Ein Sommernachtstraum

Universitätsring 2

1010 Wien

 

German by Angela Schanelec, Jürgen Gosch and Wolfgang Wiens

The night begins with a father's death threat against his daughter. This drives two lovers into the Athenian forest, where they are enchanted by elves whose genders cannot be classified, so that each loves one of the others. Craftsmen are also out in the forest rehearsing a tragedy with a lion that one should not be afraid of. And the royal couple of the elves fight over an Indian boy and cause the rivers to overflow their banks...

The 400-year past of Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM has a lot to tell us about our crisis-ridden present. The climate catastrophes of that time, the defense of patriarchal systems of power against gender-fluid identities and even trigger warnings in the theater are part of Shakespeare's most frequently performed comedy. But it is also a timeless piece about play and the power of transformation. In the Athens Forest, one man's dream becomes another man's nightmare. Shakespeare conjures up a nocturnal state of mind in which people no longer dare to cross paths and begin to question feelings and certainties. They experience all types of love and struggle to find their language. At the end of the extravagant fantasy night, the lovers wake up in shame from that “counterworld” of Athens. But not everyone is transformed back. The magic of the theater hopefully continues.

 

(Source: burgtheater.at)