It was late August, just weeks before opening night, when key figures at the Royal Exchange realised their autumn production was in trouble. A Midsummer Night’s Dream was due to start its five-week run on 6 September, and as usual, a group of staff had gathered to watch a tech rehearsal, in which a show’s sound, costumes and lighting are given a run-through.
The show was highly anticipated. Director Stef O’Driscoll — a rising star in British theatre — was going to turn the play into a rave, transposing Shakespeare’s most famous comedy onto the Manchester music scene. But when staff from outside of her immediate cast and crew saw what was going on at the rehearsal, they were alarmed.
“We’re in a chaotic tech [rehearsal],” one staff member told colleagues. “There are things we really need to talk about.”
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