Waiting for the Dream in The Week Ahead, New York Times
Posted November 2, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Theater
by Steven McElroy
Irina Brook was only 8 when her father, Peter Brook, brought his Royal Shakespeare Company production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to New York in 1971. Mr. Brook’s show prompted Clive Barnes to write, in his review in The New York Times, “This is without any equivocation whatsoever the greatest production of Shakespeare I have ever seen in my life.”
”The girl who saw her father’s seminal production more than 50 times is now a director. And she also has a version of “Midsummer” in her arsenal. “WAITING FOR THE DREAM” employs only six men to play every fairy, lover and rude mechanical in Ms. Brook’s adaptation. The minimalist production was first presented in 2005 with the idea that it would be performed just a few times, outdoors, in and around Paris. It has traveled to Italy, Spain and Poland, among other places, but not to the United States until now. Wednesday through Nov. 7, La MaMa E.T.C., 74A East Fourth Street, East Village,(212) 475-7710, lamama.org; $24.