A performance by Teatro Praga with Músicos do Tejo.

From A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
and The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell.

Why theatre when all you want to think about is Summer and Love? Why bother us with the hottest issues when all you want to think about is Summer and Love? Why should we unsettle? Why should we worry about inscribing ourselves?  Why should we dominate the contemporary lexicon? Why that much irony and multi-reference? Why so many hours spent on the Internet hoping not to drop the zeitgeist? Why go on downloading so much? Why should we make ideological and aesthetic enemies? Why should we burn our eyelashes reading Badiou’s benjamins? Why intensify wrinkles and white hair? When all we want is Summer and Love?
MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM wants to provide enjoyment and relaxation.  We’ll all be on and won’t even remember those who’re off. We’ll treat you like a Prince and you’ll love each moment. Let’s feel the air passing by like a soft breeze and let’s forget about meeeeeeeeeeeeee… It’s like inviting someone for dinner and avoiding ‘’certain topics’’ so that nobody gets bored and the conversation can flow. It’s like driving on the freeway to Algarve, Baroque music playing on the radio, your friend sitting beside you and kissing your neck… and here we go into the future, where a party awaits us, a fashion cocktail and an astronomical bill which will be paid when the Winter arrives.
With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II authorized two theatre companies for himself and his brother, the Duke of York. From that point on, and influenced by what was being done in France, under Louis XIV, the theatre of machines was born: spectacular and exuberant, excessive, megalomaniac and with a magnificent epilogue in THE FAIRY QUEEN, by Henry Purcell.
Starting with Shakespeare’s MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, Purcell composes music for a show whose second version (1691-92) was filled with special effects, an expensive and extravagant performance which, despite its success, ended up in a financial fiasco.
A giant water fountain and six monkeys dancing are mentioned.
Teatro Praga will relive those times. MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM is a celebration in the pursuit of happiness and a tribute to power to the sound of Purcell and with a contemporary flavour, our flavour.

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“Midsummer Night’s Dream” was reenacted by Balleteatro students in 2017, at Coliseu do Porto.

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Cast | André e. Teodósio, Cláudia Jardim, Diogo Bento, Joana Barrios, Joana Manuel, Patrícia da Silva and Rodolfo Teixeira
Soloists | Ana Quintans (Soprano), Rossano Ghira (Counter Tenor), João Sebastião (Tenor) and Nuno Dias (Bass)
Olisipo choir | Elsa Cortes (Soprano), Luísa Tavares (Contralto – July 3), Lucinda Gerhard (Contralto – July 4), Diogo Cerdeira (Tenor), Armando Possante (Bass)
Three fairies | Leonor Robert, Rafaela Albuquerque and Rita Fonseca
Film crew | Carlos Eduardo, Cláudia Morais, Francisco Moreira, João Martins, Leonor Noivo, Nuno Morão and Tiago Oliveira
Guest artists | Ana Pérez-Quiroga, Catarina Campino, Javier Núñez Gasco, João Pedro Vale, Leo Ramos, Miguel Viegas, Rogério Nuno Costa, The End of Irony (Diogo Lopes, Ivo Silva, Miguel Cunha, Rita Ricardo Morais and Teixeira) Vasco Araújo and Vincente Trindade
Musical director | Marcos Magalhães
Video director | André Godinho
Light design | Daniel Worm d’Assumpção
Sound design | Ricardo Guerreiro
Set design | Bárbara Falcão Fernandes
House | Filipe Carneiro (Triplinfinito)
Costume design | Carla Cardoso
Production | Bruno Coelho, Cristina Correia and Sara Maurício
Assistance | José Nunes
Tejo’s musicians | Álvaro Pinto (Violin-concertmaster), Xu Na(Violin I), Raquel Cravino (Violin I), Denys Stetsenko (Violin II), Zófia Pająk (Violin II), Raquel Massadas (Viola), Lúcio Studer (Viola), Paulo Gaio Lima (Cello), Xurxo Varela (Viola da gamba), Filipa Meneses (Viola da Gamba), Duncan Fox (Violone), Carolino Career (Bassoon), Luís Marques (Oboe I), Andreia Carvalho (Oboe II) Antonio Quítalo (Trumpet I), Bruno Fernandes (Trumpet II), Hugo Sanches (Theorbo), Ricardo Pedro Leitão (Theorbo), Joaquim Lopes (Percussion), Marta Araújo (Clavier I), Marcos Magalhaes (Clavier II)
Photography | Alípio Padilha

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Length | 2h20
M/6