Children’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, The

Synopsis
A near-complete version of the play using 350 children from primary schools in Southwark, with no acting experience, as cast, extras and behind-the-scenes helpers. Designed, directed and filmed by Christine Edzard in her studio on Rotherhide. It begins with a group of contemporary schoolchildren watching lifesize puppets perform the play, and gradually some turn into characters they identify with, acting it out in an enchanted wood. Filmed around schoolwork over a period of nine months.
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Film
Technical information
Colour / Sound
Year of release
2002
Duration
118 mins; 10.644 feet

Credits

Writer
William Shakespeare
Cast
Dominic Haywood-BengeOberon
Rajouana ZalalTitania
Leane LysonPuck (Robin Goodfellow)
Daniel RousePeter Quince
Danny BishopLysander
David JoyceFrancis Flute
Hassan LahrechSnug
Jack NottageTom Snout
Jamie PeacheyHermia
Jessica FowlerHelena
John HeyfronDemetrius
Mathew ZelicRobin Starveling
Oliver SzczypkaNick Bottom

Additional Details

Production type
Fiction Films
Historical period
Elizabethan
Plays
Midsummer Night’s Dream, A
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
drama in education; schoolchildren; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Multicultural casting; Untrained actors

Notes

Notes
Budget $1.2
Documentation
Reviewed in the TLS, 29/6/2001
Reviews
`Producing The Children’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (2001): A Discussion with Oliver Stockman’. in Hatchuel, Sarah & Vienne-Guerrin, Nathalie (eds). Shakespeare on Screen: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Publications de l’Université de Rouen, 2004, pp115-28. [Includes comments on the children’s experience as actors, the generational and racial codes of the play, and the ethical issue surrounding enlisting untrained children to speak the complicated and sometimes sexually charged lines of Shakespeare’s play without understanding them].

Publisher

Name

Sands Films

Distributor

Name

Retail outlets

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "Children’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, The". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av34325 (Accessed 26 Nov 2024)