Misia Butler on His Professional Shakespeare Debut in A Midsummer Night's Dream

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'We have managed to delve deep underneath all the hilarious comedy of it all and found some really poignant themes in the show'

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Later this month, a new production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be arriving at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Directed by Atri Banerjee , with music composed by Maimuna Memon , the play explores themes of love and loyalty through a comedic and magical lens.

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Recently, we had the chance to speak with Misia Butler, who is playing Lysander, one of the four lovers, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream . We discussed what made him want to be a part of this production, what it is like to prepare to perform theatre outdoors and why he thinks Shakespeare is still so relevant today.

What made you want to be a part of this production of A Midsummer Night's Dream ?

Oh, everything! I wanted to be a Shakespearean lover as long as I can remember wanting to act - there's something so juicy about the way that they throw themselves into their feelings and everything. So that was a really big aspect. But also the entire team! I'd seen some things that Maimuna Memon had done music for before, and I was like, “She's a genius!” And Atri Banerjee as well - I've seen multiple of his plays. We talked before about the production, and he just sold it to me so beautifully that I was desperate to be fitted into the jigsaw that is casting.

Can you tell us a bit about this particular production and the role that you play?

I'm playing Lysander, one of the four lovers. And the summary of the show, especially the way that we're focusing on it, is when there's this dispute between fairy royalty, four lovers and this amateur weaver, Bottom, get embroiled in the collateral damage of it all. What is amazing about this show is we have managed to delve deep underneath all the hilarious comedy of it all and found some really poignant themes in the show.

Storytelling and the power of storytelling is a really strong theme that we've unearthed, and the performances that we all do, whether or not we're doing them on stage or in life - the narratives that shape us and bring us together and pull us apart. Those are all so integral in this show as well.

What has the rehearsal process been like so far?

Amazing! It's been such a privilege to be able to play. Atri is an amazing director in that respect, where he really likes to find it with us, so it is coming from the inside out. He's not imposing movement or arbitrary direction on scenes - it's about finding how we're connecting to the characters, working with that and weaving it all together. We're doing a run-through right now, and it's just coming together so beautifully. It's really nice to see how people have brought themselves to these characters.

How do you balance bringing yourself into a character while still remaining true to the original Shakespeare work?

That's partly the beauty of casting, and Jacob Sparrow is an incredible casting director! Every time I've seen someone in his cast, I've been like, “The way that you've married who this actor is, who this person, is with the part is so unique and absolutely inevitable.” And, as an actor, a stressful thing is, how much do you bring yourself, and how much do you have to allow what the script is telling you is happening? But in many ways, that just flowed, luckily. It's not come up as an issue, so hopefully that translates for Shakespeare lovers!

And what is it like to prepare to perform outdoors at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre?

We've only popped onto the stage because Sherlock are doing their production at the moment! So we're mostly rehearsing in studios, but going on the stage itself, that feeling is epic. Especially with this piece, you're utterly immersed in trees and nature - you've got entrances and exits through bushes and things! There's so much to play with. And on top of that, it's almost quite ancient Greek in its format - it's got that ancient Greek setup of a theatre. We're playing with a more modernised version of it, but a little nod here and there is coming into that Athenian feeling, and it's great to have that embedded in the theatre itself.

What has your process been like to prepare for the role of Lysander?

A lot of work on the text, I won't lie! For me, I was like, “I need to know this inside out before I even start rehearsals.” It's my first ever professional Shakespeare! I've done a lot of courses, and I've worked with many people on smaller scenes, but doing a whole Shakespeare piece is something else. I really wanted to make sure that I knew exactly what I was saying, why I was saying it, and then bring that into the room. Everyone feeds into how that works with their track and their intentions. So for me, it was a lot of study, really!

And with this play, there is a focus on the concept of real love versus forced love. What has it been like exploring that, especially playing one of the lovers?

Really poignant. That's really coming out. Lke I said about the emotional depth that we're finding alongside the comedy, both of those things really draw each other out and really highlight each other. All of my favourite comedies and dramatic pieces, whether they be film, TV, play or even books, they have those moments where you're literally crying, and then you giggle to yourself. That really comes out in this piece in terms of that love, and whether or not someone's in love with another person or not.

We're finding the ways in which performativity comes into that, and what we believe we should and shouldn't do - how we believe we should and shouldn't be in the world, or how others perceive us. That’s really coming to the fore with what we're doing.

What is it like to be working on a production like this in theatre versus something that's on film, like a television show like Kaos ?

We have five weeks of rehearsal, and that's been absolutely incredible, having that space to dive in deep and explore. With screen it's so incredible the nuance you can find, and I love all the details that you can bring out of that, the truth that you can find with that, but there's a lot less time for the actor to work that with a director on set in certain spaces. With Kaos , for example, Kaos was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I had space with directors to work on scenes outside of filming them, but five weeks . . . You really dive deep!

Do you have a favourite Shakespeare play?

I have always loved Twelfth . Specifically, I got caught onto it as a favourite was when I saw The National Theatre production with Tamsin Greig , Phoebe Fox , so many other amazing actors! They were just all so good, and the way that they just made it so accessible. It was the way that it was so accessible and felt so truthful to experiences that I was having, and I really hope that's what we're doing in this play, too. One of the other actors very kindly just came up to a couple of us lovers, and was like, “It's just so relatable!” What Shakespeare does amazingly is gets these fantastical situations - likewise with Twelfth Night . What is going on there? But yet we're crying, we're laughing, and we're completely sold on these emotions and this emotional journey, and he's a master in that. Certain productions have really shown me that.

What do you think it is about Shakespeare’s writing that has kept it alive for so long?

We touched on an aspect of it, which is that he can never really write one stock thing. I think he was just really amazingly ahead of his time. Hamlet is a massive tragedy - so many horrific things happen, and it's a ghost story. It's scary as well as being sad and poignant and bloody, but there are so many moments of comedy!

I've seen this in so many productions where you think you're going in for comedy or tragedy or whatever, and you always find such depth and such human truth. It's just so relatable, and over the ages, that's meant that it's been accessible in strange ways. Despite it being this complex, beautifully crafted poetry, the sentiment underneath it is so clear and so truthful.

What do you hope audiences take away from this production of A Midsummer Night's Dream ?

I really hope that they laugh, I really hope that they cry, but I really hope that there's this lingering feeling of the way that stories change us and the power of that. An invitation to play, an invitation to tell stories, regardless of what you believe that you are. I think that a really poignant aspect of our production, especially, but the show as a whole, is how amazing the Mechanicals are for getting up and putting on a play!

It's a really poignant play, despite us lovers and royalty slightly taking the piss out of it. It's a really gorgeous show, and it's an invitation for storytellers of all sorts, regardless of whether you're an actor or writer. You could be working in a bank, but tell your story. It can just be to a family member or a friend, but it's important.

And finally, how would you describe the show in one word?

Enchanting!

A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs from 20 June - 18 July at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

Rehearsal Photo Credits: Marc Brenner

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre has released rehearsal images for William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in a new production by Atri Banerjee. Check out the photos here!

All new photos have been released from Shakespeare's Globe's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Globe Theatre, directed by Emily Lim. Check out the photos here!

A few scenes into Emily Lim’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Globe stage undergoes a transformation. Austere statuary gets wheeled away, the columns are swathed in plastic flowers, and Michael Grady-Hall as Puck blows bubbles to make more flowers emerge from the floorboards. The effect is colourful, tacky, and gloriously synthetic.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/Interview-Its-My-First-Ever-Professional-Shakespeare-Actor-Misia-Butler-on-A-MIDSUMMER-NIGHTS-DREAM-20260615)._