Lavish, magical, and vivid: A Midsummer Night’s Dream is here to transport you to another world

Posted on 12 October, 2023

In a moonlit grove, fairies meet, and mischief ensues – after all, the course of true love never did run smooth.

Interweaving the magical and mortal realms with sublime sets, costumes, and music, a whimsical interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is coming to the Canberra Theatre Centre this spring. But this isn’t Shakespeare’s timeless tale as you know it.

Brimming with mayhem, from Wednesday 25 until Saturday 28 October the Queensland Ballet will be taking the stage to bring its own elegant and fantastical flare to the story – retelling the enduring and comedic play about four mortal lovers who find themselves bewitched by fairies.

Brought to life through Liam Scarlett’s witty choreography, according to Senior Soloist Kohei Iwamoto – who performs the iconic and mischievous role of Puck – not only is A Midsummer Night’s Dream visually stunning, but every moment feels just like a fairytale, making it the perfect ballet for the whole family.

“The music is incredible. Liam Scarlett’s work is just amazing to dance to and the musicality is one of the best things about this ballet – the way he created the steps in the music. It’s almost like you can see the music through us.”

“This ballet is for everyone, from young kids to older people,” he says. “And if someone has never been to the ballet, this is a good one to watch because it’s a lot of dancing but there’s a lot of mime too.”

Usually presented as a more traditional play – where you might recognise iconic lines like “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind” –  the co-production between Queensland Ballet and Royal New Zealand Ballet is enhanced by Tracy Grant Lord’s shimmering sets and costumes, telling the story without anyone saying a single word.

Wanting the show to be “incredibly charming and incredibly magical” while exploring the themes of love, jealousy, and dreams, Tracy worked hand in hand with Liam while conceptualising the costumes and sets.

“In ballet, there is a very particular way of costuming dancers, but he was very open to exploring whimsical ideas and fantastical ideas,” she says.

“There’s a lot of reference material around the story itself – it’s a legend really and it’s been interpreted in many ways…We wanted it to be incredibly charming and we wanted it to be incredibly magical. It’s a dream and it needed to feel like a dream. It needed to be something that was just out of this world.”

“I do think this is a beautiful production and I think one of its successes is that it’s very holistic in terms of design. That it is a world of its own.”

And with no signs of aging or tiring any time soon, after eight years on the stage, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has quickly become a classic ballet in Australia and New Zealand.

“When works like this come along – one that can speak to so many different people – I think it’s quite an important work for this part of the world,” says Tracy.

“Perhaps when you’re in the Northern Hemisphere you might have the chance to see those various big, successful ballets but we don’t have that many of them here that we come back to again and again. And I think that A Midsummer Night’s Dream might be one of those.”

For Kohei, one of his personal highlights of this particular ballet is how much the cast enjoys the performance – from the fairies that look like they can literally flit, hover, and flutter when they dance, to the four explorers that enter the forest in search of exotic specimens (finding instead a complicated dreamscape full of mistaken identities and complicated love triangles).

And from the irrationality of love and its madness to the fine line between imagination and reality, as Queensland Ballet prepares to take to Canberra’s stage for the first time since 2019, Kohei says audiences need to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream for one simple reason: from the moment it begins, you really will be transported to another world.

“The set, the costumes, lighting, and music – everything – it feels like a fairytale. Even those who know the story find something new that they like, or they can’t stop laughing…you’ll never get bored watching, especially if you’ve never been to the ballet,” he says.

“Even the dancers enjoy this ballet…we can just have fun and that excitement from the dancers will reach the audience. At the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, everyone will be happy.”

Lavish and vivid, like Puck’s parting words to the audience in Shakespeare’s original beloved comedy, you’ll leave this ballet wondering if it was all a magic-infused dream.

Photography: David Kelly.