A Midsummer Night’s Dream At the Bear

Lunch, Dinner, Drama, Wine Tasting, Music, all rolled in one

Given the apparent success of the first effort of the rejuvenated Bear and Ragged Staff to place itself firmly back at the centre of village cultural and social life through Shakespearean drama on Saturday 6th of February with a memorable performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona”, we thought it was time to repeat the trick. As a result, we are happy to announce that the Bear will be putting on a performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream, just two days before Midsummer’s Day. This will be performed by The Earl of Oxford’s Men, a group specializing in Shakespeare based out of his home, Stratford upon Avon. Check out their website at www.theearlofoxfordsmen.co.uk

Not only will Shakespeare be on tap, but so will lunch, dinner, a wine tasting and also our regular Open Mic night for those who wish to carry for a bit of late fun.

This will be staged at 5p.m., but to add to the mystery of the whole performance, we are going to keep you all on tenterhooks as to whether it will be staged outside in our garden or in the banquet room at the restaurant. The hope is that the weather will be good enough to stage it outside. However, with the vagaries of British weather, we are not going to “bet the house” on it. Therefore, we will be taking 65 bookings in the full knowledge that if the weather is awful, we can still stage the performance and not disappoint anyone! However, after the 65thbooking, we will take a waiting list, and if the weather is fine, then we will be calling you up to ask you to come along and sit alfresco on the grass in the children’s play area. However, should this be the case, please do not forget to bring along blankets and cushions. For those who perhaps cannot sit on the ground for longer periods, chairs will be available.

By this time, the Bear will be opening all afternoon and evening for food. We are therefore happy to take bookings for meals from patrons either before the performance or after it.

So the programme so far looks to be as follows

1) Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, performance begins 5 p.m. prompt. There will be a 15 minute “drinks Break at 6.00p.m. and we anticipate that the performance will be wrapped up by 7.30. Firm bookings will be accepted against the £10 entrance fee to be paid in cash in advance. We will also require phone numbers and e-mail addresses in order that we can keep you informed as to whether it will take place inside or out.

2) Food This will be available before the performance or after it for dinner, however, given that everything in the Bear is cooked fresh, those wishing to sit down for dinner should be aware that we would prefer you to pre- order given that we want to avoid bad service experience. Also we would respectfully request that you keep to the booking times made in advance for sitting down.

3) Wine Tasting by Oxford Wine and associates from 6.30p.m Oxford Wine are the principal wine suppliers to the Bear and they will be showcasing a number of wines, many of which will be available for you at dinner from our list and others also. They will be available to order for your private cellar. For those not sitting down straight after the play is finished, the wine tasting will provide a really interesting diversion!

4) Bear and Ragged Staff Open Mic NightEvery fortnight, The Bear opens itself to performances by aspiring musicians in the area. All acts are pre vetted and therefore, this event should not be confused with Karaoke nights where all comers can have a turn at the mic. Starts at 9.00p.m. and wraps up around midnight.

All in all, June 19th at The Bear and Ragged Staff promises to be a humdinger. We’ve got all the fun that you could possibly ask for to make your Midsummer Weekend completely mad! See you there!!

How is this possible you may ask? Well, it is possible because both the actors, Denton Chikura and Tonderai Munyevu, both from Zimbabwe, play ALL, yes, ALL fifteen parts! Shakespeare purists may not necessarily agree with all the twists in this slightly Africanised version of this famous play, but the performance (in English of course) has been getting excellent reviews as it makes its way around the country.

The show was originally staged at the Oval Theatre in London and was produced by Arne Pohlmeier, who happens to a friend of the Bear’s Landlord, Mark Greenwood. After a bit of arm twisting over lunch and a few drinks at the Bear, Arne agreed to bring his troupe out to Oxford. As Mark says “I went to see a performance of Two Gentlemen at the Oval, loved it, and immediately thought to myself afterwards that we could bring this out to Cumnor. I am so happy the Arne has helped to make this possible”.

Tickets have been priced at £10.00 each. The performance will take place at 5.30p.m. Dinner will be available afterwards. For theatre bookings and restaurant bookings afterwards please call the Bear at 01865 862 329.