl refused to remove herself from the stage so the actors ad-libbed and included her in the show.
I loved the way they used the iconic Waddell Fountain in Central Park as their stage and called up a kid from the audience to be The Wall in the play.
I loved that it was adapted to be a quick 85 minutes long, half as long as this year’s version but still with plenty of time to tell the story despite its many twists and turns.
Most of all I loved that it was a free show bringing a live theatre performance into Winnipeg’s most densely populated neighbourhood and making it accessible to everyone.
As I sat watching and laughing at this year’s Shakespeare in the Ruins production of A MidSummer Night’s Dream I kept wishing EVERYONE in Winnipeg could see it just like they could a decade ago when it was performed in Central Park.
This year’s performance was just fine but I have to say I LOVED the version they did in 2014!
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