BareBones Youth Past Production
A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare
adapted by Dave Baldwin
The Production
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The company's last production was presented as the culmination of a five day summer workshop at the magnificent Bishopswood House. Twenty-nine young people took part in an open air production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Whilst the script had been adapted and shortened to a running time of approximately one and a quarter hours, the dialogue was unchanged. All of the characters in the original were retained and four narrators or 'scene setters' in the guise of air hostesses were used to lead an audience around the setting.
The weather throughout the five day workshop was superb, so all of us, armed with hats and sun cream, were able to spend six hours a day in the beautiful extensive grounds surrounding the house. We identified ten separate areas in the grounds to form our scene locations and organised our exits and entrances. Then, by positioning loudspeakers at appropriate sites, we planned any musical accompaniment and our cueing system. Penny, a dedicated costume designer/maker, spent four days on site at a sewing machine to provide a delightful range of costumes, and Dickie was on site to make and scrounge required props. The actors were directed by Dave and Margaret and the whole project came together in time for the Thursday evening's performance.
On Thursday evening, around one hundred and thirty people assembled in the car park, and at 6.30pm were ushered to the house for the start of the production. It was presented as a promedade piece and the audience were conducted from location to location by the 'air hostesses'. The young actors performed magnificently and earned a very enthusiastic response.
At the end of the production, awards of 'Actor and Actress of the Week' were made to Lewis Jones and Katherine Wills, and 'Actors Actor' (voted for by the cast) was made to Phoebe Mills. Then many of the audience stayed to picnic in the grounds to complete another magical experience at Bishopswood House.
Cast and Crew
The Cast
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The Crew
| Stage Manager | Richard Worrall |
| ASM | Margaret Baldwin |
| Sound | Ian Pauley |
| Costume | Penelope Timms |
Our grateful thanks to the Freeman family for allowing us the use of the magnificent Bishopswood House
