Street-dance and eighties culture in modernised version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Fylde acting students and street dance crew breathe new life into the Shakespeare comedy classic at Blackpool’s Old Electric on 20 and 21 May.
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Eighties culture meets Shakespeare in a fast-paced, fun-filled version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

DREAM takes the plot and characters from the Shakespeare comedy classic, but is set in the colourful era of striking workers, yuppies, gender- fluidity and vogue ballroom culture.

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Blackpool street dance crew, House of Wingz, will bring their energetic routines and tricks to the fairy kingdom. Acting roles are provided by drama students at Blackpool & the Fylde School of Arts.

Rehearsals for DREAM at The Old ElectricRehearsals for DREAM at The Old Electric
Rehearsals for DREAM at The Old Electric

The Electric Sunshine Project (TESP) will bring the rude mechanicals to life in their play-within-a-play performance. The Community Theatre company aims to make the arts more accessible.

Melanie Whitehead, TESP Artistic Director, said: “Dream is the perfect show for right now; on the one hand it’s a beautiful world of escapism, on the other it’s an insight into coercive control and power dynamics in relationships.”

Melanie previously worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company and wanted to make this version of the play unique.

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“For plenty of people, the very mention of Shakespeare can be a turn-off. Our aim is always to provide opportunities for audiences to be entertained but also to plant some thought seeds too”

DREAM is on at The Old Electric theatre, Springfield Road, Blackpool.

Performances are at 7pm on Friday 20 May and 2pm and 7pm on Saturday 21 May 2022. Tickets are £7 and the show is 90 minutes.

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