SASKIA PORTWAY
ACTOR
Since its first season in 2000, Saskia has appeared in many productions for Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory under Andrew Hilton’s direction.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
‘Art to enchant’ - a season of Shakespearean magic
On the eve of the marriage of Theseus, Duke of Athens (and famed slayer of the Minotaur), to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, four much younger lovers find themselves lost and dangerously at odds in the midnight world of Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of the Fairies. Shakespeare’s most famous and popular comedy, it is a play for all ages and for all time.
Thu 11 February – Sat 20 March 2010
7.30pm
Thu & Fri 8pm
Saturday Matinees
Every Saturday
(not showing Sat 13 Feb)
2.30pm
Midweek Matinees
Thu 04 & 11 March
2.30pm
Tickets £
From 12 – 20
Concessions
2for1 student tickets kindly sponsored by Beachcroft
Groups (10 or more) £1 off each ticket
Children under 15 All Matinees £12
PRESS:
Reviews
"...Andrew Hilton, who’s acquiring so many feathers in his cap as artistic director of Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory that he almost resembles a new species, beautifully serves that integral sense of mayhem and dislocation in a production that tips this way and that between perturbing nightmare and aching dream." Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph
"A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Tobacco Factory Bristol. Blissfully funny, exquisitely detailed and sexy in a sinister way. Great show"
The Guardian's Lyn Gardner speaking about A Midsummer Night's Dream on Twitter.
"The performances are polished, with a tempo like music, and the actors play together with a sense of intimacy, like a chamber orchestra." John Peter, The Times.
"...inventive, coherent, crystally spoken production... the result, utterly free from gauzy frolics, is as often disturbing as it is enticing. Still, throughout, the comedy is quick." Susannah Clapp, The Observer.
"Andrew Hilton directs this play as if it had never been played before: his production has a freshness, a boisterous energy, a tone of loving mockery and a sense of humour that ranges from biting to enchanting...The performances are polished, with a tempo like music, and the actors play together with a sense of intimacy, like a chamber orchestra." John Peter, The Times
"Typically, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory find fresh comedy, flesh out oftbypassed characters, revive every breath of life sleeping in the text and celebrate the TF theatre’s intimacy." Steve Wright, Venue
Click here to read The Telegraph review
Click here to read The Observer review
Click here to read The Guardian review
Click here to read The Times review
Click here to download the Venue review
Click here to read The Stage review
Click here to read Bristol Evening Post review
Click here to read Bristol 247 review
Click here to read This is Dorset review
Click here to read Suit Yourself Magazine review
Click here to read Gazette Series review
Click here to read Make Me Neon review
Click here to read Music OMH review
Previews
Already chosen by The Guardian as a "must-see" production of 2010 and proclaimed as an "altogether magnificent" season by Bristol247 and a company "that has shone like a beacon in the gloom" by Stephanie Cole in the Bristol Evening Post; A Midsummer Night's Dream looks set to raise the SATTF bar even further, with our first "recycling" of a play...
Click here to read Clifton Life's Preview
Click here to read Bristol Evening Post Preview and interview with Stephanie Cole
Click here to read local preview from thisisdorset
And see links below for The Guardian pick of the week info and Lyn Gardner's blog
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/feb/06/theatre-previews-the-guide
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2010/feb/05/what-to-see-theatre
“A Midsummer Night's Dream was part of our very first season in 2000 and will be the first play that we tackle for a second time. The way these plays change, responding afresh to each new casting, and to shifts in our own moods and focus, is typically Shakespearian. I can't wait to rediscover it in 2010.” Andrew Hilton, Artistic Director. (See our News section for more thoughts on Andrew Hilton's approach to the play)
From Athens’ midnight forest to the haunted island of his final fable of revenge and reconciliation, Shakespeare uses enchantment to explore love, loss, what it is to be human, and the nature of theatre itself.
CAST LIST
Theseus & Oberon - Jay Villiers
Hippolyta & Titania - Amy Rockson
Philostrate & Puck - Christopher Staines
Egeus, Starveling & Moth - Alan Coveney
Hermia - Ffion Jolly
Lysander - Jack Hardwick
Demetrius - Benjamin Askew
Helena - Rebecca Pownall
Quince & Cobweb - Jonathan Nibbs
Bottom - Chris Donnelly
Snug & Fairy - David Plimmer
Flute & Peaseblossom - Byron Mondahl
Snout & Mustardseed - Felix Hayes
1st Fairy - Nadia Williams
2nd Fairy - Kay Oliver
PRODUCTION
Director - Andrew Hilton
Assistant Director - Hannah Drake
Set & Costume Designer - Harriet de Winton
Costume Supervisor - Rosalind Marshall
Composer & Sound Designer - Elizabeth Purnell
Choreographer - Kay Oliver
Lighting Designer - Tim Streader
Production Manager - Jo Cuthbert
Stage Manager - Polly Meech
Deputy Stage Manager - Eleanor Dixon
Assistant Stage Manager - Rachel Isaacs
ASM on Placement from BOVTS - Greg Skipworth
Costume Maintenance - Sophie Borton
Costume Laundry - Kim Winter
LUNCHTIME TALK
Sat 13 March, 11am – 1.30pm.
To book tickets for the Talk please contact the Box Office on 0117 902 0344
