DREAM IN THE MIDDLE
...with apologies to Shakespeare

a show for children and adults from 11 years old
World premiere at “Maggio all’Infanzia”, Brindisi, Italy, May 2008

Dramaturgy and direction Robert McNeer
with Elena Giove, Mirco Trevisan, Paola Calogero, Nico Masciullo
Music Mirko Lodedo
Scene and light design Michelangelo Campanale
Costumes Jola Opsteeg
Light and sound technician Tea Primiterra
Assistant director Francesco Ocelli
Organization Ilaria Magagna

The forest of the dream is enchanted, but also frightening, inhabited by shadowy figures: an easy place to get lost in. Four adolescent clowns live a Shakespearean adventure, full of dream imagery, martial arts and silly dancing. These teenagers throw themselves recklessly into each moment: love, for them, is a lightening bolt, a thunderous, ravaging storm. In adolescence, we live without filters: every emotion, fleeting though it may be, is lived in full—the dream can become a nightmare. Yet it is but a comedy: the clowns remind us, in their clumsy, poetic way, that a good heart can be more important than a good head. This is a show in which we can see ourselves: the tumult, the joys and fears of adolescence; a show where we can be loved for who we really are, without the need to become Barbie, or Superman; a show in which to explore the grand paradox of the human heart.

Robert McNeer