Modern Shakespeare attracts thousands in Shanghai

It's a different production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The costumes are casual, the stage is almost bare, and even the music is modern.

The classic plays of William Shakespeare are usually performed strictly according to his original script, and with actors wearing appropriate period costumes. But an American cast have put their own spin on the Bard's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", a modern version that was staged in Shanghai.

It's a different production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The costumes are casual, the stage is almost bare, and even the music is modern. As presented by the Actor's Gang from the United States, the modern version of the 400-year-old play impressed the Shanghai audience.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's most popular works. The comedy is about fairies playing a trick on four young Greek lovers and a group of actors. Director Tim Robbins, who is also an Academy Award winning actor, says they wanted to keep the original story, but simplify the stage decorations and get the audience to focus on the performers' body language and emotions, in order to learn the story of love and harmony.

"What we were finding was there are so much that was evoked from the language through movements, through music, through voices, people's voices," said director Tim Robbins.

"Since we do speak English and the other audiences are not speaking English, the hopefully the emotions, happy, sad, afraid, and angry. Through that and the physicality of relationship through two people on stage, or through a group of people on stage, in addition to the subtitles on the side that you will be able to hear the story and receive the story in a way that is universal, that everybody can understand," actor Adam Jefferis said.

Before the show, the performers held a workshop for local children. They say such community educational projects not only help actors learn more about the world, but also help people explore their own personalities.

"The thing that the theater can give them and the arts can give them is the ability to learn from a different part of their person. They need to know that their emotions are all right, that it is okay to have these emotions, and to find ways to transform them to create value," actress Sabra Williams said.

The actors also say they are impressed that Chinese people are so responsive when watching their performances. And the company plans to put on more modern plays in China in the future.