A Midsummer Night's Dream is the next production for Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank, a 90-minute staging for young audiences directed by Lucy Cuthbertson at the Globe Theatre in spring 2027.
A fresh A Midsummer Night's Dream opens at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on 4 March 2027 and runs to 11 April. It is the new production for Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank, the Globe's flagship education project. Running time is 90 minutes.
Lucy Cuthbertson, the Globe's Director of Education, directs. The staging is made for young people and pitched as a first encounter with Shakespeare. Schools get dedicated performances first, from 25 February 2027.
The plot keeps its group of amateur actors rehearsing a play while fairies and animals cause chaos around them. The four lovers must swap their digital comforts for the great outdoors, which proves the hardest challenge of all.
The scheme's reach is the practical point. Each year it gives more than 26,000 free tickets to pupils aged 11-16 at non-selective state secondary schools in London and Birmingham, and the show is aimed at Key Stage 3 and above, with GCSE study in mind. Other schools across the country can book thousands of subsidised seats, and teachers can draw on CPD sessions, student workshops and free learning resources.
Across 21 years of partnership the project has staged more than 500 performances. Over 360,000 free tickets have gone to pupils at state secondary schools in London and Birmingham, and a further 72,000 students have attended on subsidised tickets. It has also run 2,363 free workshops for almost 65,000 students, and 110 CPD sessions for more than 2,800 teachers.
Cuthbertson said: "It's a real honour to direct the Playing Shakespeare production as the project is arguably the most impactful work we deliver at Shakespeare's Globe. With thousands of free tickets allocated to schools across London & Birmingham, we hope that the show offers an opportunity normally out of reach to many young people. We are very excited to welcome students to A Midsummer Night's Dream, for fun, frights and magic in the forest."
Cuthbertson has led the Globe's learning and family work since 2019, after 30 years of making theatre, teaching drama and directing, much of it with and for young people. For this programme she directed Romeo and Juliet on the Globe stage in spring 2024 and 2026, and Macbeth in 2025. Her family shows in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Midsummer Mechanicals and Rough Magic, were co-produced with Splendid Productions and both earned Olivier nominations. She is also a founder member of Ridiculusmus Theatre Company.
Families have a way in too. A Midsummer Night's Dream: Family Workshop runs through the Easter half term for children aged 9-11, a hands-on session of games that digs into the play's words, characters and themes. Globe practitioners lead the sessions, and a family can follow one with a performance or a guided tour of the Globe Theatre.
Press night is 4 March 2027. Assisted performances are captioned and integrated BSL on 27 March 2027 at 1:30pm, audio described on 1 April 2027 at 2pm, and relaxed on 3 April 2027 at 1:30pm and 5:30pm and on 7 April 2027 at 2pm.
