Directed by United States’ John Blondell, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was the great premiere the Albanian National Theatre staged in the first half of this year
TIRANA, Oct. 2 – Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will return this weekend at the National Theatre in Tirana after premiering earlier this year both as a play and a ballet. Directed by American John Blondell, the comedy will stage at the National Theatre this weekend on October 4, 5 and 6 at 20.00.
With costume and set design by Macedonia’s Blagoj MIcevski and music by Kosovo’s Trimor Dhomi, the many people’s favorite Shakespeare comedy features an Albania cast of young actors including Ervin Bejleri, Klea Konomi, Vasjan Lami.
Directed by United States’ John Blondell, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was the great premiere the Albanian National Theatre staged in the first half of this year.
“It is the first experience for me to stage Shakespeare in another country in the national language. The reason is because we are searching for an unknown land, or something new and fresh,”
Blondell said before the premiere. “I am in love with this part, it is one of the most beautiful languages ever staged. My goal is to make Shakespeare rather different but especially Albanian,” added Blondell.
Blondell’s cooperation with the Albanian National Theatre emerged last year when Albania participated in London’s Globe to Globe festival with part II of Shakespeare’s Henry VI. Blondell was the director of the Macedonian theatre performing Henry VI’s part III.
John Blondell is Professor of Theatre Arts at Westmont College. He is co-founder and director of the Lit Moon Theatre Company, an award-winning international theatre ensemble, and founder of the Lit Moon World Theater Festival, an international theatre festival produced yearly in Santa Barbara. In 2006, he created the Lit Moon World Shakespeare Festival, the only international Shakespeare Festival in the United States, and one of seven in the world.
Believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596, Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta.
Last June, Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was also staged in a ballet version by Arjan Sukniqi.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Midsummer Night’s Dream deals with the universal theme of love and its complications: lust, disappointment, confusion, and marriage. The plot focuses on three parallel stories: the trials and experiences of two sets of lovers camping in a magical forest, the world of the Fairy King and Queen and their elves, and a group of rough craftsmen attempting to stage a production of “Pyramus and Thisby” for the wedding of the Duke of Athens.
Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. To escape the arranged marriage, she and Lysander elope into the woods. Demetrius follows them, and Helena, who nurses an unrequited passion for him, pursues him. A love quadrangle develops among the young lovers when mischievous Puck plays Cupid. “The course of true love never did run smooth,” says Lysander. Meanwhile, a group of amateur actors rehearses a badly written play in the woods, and soon all find their lives changed by the doings of Oberon and Titania, the warring king and queen of the fairies. Magic, action, love and humor are the ingredients for this unforgettable spell.
