The story of Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, four young lovers who have run away to the forest of Athens to seek freedom from the rules being imposed on them, begins like a game. And like a game the story continues; a game of misunderstandings, reversals and magical interventions, as the fairies, their queen and the “rude mechanicals” join in. A kind of dream, in which the imagination sanctions the most extreme and sometimes risky leaps into deepest desires, hidden eroticism and the corridors of the unconscious.

One of Shakespeare's best-known and multifaceted works returns to the National Theatre. The great Elizabethan dramatist, inspired by a fantastical Athens that gives full rein to his inexhaustible imagination, delivers an intricately plotted play in which comedy is dominant, while at the same time touching on controversial issues. Michail Marmarinos approaches the work with his own distinctive directorial reading. In his staging, which reopens the Rex Theatre, he is assisted by a highly talented cast of well-known names and bright new talents.