Midsummer's Feast, A

One-Acts 45

By: Emilio Regina
Cast: 2 M, 4 F, 7 flexible, opt. extras
Performance Time: Approximately 40 minutes, 39 pgs.

FARCE. In this play within a play, a theatre group must perform a horrendous adaptation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” called “A Midsummer’s Feast.” The play’s plotline focuses on a group of fortune-seekers determined to find a hidden cache of diamonds. In order to locate the diamonds, the explorers must contact a tribe of jungle cannibals. The only problem is that the cannibal chief cannot speak English and his English translator only speaks Shakespearean English, which the explorers can’t understand. The explorers must then elicit the help of an English professor who can translate Shakespearean English into modern English. And as if the play wasn’t bad enough, the cast must endure a series of mishaps on opening night. The Professor goes unconscious, Tom goes mute from laryngitis, and the Guard is accidentally electrocuted. In the end, no one is left except the Prompter, who must play all the parts in order to save the show!

Freeviews: To read play excerpts click here.

Emilio Regina is an award-winning actor and playwright whose plays have been produced throughout North America. Mr. Regina teaches acting and English at Selkirk Secondary School. He is also the lead singer and harmonica player for the blues band, “The Hollers.” Mr. Regina lives in Kimberley, BC with his wife and son.