Adam Carver (aka Fatt Butcher) as Puck. Credit Manuel Harlan
Birmingham Rep has released the first images alongside their production trailer for their latest production: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – a new version of Shakespeare’s popular comedy playing in The House until Sunday 25 May. This big, bold production is staged through a Birmingham lens with Brummie accents, familiar city locations and cabaret sensation, Adam Carver (aka Fatt Butcher) playing the role of Puck.
The Rep’s Artistic Director Joe Murphy and Deputy Artistic Director Madeleine Kludje co-direct the show – their first production staged in The House since taking up the artistic leadership in 2025.
Joe’s mission is to provide more opportunities for local actors, creatives and communities, with half of this cast coming from Birmingham and the West Midlands, with three actors selected from an open casting call (see full details below).
As previews began for the production, Joe Murphy and Madeleine Kludje said:
“The Rep is here to give people a great night out. It’s brilliant to be welcoming audiences to experience Shakespeare’s joyful comedy through a Birmingham lens. We’re here to champion our regional voice and we’ve brought together some of the finest acting talent from across the UK, whilst celebrating the exceptional pool of artists on our doorstep. The Rep was the first major theatre to stage modern dress Shakespeare in the 30’s so we’re delighted to be bringing Shakespeare back to our stage.Expect energy, original music, lots of movement, great fun and plenty of neon – it’s Shakespeare’s play distinctly set within our fantastic, vibrant city”.
The full cast includes: local Birmingham and West Midlands actors in the cast include Adam Carver (national tours of Send in the Clowns – as drag artist Fatt Butcher, Christmas Carole, Southend Palace Theatre) as Puck and Philostrate; Keiren Hamilton-Amos (Champion, BBC, Grime Boy, Birmingham Rep) as Snug and Moth; Qasim Mahmood (Romeo & Juliet, Royal Shakespeare Company, Tartuffe, Birmingham Rep) as Demetrius; and Haydn Oakley (Mamma Mia!, Novello Theatre, Sunset Boulevard, London Coliseum) as Theseus and Oberon.
The three cast members successful in the open casting call are Lottie Beck Johnson in her professional stage debut as Starveling and Cobweb; James Tanton (Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet, National Production Company, Horrible Histories, Birmingham Stage Company) as Snout and Mustardseed; and Charlotte Wallis in her professional stage debut as Helena.
They will be joined by Isabel Adomakoh Young (As You Like It, Shakespeare’s Globe, Hamlet, Bristol Old Vic) as Hermia; Omar Malik (Marriage Material, Birmingham Rep and Lyric Hammersmith, Abigail’s Party, Theatre Royal Stratford East) as Bottom; Hannah McPake (Hamnet, Royal Shakespeare Company and West End, Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare’s Globe) as Quince; Ellena Vincent (Romeo & Juliet, Belgrade Theatre, Hackney Empire and Bristol Old Vic, One Love: The Bob Marley Musical, Birmingham Rep) as Titania and Hippolyta; Evie Ward-Drummond (G’Wed, ITV and Disney+, Doctors, BBC) as Lysandra; Andy Watkins (To The Streets, Birmingham Hippodrome, Kinky Boots, UK tour) as Egeus; and Lisa Zahra (Macbeth, National Theatre, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Birmingham Rep and Northern Stage) as Flute and Peasblossom.
The full creative team includes Joe Murphy (Co-Director), Madeleine Kludje (Co-Director), Carl Davies (Set and Costume Designer), Andy Pike (Lighting Designer), Claire Windsor (Sound Designer), Asha Jennings-Grant (Movement Director and Choreographer), Ellen Hartley (Voice Coach), Kev McCurdy (Fight Director), Kenan Ali (Fight Director), Christopher Mundy (Musical Director), Marc Frankum (Casting Director), and Ian Taylor (Production Manager).
About the production: when a love-struck teenager is forced to marry a man, rather than the women she loves, she has a few options: certain death, live a lie, move to a nunnery… or flee to a messy, neon rave in an enchanted forest!
Beyond the city walls boundaries blur, music pulsates, and love is celebrated. Inhibitions are unleashed and love potions spill into more re-couplings than an episode of Love Island.
But with the feisty fairies locked in their own conflict; the seasons are pulled into climate chaos and the young lovers’ moonlit escape from reality loses its shine.
As relationships sour and temperatures soar, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy might leave you thinking… what the Puck?!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Saturday 25 April – Sunday 24 May.
Tickets from birmingham-rep.co.uk or Box Office (0121 236 4455 Monday to Friday, 12pm to 6pm. Saturdays 12pm to 6pm, or 4pm if there is no evening performance scheduled).