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Act Up Theatre Company presents:
William Shakespeare's A Midsummer
Night's Dream
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August 15,16,17 BOOKED
FULL
Produced
by the Act Up Theatre Company in the Second Life® virtual
world, and in the live theatre tradition of "In
the Pink", "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare.
One of Shakespeare's
best-loved and well-known plays, it portrays the adventures
of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors,
their interactions with the Duke and Duchess of Athens, Theseus
and Hippolyta, and with fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest.
"A Midsummer
Night's Dream" is one of Shakespeare's most popular works
for the stage and is widely performed across the world.
Click
here for show times and details - All Shows are now fully
booked. We apologise for any inconveniance
Teleport
to Ivy Falls: secondlife://Ivy+Falls/197/46/30/
Media
Release:
Designers and Performers bring virtual
magic to 'Midsummer'
A collaboration
of artists and designers in the Second Life® virtual world
are breathing new life and love into one of William Shakespeare's
most popular comedies, and staging it live, for a global,
online audience this month.
"A
Midsummer Night's Dream" is a production of the Act Up
Theatre Company, in association with Ivy Falls Talent, and
is set to impress with three spectacular performances in August.
Director
Marin Mielziner has been working with a large cast and crew
transforming the bard's famous work into a (virtual) reality,
while production manager Rekka Berchot has raised and constructed
a large-scale stage that promises to wow audiences!
The addition
of voice capabilities to the Second Life® virtual world
has made posible theatre productions such as this, which will
feature live actors, connected from around the world, behind
each and every character.
Mielziner,
an accomplished director in her 'first-life', has been coaching
the cast online for weeks leading up to the show, and is polishing
their performances as Berchot's construction literally grows
around them.
The set
- a dark and twisted forest clearing - has been custom-built
using a variety of unique textures, scripts, and sculpted
objects, and will not be fully revealed to audiences until
the first performance on August 15, 2008.
Production
Information
Venue
A custom-designed
space utilizing new textures, flexi and sculpty prims has
been constructed at Ivy Falls to house the production in an
amphitheatre setting accommodating medium to alrge audiences
with minimal lag.
Sponsors
The Act Up Theatre Company and Ivy Falls gratefully acknowledge
the sponsorship contributions of D.E Designs, Exile,
Omituiset/LiveYourFairytale
store, Organica Specialty Trees, Eclectic Home and Fae
Faire and garden Shops,
Audience
Information
Audiences will arrive at the courtyard of the Ivy Falls Theatre,
where they will be briefed prior to each performace by an
usher. It is important that all audience members have voice
enabled, but MUST have their
microphones turned off.
Special outfits for those who wish to participate and blend
into the set will be provided. These free designs will become
collectors' items! We request that guests limit their prim
attachments to help reduce server demands and enable a smooth
presentation for others.
Programmes in the form of in-world books will also be provided.
There is no charge for attendance - however opportunities
to donate to the production are welcome and can be made prior
to, or following the show.
-
Please contact Rekka Berchot for advance reservations
About
the Play
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is usually dated 1595
or 1596. Some suggest that the play might was written for
an aristocratic wedding, though this suggestion may arise
from the "play within a play' in the final act. Certainly
it would make for an interesting experience in self-reflective
narrative has this been Shakespeare's intention. Others argue
that the play was written for Queen Elizabeth I to celebrate
the feast day of St. John.
In any case, it would have been performed at The Theatre and,
later, The Globe in London.
Some features
of the plot and characters can be traced to elements of earlier
mythologically-based literature - particularly that of Ancient
Greece. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe which plays out in
the final act is told in Ovid's "Metamorphoses"
and the transformation of Bottom into an ass is descended
from Apuleius' "The Golden Ass". Lysander is an
ancient Greek warlord while Theseus and Hippolyta were respectively
the Duke of Athens and Queen of the Amazons. Some speculate
that Shakespeare was also working on "Romeo and Juliet"
at about the same time that he wrote "A Midsummer Night's
Dream", and as a result, the characters of Pyramus and
Thisbe could be interpreted as a comic reworking of the tragic
play.
Synopsis
It is
Theseus the Duke of Athen's wedding, and as he and his fiance
Hippolyta prepare for their nuptials, he is approached by
an angry father, Egeus, whose daughter Hermia refuses to comply
with his wish for her to marry his chosen man, Demetrius.
Instead she elopes with her lover Lysander and informs her
best friend Helena. But Helena has recently been rejected
by Demetrius and decides to win back his favour by revealing
the plan to him.
They retreat to an enchanted forest where a lover's quarrel
between Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies,
is unfolding over posession of an Indian boy.
Oberon seeks to punish Titania and recruits the mischievous
Puck to help him apply a magical juice from a flower which
makes the victim fall in love with the first living thing
seen upon awakening. He instructs Puck to retrieve the flower
so that he can make Titania fall in love with some vile creature
of the forest.
Having seen Demetrius act cruelly toward Helena, Oberon orders
Puck to spread some of the elixir on the eyelids of the young
Athenian man. Instead, Puck accidentally puts the juice on
the eyes of Lysander, who then falls in love with Helena.
Due to Puck's errors, both lovers now fight over Helena instead
of Hermia. The four pursue and quarrel with each other most
of the night, until they become so enraged that they seek
a place to duel each other to the death to settle the quarrel.
Oberon orders Puck to keep the lovers from catching up with
one another in the forest and to re-charm Lysander for Hermia,
to prevent them all from killing each other.
Meanwhile, a band of labourers have arranged to perform a
crude play for Theseus' wedding, and venture into the forest,
near Titania's bower, for their rehearsal.
Nick Bottom, a stage-struck weaver, is spotted by Puck, who
transforms his head into that of an ass. Titania is awakened
by Bottom's singing and immediately falls in love with him.
While in this state of devotion, she encounters Oberon and
casually gives him the Indian boy. Having achieved his goals,
Oberon releases Titania and orders Puck to remove the ass's
head from Bottom. The magical enchantment is removed from
Lysander but is allowed to remain on Demetrius, so that he
may reciprocate Helena's love.
The fairies then disappear, and Theseus and Hippolyta find
the lovers during an early morning hunt. Theseus over-rules
Egeus's demands and arranges a group wedding. The lovers decide
that the night's events must have been a dream. After they
all exit, Bottom awakes, and he too decides that he must have
experienced a dream.
Ivy Falls is proud to partner with the Act Up Theatre Company
to stage this unique live theatre performance
and is committed to the production and promotion of live events
and arts in
the
Second Life® virtual world.
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