400 years of Shakespeare celebrated at the McLellan Festival

To mark Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary year the McLellan Festival welcomed the Durham Shakespeare Group to Arran. On Saturday 20th August at the High School Community Theatre the group presented a double bill of Shakespeare, beginning with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and following it with the bard’s last play, The Tempest.

The Durham Shakespeare Group says of itself “We are a small group of Shakespeare enthusiasts who love sharing his plays.” That enthusiasm was amply demonstrated in their performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the audience much enjoying ‘the play within the play’, and the acting of Puck and Quince in particular.

The Tempest didn’t work quite so well – perhaps the idea of a double bill of Shakespeare, even when the plays are shortened, was a tad ambitious for both players and audience – but the portrayals of Ariel and Caliban were both excellent (although Caliban seemed uncannily like Gollum at times!)

The Durham Shakespeare Group is to be hugely thanked for the skill, effort and imagination that went into the evening, as is everyone involved ‘behind the scenes’ in putting on this event.