ANTIC Disposition returns to Bath Abbey on 8th August with a Shakespeare’s ever-popular A Midsummer Night’s Dream, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the company creating visually striking productions in historic buildings and unusual non-theatre spaces.

Building on the success of last year’s award-winning Romeo and Juliet, the production features nine professional actors – all with strong ties to the Bath area – who will bring Shakespeare’s most magical comedy to life in a unique promenade performance.

When a handful of humans stumble into the magical realm of the fairies, the stage is set for a night of comical confusion in the moonlit woods. Can true love – and a little bit of magic – conjure up a happy ending before sunrise? The production allows the audience to wander beneath the Abbey’s soaring arches, reimagined as a shimmering forest canopy, journeying through its hidden corners as fairies scheme, lovers quarrel and mischief unfolds.

Founded by director Ben Horslen and director/designer John Risebero, Antic Disposition has performed The Comedy of Errors in Gray’s Inn Hall, the location of the play’s first recorded performance in 1594, Richard III in Leicester Cathedral where the King was recently re-interred and Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet in the 12th-century Temple Church. Marking the centenary of the First World War, Antic Disposition’s moving adaptation of Henry V was presented in France, received three London runs and toured many of the UK’s finest cathedrals and churches (including Bath Abbey).

Performances at Bath are from Monday to Saturday from 8th to 29th August starting at 7.45. For more details, visit the website, www.anticdisposition.co.uk/dream-2025