Full Cast Announced For A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM as Part of Iris Theatre's Outdoor Summer Festival 2022

Award winning Iris Theatre today announce the full cast and creative team for A Midsummer Night's Dream led by rising star director Sara Aniqah Malik. Sara's recent credits include Resident Assistant Director at The Donmar Warehouse 2020-2022, Associate Director for The 47th (Old Vic) and recipient of The Michael Grandage Award 2019. She directs a talented cast including Ailsa Joy as Puck, Ricky Oakley as Demetrius, Zena Carswell as Helena, Freddy Elletson as Lysander, Richard Holt as Bottom, Melissa Parker as Hermia and Isambard Rawbone as Oberon.

Performed at Iris Theatre's Summer Festival at the Actors' Church in the heart of Covent Garden, the production opens on 5 July, with previews from 29 June, and runs until 13 August. Now in its 14th year, Iris Theatre's summer season has become a critically-acclaimed, award-winning part of the theatrical calendar, welcoming thousands of people to the Actors' Church. Escape the hustle and bustle, take in the beautiful grounds of the Actors' Church, and enjoy a drink at The Bard, a new pop-up bar designed specifically for this fantastic new adaptation.

Following a two year break from its traditional programming, Iris Theatre is returning to producing outdoor, promenade Shakespeare with A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was originally scheduled for 2020

Bertie Watkins said today - We're really excited to be bringing Shakespeare back to the Actors' Church, after a two year break from our traditional programming. A Midsummer Night's Dream was the first production Iris Theatre ever staged at the Church, and we're delighted the amazing Sara Aniqah Malik is joining us as Director, to revisit this family favourite, and put such a dynamic, exciting spin on the classic text. It will still be the Midsummer you know and love, but in a fresh, vibrant new approach that is perfect for families and Shakespeare lovers alike.

I'm thrilled to be leading Iris Theatre into its next chapter as one of the leading outdoor theatre companies, in the heart of the West End. We're looking forward to providing accessible, inexpensive entertainment for families this Summer, that celebrates the work of early career artists. I'm also looking forward to opening The Bard, our new pop-up bar in the grounds of The Actors' Church, that will be a mainstay this Summer - bring on the Pimms!

Cast: Ailsa Joy as Puck, Ricky Oakley as Demetrius, Zena Carswell as Helena, Freddy Elletson as Lysander, Richard Holt as Bottom, Melissa Parker as Hermia, and Isambard Rawbone as Oberon.

Director: Sara Aniqah Malik; Producer: Rob Ellis; Set Designer: Sophia Pardon;

Sound Designer: Julian Starr, Stage Manager: Waverley Moran

It's Midsummer's night and the young people of Athens Academy are getting ready for a party. Young Demetrius is about to be crowned prom king with his queen-to-be (he hopes) Hermia. Only problem is, she's in love with someone else...

Fleeing her homecoming throne, Hermia escapes to the forest where new mysteries await her. A feuding fairy King and Queen plot revenge, a band of travelling misfits prepare for their latest performance whilst a magical trickster pursues mischief.

Expect enchantments, merriment, 90s throwbacks and love triangles aplenty in this hilarious romp through the gardens of the stunning Actors Church in Central London. Can love really to conquer all?

Sara Aniqah Malik is an Associate Director at Watermill Theatre. She was recently the Resident Assistant Director at The Donmar Warehouse 2020-2022. Recipient of The Michael Grandage Award 2019. She was associate director for The 47th (Old Vic). Her Assistant Director credits include Force Majeure (Donmar Warehouse), Love and Other Acts of Violence (Donmar Warehouse), Constellations (West End), Walden (West End), Blindness (Donmar Warehouse), Two Trains Running (ETT/Royal & Derngate), Land Without Dreams (Gate Theatre). As director her credits include, Pity (LAMDA), Poison (Tobacco Factory), Salaam (Vault Festival).

Zena Carswell plays Helena/Quince. Her theatre credits include Macbeth,Romeo and Juliet (Orange Tree Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (Immersion Theatre), Othello (English Theatre of Hamburg) and Tallulah Brown's There's A Monster in the Lake (Vault Festival).

