The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.06646  Friday, 16 April 1999.

From:           Lisa Hopkins <
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Date:           Friday, 16 Apr 1999 11:14:12 +0100
Subject:        Midsummer Night's Dream

I'm sorry to post a fairly peripheral enquiry (especially now Hardy has
revealed that he has a method for cursing transgressors) but I was
wondering whether anyone on the list had yet seen the Royal Shakespeare
Company's Midsummer Night's Dream.  My six-year-old son, having seen the
McKellen Tempest at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, asked if he could go
to another production, so I've booked for Dream.  I now see in this
morning's Guardian a big spread about traumatised primary school
children being led trembling from the theatre by their outraged
teachers.  Does anyone know if it's really that bad?  My son is a robust
kind of child, and has seen enough wildlife programmes to have grasped
the general idea of mating; and when I was a child I lived in Malta,
where many films were X-rated but where there was an interesting idea
that children under seven were too young to be corrupted, so that they
were allowed into X-films.  My parents, being unable to find a
babysitter, thus took me with them to such torrid tales of adulterous
passion as Far From the Madding Crowd and Doctor Zhivago, without, as
far as I know, any adverse effects.  However, I would still be grateful
for any opinions on the production.

Lisa Hopkins
Sheffield Hallam University

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