A Midsummer Night’s Dream in High Park: In Conversation with Jamie Robinson
“I can’t give you all my secrets. But we have some awesome tricks up our sleeves.”
Watching Jamie Robinson talk about Shakespeare is a magical experience. It’s no wonder he was selected to direct the upcoming classical production at Canadian Stage’s Dream in High Park: the actor, director, and writer lights up, alternating between moments of introspective analysis and bursts of excitement as he weaves through nuanced discussions of the Bard’s work. It’s the type of enthusiasm and understanding that only occurs in people who are truly passionate about what they’re discussing.
That passion and drive is particularly important as this year’s production marks an exciting occasion.
“It’s the 40th anniversary of [Dream in High Park], and A Midsummer Night’s Dream was the first show that was done there,” Robinson explained in an interview. “I’ve performed in the play once before, so when I was asked to direct, I said yes, absolutely. I would love to explore the show from another angle.”
Since Robinson came on board in August 2022, the production has been a whirlwind of possibility. Canadian Stage finalized casting in January and held a workshop with the actors in February. Meanwhile, Robinson has been busy paring the script down to 90 minutes — a drastic change from the almost three-hour original script — and bouncing between design meetings as the company develops the world of the play.
“The show is called A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Robinson said. “It’s a dream, which means anything’s possible. So I thought, let’s lean into that.”
It’s a wide net to cast, but Robinson has put plenty of thought into this production, and how he would like to frame it in the context of the contemporary world. While he may not have known that Canada would quite literally be on fire this summer, he kept returning to one deeply relevant topic: the changing climate.
“When I reread the play way back in August, the speech that kept coming back to me was Titania’s speech in Act 2, scene 1. ‘These are the forgeries of jealousy,’ which goes into a lengthy discussion about climate change… I could not get that out of my head. I asked myself, why does this still resonate today when it was written 400, 500 years ago? As a director, it’s if something sticks with me, then I have to pursue it.”
The ever-evolving effects of climate change have been all too present for Robinson over the years he’s worked as a performer in various outdoor productions. He spent two seasons with Montreal’s Repercussion Theatre while an undergraduate at Concordia University, and has performed in four iterations of Dream in High Park. Robinson was also the artistic director of Scarborough’s Guild Festival Theatre for three years, directing two outdoor productions during his tenure.
“I’ve seen how that narrative [about the changing climate] has transformed,” he explained. “It used to just be, ‘is there going to be a thunderstorm? Is it going to rain?’ But in my final year at the Guild Festival, the question became, ‘is it too hot?’ And that was a legitimate concern. So with this adaptation and everything that’s going on with our weather, our climate… I think Titania says it all in that speech. And I’m really, really curious to see where we can take that.”
While the considerations around outdoor theatre have grown with every passing year, there are still plenty of benefits to performing in the park. Live, outdoor theatre provides many opportunities for audiences to connect, communities to grow, and for Torontonians to explore the beauty of their city. A Midsummer Night’s Dream remains the most-produced Shakespearean play in the 21st Century, and a popular choice for open-air theatre, and not simply because of its family-friendly appeal.
“The whole [story] takes place in less than 24 hours,” Robinson noted. “You start the show at eight o’clock, when it’s still bright out — and the story starts during the day. Then as night falls in the forest, the sky over the theatre is getting darker and darker. It’s [the perfect show] for an outdoor venue.”
While cutting the script, Robinson found a myriad of ways to keep the story alive and true to the text while leaning into relevant, contemporary topics. From global warming to the identity of the changeling child, the source material provided the actor-director with plenty of inspiration.
“I really wanted to lean into this idea of the shadows,” he said. “‘If we shadows have offended,” Puck says at the end. There’s almost always double-casting in Midsummer: often, the actor who plays Titania in the fairy world is also Hippolyta in the real world. We’re asking, ‘what does that actually mean?’ Can these characters, these ethereal beings actually be shadow selves, or shadows of themselves? So we’re really leaning into that with every performer in the show.”
Despite focusing on some of the more socially and politically charged themes of the script, the family-friendly nature of the show isn’t lost on Robinson.
“Something that I really love about this play is that it’s family friendly,” he said. “The reason Dream in High Park is so successful is because families come to see it, from newborns to centenarians. Having that in mind, I wanted to make sure that we kept that family fun. There’s still lots of comedy in it.
