Shakespeare, First Nation style

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Imagine Shakespeare's comedic flight of fancy, A Mid-summer Night's Dream, with most of the principal characters portrayed by First Nations performers.

Darryl Clark, Kim Oleman, Stacey Sparrow, Jackson Crick, Stuart Pierre and Wayne Lavallee are the six interns of Carousel Theatre School's Native Youth Internship Program which took part in the school's summer tyraining culminating in the week-long production of Shakespeare's most light-hearted work.

"This is the funniest show I've ever been able to do," said Wayne Lavallee who plays Nick Bottom, an actor hired to perform a Greek tragedy.

"It's such large cast, the biggest cast I've ever worked with. And it's the most challenging show I've ever done.

"It's been a real learning experience doing this show...which is pretty unique for a Shakespeare play," said Lavallee. "You don't often see a lot of Native actors in a Shakespeare production, in great roles. We've had a lot of great response from the community and the Native community. A lot of people have come out to support the 'reds' doing Shakespeare.