Shakespeare BASH'd Brings A Fresh Take To A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Co-Artistic Director James Wallis and Associate Artistic Director Catherine Rainville helm this inventive and fresh production of a dream filled world familiar to many audiences.

With the experience and knowledge from a decade of directing and performing Shakespeare, Rainville and Wallis aim to take everything audiences think they know about this story and challenge expectations, presenting a Dream built in the BASH'd style, using the unique talents and life experiences of the company. The Monarch Tavern, one of the company's favourite bars, provides the perfect location for a drunken dream of lovers, fairies, and magic.

Returning to the stage after a year at the Stratford Festival as the assistant director of Privates Lives as part of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction, Co-Artistic Director Julia Nish-Lapidus takes on the celebrated comic lead of Bottom. Marrying her experience with the text and love of clown, this Bottom is bursting with joy and is a true exaltation of love of the theatre!

Along-side a female Bottom, the fairies are composed of an all-woman powerhouse ensemble: Zara Jestadt, as Titania, hails from two seasons at the Stratford Festival (An Ideal Husband, The Changeling). Kate McArthur (three seasons at Company of Fools) plays the jealous Oberon, and Michelle Mohammed (Mahabharata workshops - Shaw Festival) takes on the mischievous sprite Puck.

This stacked cast is joined by an incredible ensemble, bringing their hearts to the roles of the Lovers, and their passion and silliness to the Mechanicals.

BASH'd first tackled this play in 2011 in a staged reading. Now almost a decade later, with a company of talented actors bringing their contemporary selves to this ethereal classic, Midsummer promises to be a dream unlike any you've seen before.

Tickets available for $20 online at www.shakespearebashd.com and $25 at the door.