Reimagination of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Performance Text Analysis

Reimagination works of Shakespeare have become a popular form of theatre in Malaysia. This study ascertains that the productions of Shakespeare have shifted to the newest method of adaptation namely reimagination as theoretical discourse moves from the notion of fidelity to original texts. This study argues that A Midsummer Night’s Dream (AMND) (2012) retains Shakespeare’s imagination; however, the director of the adaptation has his own imaginations, interpretations and cultural agenda in maintaining the essence of Shakespeare. The main objective of this study is to provide a holistic analysis of the adaptation of AMND in Malaysia. Subsequently, its sub-objectives are to explore the imaginations and cultural agenda of the director of AMND (2012) as well as interpret the extent to which the Malaysian director offers a new interpretation to AMND’s original text. This research answers the question of how the director of AMND (2012) adapted the Bard in the context of imagination. Qualitative methods including interpretivist, interviews and textual analysis through Coleridge’s theory of imagination and Aristotle’s theory of drama were used in this study. Findings demonstrated that AMND (2012) maintains Shakespeare’s words; nevertheless, the Bard introduced the local traditional art forms and ethos through the director’s imaginations. The theoretical structure of this paper offers an empirical basis for formulating and inventing adaptations from Shakespeare's imagination to the Malaysian director’s imagination. This research also provides a workable study paradigm to be applied to Shakespeare's adaptation practice in Malaysia.