Actors from the London Stage to present ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at SUNY Oswego

Actors from the London Stage, a dynamic five-actor touring company, will present the popular Shakespeare comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15, in SUNY Oswego’s Waterman Theatre.

Presented by SUNY Oswego’s ARTSwego program, this production will see each actor playing multiple roles in an entertaining adaptation. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” involves mistaken identities, blossoming love and a world where magic reigns. A blend of romance, slapstick and pathos, Shakespeare’s effervescent comic fantasy remains perennially popular for its vivid characters, sparkling wit and famed comic setpieces.

Actors From The London Stage (AFTLS) was founded in 1975 at the University of California, Santa Barbara, by professor Homer “Murph” Swander and the renowned stage and screen actor Sir Patrick Stewart, best known as Captain Picard on TV’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and Professor Xavier in the” X-Men” film franchise. 

The AFTLS company ethos and mission emphasize simplicity at its finest. Five actors take the stage, with minimal props and costumes, and direct themselves in a performance of a complete Shakespeare play, with each actor portraying multiple roles.

But the performance is only part of the experience. The company tours colleges and universities across the United States twice yearly, with each tour organized and administered by Shakespeare at Notre Dame. Each company of five actors leads classes and workshops throughout the residency week.

For their SUNY Oswego residency, plans call for troupe members to meet with 18 classes in courses across 10 academic programs at the university. AFTLS also will provide workshops for students in the upcoming "Addams Family" theatre production; a range of SUNY Oswego theatre, psychology and graduate students; and Oswego High School theatre students.

The company’s goal is to interpret Shakespeare’s text as a blueprint for performance, lifting the words off the page as Shakespeare originally intended.

Tickets to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” are available from any campus box office or online via tickets.oswego.edu. Tickets are free for SUNY Oswego students; $5 for non-SUNY Oswego students; $15 for faculty, staff and alumni; and $20 for the general public.

For more information on performing and visual arts events on the SUNY Oswego campus, visit the ARTSwego website.