FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR SHAKESPEARE IN THE SQUARES’ A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Shakespeare In The Sqaures will be touring London Squares and Parks this summer from 19th June to 11th July 2019 

TICKETS: www.shakespeareinthesquares.co.uk

Shakespeare in the Squares announce the full cast for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the company’s fourth production touring London’s glorious private squares and gardens. Tatty Hennessy directs Gemma Barnett (Hermia/Snug/Fairy), Paul Giddings (Theseus/Oberon/Quince), Jodie Jacobs (Bottom/Egeus), Sioned Jones (Hippolyta/Titania), David Leopold (Lysander/Starveling), Riad Ritchie (Demetrius/Snout), Hannah Sinclair Robinson (Helena/Flute) and James Tobin (Puck/Philostrate).

Shakespeare’s wild play of love and magic is transplanted to 1920s Britain, a country bruised by battle and economic hardship where our lovers chafe against the constraints and conventions of an older generation and seek to find freedom in the forest. There they stumble upon a riotous world untouched by time, still revelling in illusion. Moonlight suffuses this drama, bringing romance and a touch of madness – even in an oppressive world, all manner of things can happen under cover of night.

Gemma Barnett plays Hermia/Snug/Fairy. Her theatre credits include A Hundred Words For Snow (VAULT Festival/Trafalgar Studios), Lola(VAULT Festival), Cinderella: A Wicked Mother of A Night Out (UK tour), Flog (Camden People’s Theatre), Roosting (Park Theatre), Oil and Matter(The Bunker), Cousins (Soho Theatre) and Spring Storm (The North Wall)

Paul Giddings plays Theseus/Oberon/Quince. His theatre credits include Time and Tide (Park Theatre), People Like Us (Union Theatre), Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Rose Theatre Kingston/UK tour), My Night with Reg (Apollo Theatre), The Vote (Donmar Warehouse), Handbagged (UK tour), The Mousetrap, The Woman In White,Besame Mucho (Charing Cross Theatre), 1000 Polar Bears On A Beach In Kent (Southwark Playhouse), Spitting Image, Superman and Me(King’s Head Theatre), Entertaining Mr. Orton(Arcola Theatre), Clench (Greenwich Theatre) andBe Civil, Disobey (Lost Theatre). His television credits include The Vote; and for film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle and The Hippopotamus.

Jodie Jacobs renews her collaboration with Shakespeare in the Squares to play Bottom/Egeus, having appeared in As You Like It. Other credits include Unexpected Joy,Bananaman and Carrie (Southwark Playhouse),Dick Whittington (Lyric Hammersmith), Myth (The Other Palace), Lizzie (Greenwich Theatre),Disaster – The Musical (Charing Cross Theatre),Oliver! (Grange Park Opera), Rock of Ages(Garrick Theatre), Footloose, The Wedding Singer(UK and Ireland tour), We Will Rock You(Dominion Theatre), Fame (Aldwych Theatre),Evita (Adelphi Theatre) and Little Shop of Horrors(Duke of York’s Theatre). Her work for television includes The Amazing World of Gumball and Drop Zone.

Sioned Jones plays Hippolyta/Titania. Her theatre credits include 13, Women Beware Women, All’s Well That Ends Well, Oedipus, Never So Good (National Theatre), A Woman of No Importance (Vaudeville Theatre), Lettice and Lovage (Menier Chocolate Factory), Shakespeare in Love (Noël Coward Theatre), Shadowlands (Novello Theatre/Wyndham’s Theatre), The Letter (Wyndham’s Theatre), Glorious! (Duchess Theatre), Tolstoy (Aldwych Theatre), Henry VI(Wales Millennium Centre), The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me (Birmingham Rep), 101 Dalmatians (The Castle Theatre) and Pippin and The Wild Party(Union Theatre). Her television credits include Cadfael; and for film, Happy Nowand Dark Signal.

David Leopold plays Lysander/Starveling. His theatre credits include Bury the Hatchet (The Hope Theatre), Late Company (Trafalgar Studios/Finborough Theatre), Muted (The Bunker), Burnt Part Boys (Park Theatre), Little Sure Shot (Theatre Royal Bath) and Uncle Vanya,Polar Bears and The Crucible (West Yorkshire Playhouse). 

Riad Ritchie plays Demetrius/Snout. His theatre credits include The Show in Which Hopefully Nothing Happens (Unicorn Theatre), Timon of Athens, Tartuffe, Tamburlaine (RSC), Macbeth,Frankenstein (Ovalhouse), Romeo and Juliet(Theatre Royal Bath) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (Tower of London)

Hannah Sinclair Robinson renews her collaboration with Shakespeare in the Squares as Helena/Flute, having appeared in Romeo and Juliet. Her theatre credits include Water Bread and Salt (Tangle International), Timothy (VAULT Festival) and Border Control (UK tour). Her television credits include Killer Cops; and for film,Urban Decay.

James Tobin plays Puck/Philostrate. His theatre credits include The Snow Queen, Finding Peter (Theatre N16), The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry IV, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors (Merely Theatre), Pyramus and Thisbe, MATES, The Wall (Rift Theatre), Valley of the Weird (VAULT Festival) and No Allergens (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch) 

Tatty Hennessy is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg and director. She continues her collaboration with Shakespeare in the Squares with A Midsummer Night’s Dream following her productions of As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet for the company. Her previous directing credits include her own adaptation of The Snow Queen (Theatre N16), a revival of her first play All That Lives (Ovalhouse Theatre) and Acorn (The Courtyard Theatre). Hennessy was the Baylis Assistant Director at The Old Vic in 2018, where she assisted on Max Webster’s production ofFanny & Alexander.  As a writer, she won the Heretic Voices competition in 2017 with her play A Hundred Words for Snow, which received an acclaimed production at the Arcola Theatre in 2018 before a run at Trafalgar Studios this year.

LISTINGS

All performances at 7pm unless stated 

Wednesday 19 June                        Leinster Square, W2
Thursday 20 June                            St James’s Gardens, W11
Friday 21 June                                 Norland Square, W11

Saturday 22 June                            Queen’s Park, NW6
Sunday 23 June                              Camden Square, NW1
Tuesday 25 June                             Arundel and Ladbroke Gardens, W11 2EP

Wednesday 26 June                       Paulton’s Square, SW3
Thursday 27 June                           St James’s Square, SW1
Friday 28 June                                Paddington Street, W1 (3pm matinee)
                                                        Paddington Street W1 (7pm evening)

Saturday 29 June                             Little Wormwood Scrubs Park, W10
Sunday 30 June                               Ladbroke Square Gardens, W11
Tuesday 2 July                                 Cornwall Gardens, SW7

Wednesday 3 July                            Connaught Square, W2
Thursday 4 July                                Elgin and Arundel Gardens, W11
Friday 5 July                                     Bedford Square, WC1 (Bedford Square Festival)

Saturday 6 July                                 St Peter’s Square, W6
Sunday 7 July                                   The Courtyard at le Gothique, Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, Wandsworth, SW18 (3pm matinee)
Tuesday 9 July                                 The Courtyard at le Gothique, Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, Wandsworth, SW18 (7pm evening)

Wednesday 10 July                          Formosa Garden, W9. (NB GARDEN)
Thursday 11 July                              Cleveland Square, W2

Photo Credit: James Millar