A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Will Be Performed as Part of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's Stage2 Series

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Stage2 Series will present Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for two public performances on Friday, March 15 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, March 16 at 2:00 pm at The Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road, Boston. CSC will also welcome students from 40+ local schools at seven student matinee performances, March 14-15 and 18-21, 2024.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most fanciful and enchanting comedies, telling the tale of four bewitched lovers as they reckon with jealousy, desperation, and the complications of true love. CSC’s Stage2 returns to the Strand Theatre for the third consecutive year, one of Boston’s hidden jewels which serves as a cultural and educational resource for all. 

We have all been told those famous bedtime stories of young heroes who adventure into the forest, encountering magic and mystery on the way to their happily ever after. But in real life, our own stories are much more complicated. Magic comes with a cost, and not every mystery has a perfect solution. What power do we have when what makes us happy is not quite what we thought it would be? This year’s Midsummer will take audiences to a darker wood, where powerful fairies turn our familiar narratives of love, competition, camaraderie, and fantasy upside down. Lullabies are more ‘lit’, some trees have thorns, and sweet dreams will never be quite the same.

"Midsummer was the first play I read in school,” shares Director Victoria Townsend,”and it’s a great introduction to Shakespeare. It contains so many themes we recognize from the earliest stories we’re told as children, and for this production I’m interested in looking more critically at these traditional narratives. What happens when the story that seemed so clear and fun when we were kids becomes a lot more complicated as we grow up and look deeper? Our Midsummer inhabits a darker forest full of both possibilities and perils that invite us to interrogate everything we thought was true. I hope our audiences will leave empowered to be conscious consumers, not just of the stories we tell at bedtime or those in great literature, but everywhere that narratives are crafted today. "

Tickets are $20; Discounted $15 tickets are available for Students/Seniors; $50 Family Four-Packs; all tickets are General Admission. Tickets can be purchased at commshakes.org.

Free Tickets are also available through Mass Cultural Council's Card to Culture program in collaboration with the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Department of Public Health's WIC Nutrition Program, and the Massachusetts Health Connector.

All Performances are Open-Captioned and run approximately 100 minutes with no intermission. For additional information on access services, email audienceservices@commshakes.org.

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