Mercury Theatre Partners With S4K International For Musical A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Mercury Theatre, Colchester will partner with S4K International (Shakespeare 4 Kidz) to premiere a new actor-musician production of the company’s acclaimed musical adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The production will run at the Mercury from Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 October 2025 as part of the theatre’s autumn season before embarking on an international tour.

The Colchester engagement includes six performances: five daytime shows for schools and a special public evening performance on Wednesday, October 15. Alongside the performances, Shakespeare 4 Kidz will also deliver Creative Shakespeare Workshops for schools across Essex and Suffolk, expanding young audiences’ engagement with the Bard’s work.

First staged to five-star acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival in the late 1990s, S4K’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has toured extensively across the UK and internationally, including a 2007 debut in Dubai. The accessible musical retelling follows the Duke of Athens preparing to wed the Queen of the Amazons, while four young lovers, a band of amateur actors, and a quarrelling Fairy King and Queen all fall into a web of mayhem courtesy of the mischievous sprite Puck.

S4K Founder and Creative Director Julian Chenery said, “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Mercury Theatre on the revival of this S4K favourite and thrilled to reconnect with Mercury Senior Producer Antony Stuart-Hicks, who has performed as Peter Quince in several of our UK tours of the show.”

The show will travel from Colchester to the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation and Dubai’s Theatre by QE2, followed by performances in Qatar and Bahrain. Antony Stuart-Hicks added: “It’s literally a Dream to collaborate with the company again and launch their new international tour in association with Mercury Theatre.”

Performance Schedule

– Tuesday 14 October: 10:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m. (Schools)
– Wednesday 15 October: 10:30 a.m. (Schools) & 7:30 p.m. (Public evening performance)
– Thursday 16 October: 10:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m. (Schools)

Tickets

– Schools: £20 per student (1 free teacher for every 15 tickets)
– Wednesday evening: £30 / Family of 4: £100
(All tickets subject to a £2.50 levy)

Tickets go on sale to Mercury Theatre members on Tuesday, June 24 at 10 a.m. and to the general public on Friday, June 27 at 10 a.m. For schools bookings, email Dream@s4kinternational.com.

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