William Shakespeare once wrote that all the world’s a stage. This Saturday in Nottingham, the stage becomes a wrestling ring. BBC reports Bardcore – Midsummer Mayhem premieres at Lakeside Arts Centre, fusing A Midsummer Night’s Dream with headlocks, hot tags, and a sprinkle of fairy dust.

Why Shakespeare and Wrestling Actually Belong Together

“Back in Shakespeare’s day, his theatre was very similar to what it’s like to go to a wrestling match today… everybody picking a side, rooting for the hero, booing the villains,” explains co‑director Ben Spiller of 1623 Theatre Company. Spiller and partner company Wrestling Resurgence cast professional actors and professional wrestlers, then rewrote the comedy so that Hermia’s forest escape collides with bodyslams under the midsummer moon.

Academic Prof Andy Kesson backs the concept: “It doesn’t feel like we’re bringing wrestling and Shakespeare together, but they were together all along, and we’re now learning what that looks like.” Kesson’s research into physical spectacle at Elizabethan playhouses uncovered everything from animal baiting to staged brawls. Wrestling, he argues, is just the modern continuation.

Cast Highlights

  • Caroline Parker (Titania) – Deaf stage veteran who signs and wrestles using “a smidgen of magic.”
  • Dereiss Gordon (Lysander) – Professional wrestler counting down the days: “I love the big characters, the athleticism, the drama.”
  • Integrated BSL interpretation ensures the entire audience can follow the chaos in real time.

An Experiment in Body Language

Spiller frames the one‑night‑only show as a laboratory: “We haven’t done anything like this before.” The idea is to hook wrestling fans who fear iambic pentameter and Shakespeare devotees who shrug at suplexes—then watch both groups cheer and boo in unison.

A Growing UK Trend

Regular readers will recall the UK church that turned its nave into a squared circle for charity shows. Bardcore’s mash‑up continues the island’s unlikely love affair between robes and ring gear, proving that powerbombs pair nicely with pulpits and playhouses alike.

If Shakespeare Wrote for WWE…

The Bard once slipped comic wrestling bits between tragedies—think As You Like It’s Charles the wrestler. Bardcore pushes that lineage to the limit, swapping grapplers for fairies and steel chairs for donkey heads.

The bell rings this Saturday. Puck might declare, “Lord, what fools these mortals be,” but even he has to admit the concept is pure midsummer magic.