Shakespeare’s classic returns to Aunty Louise Brown Park for some Midsummer magic

Posted on 27 November, 2025

All the world’s a stage as The Q takes Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream back to nature with a run of outdoor performances this summer.

After all, what better way to capture the bard’s comedic tale of romance, moonlit woods, love potions, and fairies than to stage it in Aunty Louise Brown Park?

Following a very successful run in November and December 2024, Echo Theatre is once again gathering some of the region’s finest and funniest actors to bring A Midsummer Night’s Dream to life.

It’s the perfect play to end a summer’s evening as the days count down to Christmas – and as actor Caitlin Baker puts it, no one can resist the classic story of “a teenage girl is upset because a boy doesn’t like her”.

“Helena was actually always a bit of a bucket list role for me, because A Midsummer Night’s Dream was the first Shakespeare I ever saw,” she explains.

“It’s very strange to watch a play that was written hundreds of years ago on stage, and to watch one of the characters be a teenage girl who is really upset that a boy doesn’t like her.”

“When the opportunity to audition for the show came about, I knew that Helena was the role I wanted to go for because it was one of the first times I ever saw the experience of being a teenage girl on the stage.”

With no lighting, no set, and no traditional entrances and exits, it’s a version of the play that audiences likely haven’t seen before. The production immerses them in the chaos of the four mortal lovers who find themselves bewitched by fairies, and by stripping everything back and telling the story as it is, Caitlin says the ability to get up close and personal with the audience adds another layer to the story.

And from interacting with the audience to using them as props, she says each performance is never the same.

“The beautiful thing about being outside is that that really traditional separation between ‘here is the performance’ and ‘here is the audience’ disappears,” says Caitlin.

“There’s also just something joyous about having this big, beautiful monologue about being in love and the person in front of you is eating an entire roast chicken…I get a lot of fun out of seeing the audience and knowing that the audience is seeing me.”

“It’s much more akin to how it originally would have been performed than in a dark theatre.”

Credit: PHOTOX

Running from Saturday 13 until Sunday 21 December, the production is once again being presented under The Q’s ‘Pay What You Feel’ model, where patrons can attend at a price that suits their circumstances.

Excited to step back into the role of Helena following a very busy season at The Q, for Caitlin and the other cast members, the ‘Pay What You Feel’ model also offers them something special.

“We realised how much people enjoyed it [last year], and how much this idea of end-of-year, fun, low-cost storytelling, mattered to the community,” she explains.

“You need theatre that challenges, tests and talks about big things, but it is so delightful to go into the Christmas pantomime model and tell a really good, fun story with a really lovely happy ending.”

Also starring Jim Adamik (God of Carnage, Goldilocks and the Three Bears), Lainie Hart (King Lear, God of Carnage), Liv Boddington (Puffs!), Sally Taylor (Bombshells, Puffs!)  and marking the return of Artistic Director Jordan Best to the stage as Titania and Hippolyta, one thing is for sure – it promises to be an evening of outrageous fun.

There’s no better way to pay tribute to the mischief of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

“Despite the fact that it’s hundreds of years old, it feels so relevant to what you go through now,” says Caitlin.

“We love watching people be in love with the wrong people – we have always loved watching that, that’s why it’s survived those hundreds of years. And, also, there’s some really funny sex jokes.”

You’ll definitely want to pack a picnic for this.

 Feature image: Shelly Higggs