A Midsummer Night's Dream At Bats

Dear Friend of BATS,

You have until this coming Saturday night to see The Bacchanals' production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' before it goes on tour around the North Island.

'The Bacchanals get the theatrical year off to a loud, boisterous, and comical start with a gallop through Shakespeare's 'Dream'... [They] set out to emphasise the festive, celebratory, and theatrical nature of this most-produced of Shakespeare's plays, and judging by the reaction of the opening night audience, they succeeded.' - Laurie Atkinson in the Dominion Post

Performances are at 7pm every night from Tuesday 18 to Saturday 22 January this week. Tickets cost $15 full, $10 concession. (See below for further details about the show).

Booking is as easy as hitting reply to this email and telling us what night you would like to come along, the number of tickets you'd like, your name and telephone number. Alternatively our booking line is (04) 802 4175.

And bookings are also open for next week's two shows - both have strictly limited seasons, so it's a good idea to book promptly. At 7pm from Wednesday 26th - Saturday 29th January, Annie Ruth and Lhibou Hornung will be performing 'Dissident Voices - Collateral Damage'. This show is inspired by the website and book, 'Poets Against the War' - American poets join their voices in protest against the invasion of Iraq by the Bush administration. Actor Annie Ruth, violinist Lhibou Hornung and designer Brian King's devised dramatic setting of a selection of these poems is a rare chance to see a professional theatre response to recent events in the Middle East.

Also next week, at 9pm from Thursday 27th - Saturday 29th January, 'Sstimuluss - Live at BATS'.

With the sun setting late, and mid-summer nights warming up, 'Sstimuluss Live at BATS' is sure to prove a late-night pleasure for anyone interested in experiencing new music in a great venue. As well as performing at festivals (The Gathering, Visions), Sstimuluss have played regularly at Bodega, and now return to BATS after collaborating on WordVirus. Their music is a combination of electronica, rich instrumentation and the sublime voice of Elizabeth Judd. Liz and Emile de-la-Rey are joined by singer/musician Jeremy Brick and a host of theatre practitioners, to create what will be a gem in this summer's music scene.

A Midsummer Night's Dream After a lengthy absence, The Bacchanals return to BATS in January to kick off 2005 with a brand new production of A Midsummer Night¹s Dream, Shakespeare¹s classic comedy about a man who makes his girlfriend have sex with a horse Š but don¹t be alarmed, it¹s not a real horse, it¹s a man who¹s been turned into a horse Š well, a donkey Š well, okay, an ass (the bastard child of a horse and a donkey).

It¹s four days until the full moon and the marriage of Duke Theseus of Athens to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Hermia has four days to obey her father¹s will and give up her boyfriend Lysander to marry the seedy Demetrius, who¹s already bedded the unconfident Helena.

Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of the Fairies, have journeyed to the Athenian forest to bless the marriage but can¹t seem to sort out their own relationship troubles, so Oberon has Puck assist him in a night involving magic herbs that bring on strange hallucinations.

Meanwhile a group of aspiring amateur actors are secretly rehearsing a play they hope will make them rich. Forget all about Calista Flockhart and Michelle Pfeiffer, forget about Mendelssohn and fairies with fluttery wings and gauze, forget about boring old Peter Brook and his boring white box. A Midsummer Night¹s Dream is about love and lust, jealousy and jolliness, dreams and donkeys, and there¹s even a bit with a dog.

The cast features James Stewart, Alex Greig, Tina Helm, Irene Flanagan, Hadleigh Walker, Erin Banks and newbie Natasya Yusoff, new music from Walter Plinge & Evil Übercrave and the show is directed by David Lawrence.

After the season at BATS, The Bacchanals take to the road for the third summer in a row to perform A Midsummer Night¹s Dream in Masterton, Dannevirke, Waipukurau, Wairoa, Gisborne, Rotorua, Cambridge, Te Kuiti, Taumarunui, Raetihi and Wanganui.

The Bacchanals are a company dedicated to exploring text-based theatre and redefining classic works.

A Midsummer Night¹s Dream marks their fifth birthday and their twelfth production. Previous productions at BATS have included the NZ premiere of Sarah Kane¹s Crave, a multi-media production of Euripides¹ The Bacchae for STAB2003 and a sell-out season of Romeo and Juliet (³excellent² NZ Listener; ³the most engaging Shakespeare I¹ve seen² Sunday Star Times) in January 2004. For more information, history, pictures, gossip and scandal-mongering, visit their website at http://www.thebacchanals.net/ .

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT¹S DREAM at BATS • Wednesday 12 January Saturday 22 January 2005 • 7pm • Tickets $10/$15

... And the Guano magazine will be out on the streets later this week to give you a taste of what other BATS fare there is for you to look forward to (including an awesome line-up of NZ Fringe '05 shows).

Look forward to seeing you here at BATS !

Love the BATS crew.

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