Tanika Gupta on reshaping the Globe’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
in Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama
31st May 2016
INTERVIEW: TANIKA GUPTA. The playwright talks to Judi Herman about serving as dramaturg to Shakespeare, working with Emma Rice on A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe. Recorded on 25 May 2016 at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, where Tanika Gupta’s own play Love ‘n Stuff opens in June.
“When you’re going through the script, you’re looking at every time they say ‘Athens’ you put Hoxton in, knowing what Hoxton is like – that it’s the land of hipsters. It seemed to work very well. And every now and then I did turn to Emma and go ‘Are we allowed to do this with Shakespeare? I don’t want to get shouted at.’ And she kept looking at me and saying ‘I don’t know, can we?’ But in the end we did! And I’m really pleased we held out.”
