George Brown theatre play features songs of Peter Gabriel and Aerosmith

It was a sweet moon at the Tank House Theatre, where George Brown theatre students dared audiences to fall in love with William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The mythical, yet hysterical, play was set in a desert instead of a forest for this production, with crates packed with gravel on bare ground. A crescent moon is brilliantly carved into a wall-like plank giving the set an eerie feel.

The stark stage and neutral tone outfits of the cast is a strong contrast to the playwright’s original work.

The music was a little different from Shakespeare’s time as well. Song and dance performances of Dream On by Aerosmith and Peter Gabriel’s Secret World backed by a live band. The covers were like theme songs reflecting the uplifting mood and dreamy cheer of the ensemble.

The audience swooned over cheeky young love between two Athenian pairs, while a tense rivalry between Hermia, played by Kayla Farris, and Caroline Bell as Helena, kept everyone on the edge of their seats.

Sweet love was also tested in the play. The audience fell silent as they watched fairy queen Titania (Tymika Mckenzie-Clunis) and Oberon (Core Matheson), her royal husband, confront each other over issues of “broken faith.”

Meanwhile Rita Quince and her band of tinkers prepared a play in celebration of the marriage between Theseus, Duke of Athens, as Matheson, and Hippolyta, an Amazonian mistress, also played by Mckenzie-Clunis.

While this play is dreamy, don’t fall asleep. Thou may witness a live orgy as the drama unfolds.

All performances of the A Midsummer Night’s Dream were sold out.