It rained most of the day and I decided that the picnic I had planned wasn't going to be possible, but the rain stopped just in time for us to go to Cascades Park for the Southern Shakespeare Festival's free performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, inspired by the 1960s. The sun even peeked out for awhile, just as we were leaving the house.
Before the main show, there was a group of middle and high school students called the Bardlings, who performed scenes from the play. The sound system was not working right and turned off on a couple occasions, but the kids did a great job of continuing the scenes without being distracted.
The 1960's interpretation of a Midsummer Night's Dream was great! A live band played music from the 1960s, that was well suited to the scenes and characters, and was a lot of fun to listen to.
Titania sings "Respect":
Blaze was laughing so hard during some of the play, that I felt compelled to hush him, for the sake of the people around us.
On the way home, we talked about how things would have been different if Blaze's older siblings had seen this version as their first play.
A Midsummer Night's Dream was the first play I ever took my older children to. Miko was 3 and Ula was 5. We were spending the winter in Palestine, Illinois and I took them to Lincoln Trail College to watch a performance. A harpist played before and during the play and it made a huge impression on the children. I was the audience for many short plays that the children put on that winter, but every single one started with the playing of the lap harp.
