STAGING A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM THEATRE PERFORMANCE JULY 10-12

PENANG, July 8, 2012 - The English language play theatre featuring William Shakespeare’s works entitled "A Midsummer Night's Dream" will be presented for public viewing at the Auditorium Stage 1, Performing Arts Centre of Penang, Straits Quay, Penang from 10 to 12 July 2012.

The play is a unique research between the School of the Arts, School of Humanities and School of Physical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia has led to a combination of the three areas of knowledge to be offered through the theater.

According to Dr. Aris Ahmad, Director of the Theatre, A Midsummer Night's Dream was the inaugural staging of the play and combines elements of the original text of Shakespeare with Wayang Kulit of Kelantan, LED lighting technology (quantum theory), Barongan dance, Malay pantun and Batak opera.

"The purpose of the combining of all the elements of arts and science is to uplift the status of knowledge based on local wisdom."

"Through this presentation, the audience, especially the younger generation will hopefully gain an appreciation of diverse traditions and local culture which are indirectly highlighted and given new impetus through the medium of an English theater. This is a bold experiment that has never been attempted in the history of Malaysian theater," he told a press conference after the session of the preview performance at Gurney Plaza, Gurney Drive, Penang.

He added that the research project that produced this play has received the support of the Secretariat for Local Knowledge and financed by external grants from the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), The Sumitomo Foundation and Georgetown Festival 2012.

“The School of the Arts has received support from the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Prof. Dato' Omar Osman, who has provided some funds to support research and development in the arts and theater performances”

At the same event, Dr. Nurul Farhana from the School of Humanities who was completely involved in preparing the theatre said that the performers involved in this performance were the academic staff from the School of the Arts and local professional actors.

"We brought academic staff to the professional trainers at PPS together with several local performers for the success of this theatre. Guidance and analysis aspects of the theatre text were supported by professional body which, in this case, the British Council."

Also present at the preview ceremony was Prof. Emeritus Dato' Mohamed Ghouse Nasuruddin, School of the Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

Admission price is RM15, RM20 and RM40. Those who are interested to buy theatre tickets, please contact: