A Midsummer Night's Dream

Welcome to the Oriel Lions' production of A Midsummer Night's Dream , the Oriel College Garden Play 2026. This comedy by William Shakespeare is the perfect way to spend a warm summer evening, telling a story of love, magic, and transformation. Set in a fairy-filled forest on the outskirts of Athens, the lives of an eloping couple (or two), the fairy king and queen in dispute, and a group of amateur thespians collide in a world that turns everything on its head - 'So quickly bright things come to confusion' .This production, held outside in Oriel College's First Quad, plays with the show's own sense of playfulness, its moments of transformation, and its exploration of wonder. Accompanied by a live string quartet and the setting sun, the show, audience and characters are all pulled into this world of dreams. It is a show about magic, wonder, love, dreams, and transformation; Puck famously closes the show with a reminder of this. If we shadows have offended' , she says, ' Th ink but this and all is mended . She speaks of the audience, of the actors, of the characters; she speaks of transformation, of taking apart and stitching back together, and of making new.Showtimes: 8pm 11/06/26, 8pm 12/06/26, 2pm & 8pm 13/06/26
Runtime: 2hrs, incl. interval
Content Warnings: coerced romance, brief dramatised death