Royal National Theatre production in the Olivier Theatre
Opened 9 Jul 1992
Closed 6 Jan 1993
Total 70 Performances
Extract from an interview with Robert Lepage and Michael Levine by Heather Neill, Times, 2 Jul 1992:
'Late last year, with The Dream in mind, Lepage held a week-long open workshop in the National's Studio on the theme of forests....Levine: "What the actors were doing was more interesting than my designs. When things go wrong in the woods and forests there is usually water involved. Rain. Discomfort." A nightmare, then? "There is something of that." The participating actors kept returning to the watery theme in their own contributions and, at the end of the week, everyone was astonished to find that the text of The Dream is full of references to flood and tempest".
NB: The workshop at the NT Studio led by Robert Lepage was held 27-31 Dec 1991
Extract from an interview with Robert Lepage by Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 6 Jul 1992:
'Rehearsals for A Midsummer Night's Dream began not with the traditional read-through but with several days of workshops in which the company were asked to describe their dreams and draw them on a huge collective map, relating them to excerpts from the play.
"What fascinated me most about the play was that Shakespeare seems to be fascinated by the distorted mirrors of dreams and what they have to do with the subconscious long before the expression 'subconscious' was invented, way before Freud and Jung. And we identified certain recurrences in people's dreams. The main thing was water and the idea of traps and danger zones."
Extract from an interview with Robert Lepage by Matt Wolf in City Limits, 9-16 Jul 1992:
'This assignment marks Lepage's third Dream, but his take on the play is far from set. "People always compare Shakespeare's plays to painting and frescoes: I tend to compare them to sculptures because you actually look at them from one angle or another. You can't stage A Midsummer Night's Dream once; you have to do it eight times actually to get an idea of the whole sculpture."
Further information on Robert Lepage:
A Profile of Robert Lepage was presented by Omnibus entitled 'Who's That Nobody From Quebec?' BBC 1, Transmitted 20 Oct 1992.
Platform - Robert Lepage in conversation with Richard Eyre, 10 Jan 1997
Visiting productions at the National directed by Robert Lepage:
Tectonic Plates
by Robert Lepage and Théâtre Repère
Dir. Robert Lepage
Cottesloe 6 December 1990
Production by Théâtre Repère, Québec
Needles and Opium
solo piece by Robert Lepage
Dir. Robert Lepage
Cottesloe 30 April 1992
Production by Robert Lepage presented in association with Cultural Industry Ltd
The Seven Streams of the River Ota
conceived by Robert Lepage & ex Machina
Dir. Robert Lepage
Lyttelton 21 September 1996
Production by Ex Machina presented in association with Cultural Industry Ltd
Elsinore
a solo work by Robert Lepage
based on Shakespeare's Hamlet
Lyttelton 4 January 1997
Production by Robert Lepage
Geometry of Miracles
conceived by Robert Lepage and Ex Machina
Dir. Robert Lepage
Lyttelton 15 April 1999
Production by Robert Lepage and Ex Machina presented by the Royal National Theatre and Tramway, Glasgow in association with Cultural Industry Ltd
The Far Side of the Moon
written directed and performed by Robert Lepage
Dir. Robert Lepage
Music by Laurie Anderson
Lyttelton 9 July 2001
Production by Robert Lepage and Ex Machina presented by the Royal National Theatre in association with Cultural Industry