Freddy Elletson plays Lysander/Snout. His theatre credits include, Citizen's Richard II (AnyWhichWay Theatre), The Crucible, A Little Night Music (Storyhouse, Chester), Not Savages (The Vaults/Arcola Theatre), Caravantomime (Bankside), Macbeth (The Factory), That Blue Dress (Theatre503), and Goodnight Mr Bear (Etch & Squint). His television credits include, Doctors, Holby City and film credits include, Wonder woman.

Richard Holt plays Bottom. His theatre credits include, Til Death do us Part (Theatre503), Rain & Zoe Save the World (Jermyn Street Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Antic Disposition 2017 and almost '21), Apples and Angels (Wassail Theatre), United Queendom (Les Enfants Terribles, LET), When Swallows Cry (RADA Festival), Mr Popper's Penguins (Kenny Wax, UK and USA), Romeo and Juliet (Insane Root), Alice's Adventures Underground (LET), Partners in Crime (Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch), Swallows and Amazons (West End and UK tour), The Game's Afoot (LET), Captain Flinn (Speigeltent, Edinburgh), The Light Princess (Tobacco Factory), Macbeth (UK tour), The Pillowman (New Theatre, Oxford), The Old Curiosity Shop (UK tour), Bloody Poetry (White Bear), Love's Labour's Lost (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Three Musketeers (Pleasance, Edinburgh), and Romantics (Keats House). His tv credits includes Liaison, Theresa v Boris Captain Webb, and film credits include, RU-486.

Ailsa Joy returns to Iris Theatre to play Puck - she previously appeared in The Three Musketeers. Her theatre credits include Love and Other Acts of Violence (Donmar Warehouse), Bad Jews (West End and UK tour), Not Quite Jerusalem (Finborough Theatre), Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Guildford Shakespeare Company), TimePlays (Hampton Court Palace), Berenice (The Space), The Wind in the Willows (Polka Theatre), Fast Track, Cake, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Peer Gynt (The North Wall, Oxford), Much Ado About Nothing, Arabian Nights, Pride and Prejudice (Drill Hall), The Crucible (Oxford Playhouse), and The Siren's Call (Watermill Theatre). Her television credits include Plebs and The Royals.

Ricky Oakley plays Demetrius/Starveling. His theatre credits include Magic Goes Wrong (West End/UK Tour), The Optimists (Southwark Playhouse), 50 Years (The Old Red Lion), Private Lives, Much Ado about Nothing, Put out the Lights (Red Rose Chain), Romeo and Juliet (Guildford Shakespeare Company), Roller Diner (Soho Theatre), King David (Finborough Theatre), A Theatre Near You, Beauty and the Beast, Dick Whittington, Jack and the Beanstalk (Oxford Playhouse),

The Comedy of Errors (Orange Tree Theatre), Posh (Pennyshort Theatre), Britain Ltd (ad Infinitum), and Hamlet (Shakespeare's Globe). His television credits include Doctors.

Melissa Parker plays Hermia/Titania. Her theatre credits include Something Awful (Flux Theatre/The Vaults), WEIRD (Some Riot Theatre/Arcola Theatre), and Adam and Eve (Broken Silence/Hope Theatre). Television work includes Doctors, and film work includes, Legacy.

Isambard Rawbone plays Oberon/Theseus. His theatre work includes If This Is Normal (Chatback Theatre/Greenwich Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Vault Festival, The New Normal Festival, Wardrobe Theatre, Old Fire Station, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Theatre 53two, Liverpool Royal Court), Hamlet, Sense and Sensibility (Aquila Theatre/ US tour), A Murder Most Foley (Fools Rush in Theatre/ Pleasance Theatre), Newsrevue (Canal Cafe Theatre), and Method In Madness (Entita Theatre/ Edinburgh Festival Fringe, International Youth Arts Festival, Catford Broadway, Greenwich Theatre, Marlowe Theatre, Old Joint Stock, Croydon Utopia, Mumford Theatre).

Performances run 29 June - 13 August.

Box Office: https://iristheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows

Tickets: £22.50

Concessions: £17:50

To post a comment, you must register and login.