“The actors get to have fun with it. And I think the audiences will have fun with it too.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream plays as part of Canadian Stage’s Dream in High Park July 21–September 3, 2023. To find out more or purchase tickets, click here.
Jessica Watson
Jessica is a former associate editor at Intermission, as well as a writer, classically-trained actor, and plant enthusiast. Since graduating from LAMDA in the UK with her MA in acting, you can often find her writing screenplays and short plays in the park, writing extensive lists of plant care tips, or working on stage and screen (though she uses a stage name). Jessica freelances with various companies across Canada, but her passion lies in working with theatre artists and enthusiasts.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Photos courtesy of Lighthouse Festival.
Lighthouse Festival shines a light on Canadian comedies this summer
“When you laugh with a character, you connect with their story,” says artistic director Jane Spence. “You have more empathy and compassion for whatever their journey is. I believe that humour opens us up to each other’s life experiences. It’s what connects us.”
iPhoto caption: Kamyar Pazandeh and Julia McLellan in 'Waitress.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
Ahead of the musical’s upcoming run at Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius, I spoke with the production’s props and scenic design department to find out how they’re making the pie magic happen.
iPhoto caption: Photo courtesy of York University.
“I think the fundamental issue is that the foundation of inequity is still intact,” says co-curator Mariló Nuñez. “If you think about when Canadian theatre was first established, the theatre we were watching and learning about was Eurocentric, Western theatre… We place everything against that [perceived] ideal. Until that changes, I don’t think we can really make a change.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by Szymon Lazewski.
“We are all coming from somewhere, and we all have ancestors, and we all have this profound connection with not just where we come from but who we come from,” says playwright-performer Martha Knight. “That’s really connected me to the piece and connected me with everybody I’ve worked with on this show.”
iPhoto caption: Promotional still for Citizen Pochsy (2003). Photo by Gary Mulcahey.
Pochsy’s back! At VideoCabaret, a Canadian underground theatre icon returns to Toronto
“There are opposites at play at all times — in the show, in the writing, in the performance,” says playwright-performer Karen Hines. “When something gets dark, Pochsy might be super light in the delivery of it. When she’s being facetious or giggly, it might even be as she’s destroying a species."
iPhoto caption: Photo by Colton Curtis Photography.
Genny Sermonia sweetens the pot as choreographer of Waitress
When Genny mentions that her brother Julius is part of the ensemble, I smell a story cooking — so I attend a rehearsal at the Grand Theatre to watch the duo in action.
Pakistani-Canadian actor Ahad Raza Mir ‘goes back to basics’ with Brampton production of Hamlet
“The South Asian community in Calgary, and even Toronto, is a whole different story than Brampton in terms of size,” says Mir. “I'm excited to have this show come to a larger group of South Asians: most importantly, young people who maybe want to go into the arts who want to be actors."
iPhoto caption: From top left, clockwise: Nikki Shaffeeullah, Adele Noronha, Michelle Mohammed, Jay Northcott, Anand Rajaram, and Virgilia Griffith.
Tarragon Theatre Announces A Poem for Rabia Cast
Award-winning theatre and film artist Nikki Shaffeeullah’s play A Poem for Rabia will make its debut in a Tarragon Theatre production in association with Nightwood Theatre and Undercurrent Creations.
iPhoto caption: Jeremy Smith and Tom Lillington in Driftwood Theatre's Living With Shakespeare. Original image by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Living With Shakespeare at Driftwood Theatre
Living With Shakespeare is a deeply intimate exploration of Smith’s life and work, using Shakespeare’s words to bring to life some of his most personal, exciting, and challenging experiences.
REVIEW: Shakespeare By Any Other Name at Dauntless City Theatre
Part history lesson, part joyful romp through Shakespeare’s works, the sixty-minute play in the heart of St. James’ Park attempts to return the playwright to the people.
Guild Festival Theatre’s The Drowning Girls Opens in Scarborough
GFT’s final production is the multi-award-winning play The Drowning Girls, a true crime tale about three women married to and murdered by the same man.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Reveals Their 45th Anniversary Season
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is celebrating with a season that showcases both epic queer stories from history and innovative new works from a diverse roster of artists.
Comments