An Outdoor Production Celebrating Shakespeare's 400th Anniversary
Performing arts students celebrated Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary by staging an open-air production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in June 2016. More than 40 students from across Queen Margaret’s performing arts programmes worked with staff to create a truly magical evening of theatre.
As part of this production, ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥ worked in partnership with students from both the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Lighting and Sound School. The public performances took place over a week in June with open air productions staged within the grounds of ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥ and at the beautiful Dunbar Close Gardens on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. The audience got into the mood of these special outdoor productions by perching on fold-up chairs or lounging on picnic rugs whilst enjoying steaming cups hot chocolate as the performance unfolded.
Following the success of this production, ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥ drama lecturer and director, Kate Nelson, continued to engage ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥ students and graduates in outdoor performances, staging plays in various interesting locations including her own allotment on the west side of Edinburgh’s Botanical Gardens.
Kate and theatre company Nutshell won a Fringe First Award in recognition of her play ‘Allotment’. The Scotsman Fringe First awards are the most prestigious and sought-after theatre awards at the Edinburgh Festival, and recognise outstanding new writing premiered at the Fringe Festival.
