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Between dusk and dawn, the kingdom of fairy king Oberon turns into a playground for love. With a drop of magic juice, Oberon influences the love lives of his subjects and wife Titania. Love, infidelity, ecstasy, sorrow and reconciliation fill the night.
Benjamin Britten wrote the magical opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream, based on Shakespeare’s romantic comedy. They expose our deepest desires and fears. In the end, Britten’s restrained mastery of style makes an unheard-of splurge in the woods possible. Director Ola Mafaalani discovers the sensuality in this score and releases all brakes.
Mafaalani’s theater is a feast for the five senses. Not only eyes and ears, but also touch, smell and taste are treated. According to Mafalaani, also known as the empress of theatrical fantasy, opera has the language to represent all sensory experiences. “The children’s choir doesn’t just come on and sing, but bake and cook while singing. When you see those children at work, you experience that full unconditional love for everything around you. It is my need to let A Midsummer Night’s Dream be your own love affair.”
Ola Mafaalani, who made her debut with Opera Zuid with this work, sees in this opera the testimony of how cruel we are in the name of love. “We can make our partner’s life hell and still say ‘I love you’. But these words carry an obligation. That goes for all your relationships.”
Together with a top cast of mainly Dutch and British soloists, a children’s choir of little fairies, chef André Amaro and aerial artist Dreya Weber (known from P!nk), Mafaalani and acclaimed musical director Karel Deseure entered a sultry midsummer night.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a co-production with Female Economy. In collaboration with Amaro Creative Industries and the South Netherlands Philharmonic.
