On September 11, 2016, Shakespeare’s Globe internationally live streamed its last performance of its Bollywood-inspired A Midsummer Night's Dream. As an audience member comments during the intermission, the adaptation allows viewers to experience “they way it would of worked in Shakespeare’s time.” There’s crass humor, audience engagement, and many contemporary references, including Beyonce and David Bowie songs. The cast is extremely diverse, and the adaptation plays with gender roles and presentation, much like Shakespeare did in his time.
Much to my surprise, the performance was extremely accessible to a contemporary audience. They made smart creative choices, such as moving the play to London and turning Lysander and Demetrius into “Hoxton hipsters.” Most people view Shakespeare as the epitome of literary genius, and consider his plays elevated works of art. The Globe’s adaptation maintains Shakespeare’s literary brilliance, never deviating from iambic pentameter, but it also presents the play with dirty jokes and ad libs, just like Shakespeare intended. When I think of Shakespeare, I certainly don’t imagine a hipster in blue underwear and a leather jacket holding an acoustic guitar. But it works, and every single character breaks your expectations and gives you a new way to see Shakespeare’s plays.
One of the boldest, and also most successful, creative choices though was turning Helena into a man. Shakespeare includes strong same sex friendships in many of his plays, but this 21st century adaptation explores sexuality in a way that Shakespeare could not have explicitly vocalized. The new dynamic adds another layer to the play, and rather than coldly rejecting Helena for another woman, Demetrius’s story is about his inner turmoil and coming to terms with an identity that’s still not completely accepted in society. The audience sees him suppressing his desires, and it makes the marriage at the end much more satisfying, and lot less uncomfortable. It also allows the two lovers to act much more aggressively with each other on stage, because it removes the power dynamic of gender relations and implications of violence against women.
Oberon’s acceptance, and blatant encouragement, of Demetrius and Helenus’s relationship paints the Green World as a place that celebrates what society deems abnormal and taboo. There are even suggestions that Oberon may be bisexual himself. It takes absolute acceptance in the Green World in order for Demetrius to fully come to terms with his identity, and although he is still technically under the potion by the end, his devotion to Helenus seems much more authentic than in the play. His speech about their previous relationship is ardent and passionate, and The Globe’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream provides not only three hours of genuine entertainment, but also couples whose love we can celebrate.
