A wildly original take on Shakespeare’s magical romantic comedy; enchanted lovers, fools and fairies from the wilderness of Athens are transplanted to a nostalgia-tinged vision of Australian suburbia.
With four awkward teens entangled in a love quadrangle, a sextet of amateur drama enthusiasts rehearsing a play for a wedding, and the Godparents of the fairies locked in a bitter argument over an adopted child – which they seek to resolve through the careless application of dodgy witchcraft – 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a sensuous cocktail of strange, dark and hilarious. Emily Burton, who plays Helena is the show, explains the Bard's classic and how this adaption by Benjamin Schostakowski will have you wanting more.
Can you quickly summarise the original story of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'?The entire story is tricky to summarise quickly but I'll do my best! Lysander is in love with Hermia, Hermia is also in love with Lysander. Helena loves Demetrius, but Demetrius loves Hermia. When Lysander and Hermia are forbidden to marry they decide to run away and go through a forest. Helena and Demetrius follow. Meanwhile King Oberon and Queen Titania of the fairy world are arguing so Oberon decides to enlist his magical helper, Puck, to use a special flower to make her fall in love with the first thing she sees when waking from sleep. She later falls in love with Bottom (who is part of an amateur group of actors preparing to put on a play for the wedding of the Duke Theseus and his wife-to-be Hippolyta), whose head Puck turns into that of a donkey. Oberon and Puck also apply the magical flower on the lovers trying to solve their problems but only manage to make it worse. Chaos ensues. In the end Oberon orders Puck to remove the charm. They all wake up the next day thinking it was all a dream and their woes are solved. They return to Athens and everyone gets married along with Theseus and Hippolyta.
Now, describe Benjamin Schostakowski's adaption?
Without giving anything away, you can definitely expect this version of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' to have a few twists from the original version. Firstly, this play will be performed with only six actors, as opposed to it's full cast which would normally consist of around 14 actors. So that alone means some tweaking of interpretation and creative solving to make it work. Additionally, instead of the play being set in the forest, it will be set in Australian suburbia, and as a director, Ben has a fantastic eye for design and strong concepts, so you can expect the show to be absolutely beautiful to look at and very, very funny. Having already been in two productions of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' myself, I'm incredibly excited to be a part of this new version and I think audiences should be excited as well!
In depth, who is your character?The main character I will be playing is called Helena. She is one of the four lovers. Poor old Helena is an unfortunate victim of unrequited love with Demetrius, which I think as many people can sympathise with, is an agonising experience. She goes to extreme (often hilarious and shocking) lengths to try and win his affections. I think Helena, bless her, is the girl at school that never quite managed to fit in to the "cool kids" group. She was the girl who got picked last for the basketball team. She is someone who tries really, really hard and because of that, often falls short. There are definitely a lot of elements to Helena that I'd say I can strongly relate to! Well, that everyone can relate to for that matter! Staying true to the rules of comedy, with so many tragic traits, Helena becomes a very funny character to watch. As an actress, to get to play a character like Helena is just pure gold, so I'm extremely excited to get into rehearsals and start bringing her to life.
Fill in the blanks:
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' will … deliver with it's beautiful settings and larger-than-life characters … and leave you … breathless from laughter … but won't … kill you … and is surprisingly … tender.
Are you a fan of the Bard?
Absolutely. I'm such a fan. Shakespeare will never cease to amaze me with the beauty of language and the technical genius in his scripts.
Favourite poem/play by Shakespeare and why?
The list is long. But some top favourites are: 'Othello' (it's an absolute crime that we don't see more productions of Othello in Australia), 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (I'm not just saying that for this interview I promise!), and 'Hamlet' (very cliche of me, but some of the speeches in this play are just incredible).
Do you enjoy classic Shakespeare or Schostakowski-esque modern adaptions?
Personally, I far more enjoy watching and performing in modern adaptations. I fully support any decisions that directors and performers make to make their production more accessible and engaging for a modern-day audience. And I believe that's exactly what Ben Schostakowski is aiming for. However, having said that, I strongly believe that to be able to skilfully adapt Shakespeare and make it successful then you need to have a solid foundational understanding and respect of the more traditional or classic elements. You need to understand where something has come from before you can start to mess with it.
Your fav line in this show and why?At the moment it is Helena's line: “I am as ugly as a bear.” I just love this line because I feel like everyone at some point in their life has had their "I-am-as-ugly-as-a-bear" moment. Everyone can relate to that line.
Have you ever found yourself in a love quadrangle? Or triangle?
No, thank God!
Do you have experience with dodgy witchcraft?
Only from reading 'Harry Potter' books.
Do you find it easier to embrace a character who is humorous, evil, sweet or depressing?
Probably humorous, but I think depressing can fall under the "humourous" umbrella – again the tragedy is comedy rule. I seem to be gaining a bit of a reputation for playing humorous characters that also make people feel immense pity for them, which I must say, is incredibly fun to do.
You're a director and teacher as well as actress – which is most pleasing to you?
Definitely acting. While I thoroughly enjoy those other jobs, my heart will always be with acting. There's nothing else quite like it.
What do you hope people learn from you?
Hm. This is a tricky one. In the case of this production, I hope people will be able to learn from the character Helena. But when I am facilitating workshops I always hope that I can make people excited and passionate about theatre.
The most inspiring advice you've learned from someone else in the industry?
From actress Barbara Lowing – "In theatre, you never stop learning". Because of this I always try and approach new projects with an open mind and ready to try anything, which is often harder in practice! But I suppose this advice could be applied to any job. Or even life really! Look out, it's getting deep now.
Anything else readers should know?
Come along to the show! It will be a fantastic night out at the theatre. With an INCREDIBLE cast including the glorious Christen O'leary and the amazing Brian Lipson who are guaranteed to entertain, what more could you ask for?
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' plays at La Boite, 7 February – 7 March.
