Of all Billy Shakespeare's comedies, Midsummer Night's Dream is arguably the most popular one and it's coming to Cité des Arts, this weekend and next, courtesy of non-profit community theatre company AUI/AURA.
Of all Billy Shakespeare's comedies, Midsummer Night's Dream is arguably the most popular one and it's coming to Cité des Arts, this weekend and next, courtesy of non-profit community theatre company AUI/AURA.
Directed by Cody Daigle and Cara Hayden and starring a cast of locals that range in age from 7 years old to their seventieth decade, Midsummer is a fun, fast-moving play that relies on magic and misunderstandings to form the intersecting plots.
Four young lovers are going through a forest and get tangled up, by no faults of their own, with Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, respectively. The male fairies fall in line with their king and the female with their queen, as the royal couple are in the midst of a heated argument. The sparring fairy brigades try to help the humans through magic because seem to them helpless and this is why the trouble and comedy starts.
AUI was started in 1999 by mother-daughter team Gloria and Cookie Breaux. Since then AUI, now in partnership with AURA, has produced and hosted original works by local playwrights as well as the classics in theatres all around Acadiana. The music in this version of Midsummer was written by members of its cast incorporating the Bard's words with their music. Duncan Thistlewaite designed the set.
If you have little ones you don't think can sit through a whole Shakespeare play, try them out?There are enough children comprising this performance that they will be enchanted by seeing their peers on stage as well as the fantastic costumes, sets and even the language.
You can see AUI/AURA presents Midsummer Night's Dream at Cite des Arts starting tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday for a 3 p.m. matinée. Subsequent evenings of 7:30 p.m. performances are on July 28, 29 and 30 as well as August 4, 5 and 6. There is one more matineé on July 31 at 3 p.m. Go to Cité's website here for more information or to purchase tickets.