Insane Root bring A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Eastville Park Swimming Pool

Following the success of Insane Root’s promenade show Hansel & Gretel, staged in December 2021 in the gloriously atmospheric Arnos Vale Cemetery, the doyens of site specific theatre in Bristol have announced their longest run yet.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be staged at Eastville Park Swimming Pool for an eight week period this summer.

It’s a welcome return to the venue for the company, who put on Romeo & Juliet at the pool back in 2018. For director Hannah Drake, it’s a fitting counterpoint.

“People often see A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a sister play to Romeo & Juliet,” she reflects. “One starts with a death threat and then goes into chaos and comedy; the other begins as romantic comedy and ends in tragedy, so they’re mirrors, if you like.”

Drake’s relationship with ‘Midsummer’ goes back a long way. It was the first Shakespeare play she ever directed, and the moment she realised that she loved Shakespeare’s text. Directing it now for the third time, it feels like a full circle moment.

She assisted with the play at the 10th anniversary of Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory in 2010, in which Byron Mondal played Flute; the actor has since gone on to do great things at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and is now coming back to Bristol to play Bottom for Insane Root.

Rehearsals for Insane Root – A Midsummer Nights Dream at Eastville Park Swimming Pool, 2022 – photo: Jack Offord

The only actor who has worked directly with the company before is Norma Butikofer, who played the title role in 2019’s Rumpelstiltskin, and is playing Titania and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Overall, the cast of nine actors will be playing 28 parts between them. It’s an ambitious directorial and production feat, and with so much multi-roling, the group chemistry of the ensemble is in many ways, the fulcrum on which the play rests.

“We’re so excited,” admits Drake. “You plan and you have ideas but it’s only really when rehearsals begin that you start to see what the show’s going to be.

The cast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Eastville Park Swimming Pool – photo: Jack Offord

“Suddenly you have the actors and the designers in the room and it starts to come to life; you get to see what the audience is going to experience as well.”

Producer Justin Palmer is similarly upbeat. “I’ve seen a lot of versions of the play on film and stage,” he recalls. “It’s always so joyful, so quotable and such a celebration of theatre. “This will also be our first venture into comedy, which we’re really excited about.”

As well as staging productions in esoteric locations, the ethos of Insane Root is all about removing barriers, both real and imagined, to theatre, and making it relevant, accessible and enjoyable for everyone. This is particularly apposite when it comes to Shakespeare. So what might they say to prospective audience members who may be new to, or fearful of, The Bard?

On-site rehearsals continue – photo: Jack Offord

“The whole thing with our productions is that we’re making things as clear as possible,” says Palmer. “And that comes across through the physical storytelling and the outside setting, alongside the text.”

The environment is certainly a magical one, and a fitting backdrop both for the human world and the fairy-filled forest.

A former swimming pool in the Victorian era, it was damaged in the Blitz and is now covered in grafitti, as well as a huge, creeping rosemary bush, and beautiful natural elements come up against the hard stone and railings.

Photo: Jack Offord

It’s an unpretentious environment that has been used for free parties, and as Palmer points out, it’s a place where the natural and the urban truly come together.

Throw in the beauty of the long summer nights, and a little unpredictable weather along the way, and audiences are in for a truly atmospheric experience before the play has even begun.

“You just have this ceiling that goes up to the heavens because there’s nothing above you,” smiles Drake.

“And on a nice evening where it’s warm, the sun is setting, there are bats flying overhead, and maybe you can hear some sirens in the distance, or the sounds of the city – you’ve also got this fun story unfolding in front of you. It’s going to be magical and transportive”.

The derelict and overgrown site at Eastville Park swimming pool – photo: Jack Offord

With an expected running time of an hour and 40 minutes and no interval, the show is designed to be pacey and immersive – more like a film.

Drake and Palmer are currently exploring possibilities for music and sound within the play, but audiences can expect a framework of their characteristic acapella singing, supported by recorded sound – some of it more heightened or synthetic as the action moves into the fairy world of the quarelling King Oberon and Queen Titania.

For the conclusion of the narrative, too, Drake notes that music is likely to be integral: “I’m excited by the idea of having nine voices all rising in song together at the final moment,” she says.

Insane Root will be performing eight shows a week, across five days, leaving some gaps in the schedule where they are welcoming shows from other local companies, including Peter Clifford’s The Three Musketeers, and Sun and Moon’s Much Ado About Nothing.

They are very aware of the value the venue holds to the community as a place of interest and sanctuary, and will be opening up the space on certain days so that people can visit and explore.

As part of their efforts to widen audiences for theatre and extend opportunities to parts of Bristol that don’t always have access to it, the company is also offering a local area discount and dynamic pricing on tickets.

Their hope is that A Midsummer Night’s Dream will offer an experience of universal appeal; a no-pressure, fun and anarchic celebration of coming together and laughing in a collective way.

“Shakespeare is not this separate island; this revered thing,” says Palmer. “It’s just a fun story.”

Insane Root: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (age recommendation 10+) is at Eastville Park Swimming Pool from June 24-August 20 (previews 22-23 June) at 7.30pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and 6pm and 8.30pm on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Tickets are available from www.insaneroot.org.uk, with dynamic pricing and a local resident discount.

Main photo: Jack Offord

Read more: Review: Romeo and Juliet, Eastville Park Swimming Pool

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