Express & Star

Lichfield Garrick announce community play

Following on from the success of 2016 community musical The Hired Man, The Lichfield Garrick Theatre has announced 2017’s community musical – The Dreaming.

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Picture by: Pamela Raith

It’s a musical version of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Involving a cast of 70 local actors from Lichfield and the surrounding regions, this promises to be one of the musical theatre highlights of the summer.

With music by Howard Goodall, the composer of such well-known theme tunes as The Vicar of Dibley and Blackadder, and lyrics by Charles Hart (The Phantom of the Opera), The Dreaming was originally commissioned by the National Youth Music Theatre in 2001 to rave reviews.

The show has a distinctly spooky edge, mixed with superb comedy and, of course, as you would expect form Howard Goodall, some glorious tunes.

It’s a time for dreamers...A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595/96. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons.

These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare’s most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.

The Dreaming is playing at the Lichfield Garrick from Monday, July 31 to Saturday 5 August 5 with a variety of evening and matinee performances. Tickets start from £12.50 and can be booked online at www.lichfieldgarrick.com or by calling the Box Office on 01543 412121.