Dreams and nightmares

I’ve been re-visiting Shakespeare lately – amazed anew that his themes of politics and power transfer so well, over 400 years, to life today. Actually it was the weather that most recently transferred. Funnily enough, a freezing snowy night at my local Questors Theatre was just right for A Midsummer Night’s Dream which was written in 1595, when England was suffering from the worst summer weather for decades:   

“And thorough this distemperature we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Far in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,
And on old Hiems' thin and icy crown
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set.”

Of course, as a comedy, the Dream is delightfully light of touch but the first scene declamation by Egeus about  his daughter, Hermia, sent shivers up my spine.

“As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Which shall be either to this gentleman
Or to her death, according to our law”

That dictatorial power of a father over a daughter, especially for one with no prospect of financial independence, still echoes in many households today. 

From Puck and those fairies, I flew to a very hard landing on another cold night, to Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre, represented in a contemporary world of plotting, assassination and civil war. This noisy, menacing production brings alive frightening scenes of intrigue, murder and mob manipulation – all very easily re-imagined in the world of politics around the world today.

My next planned Shakespearean treat is Macbeth at the National Theatre. I’m expecting gruesome psychodrama – ooooh – just right for hopefully, a hot June evening out!