The Tower on Tour in Paris : 2012

The 2012 tour to the Jardin Shakespeare with A Midsummer Night's Dream.

(Pictures of the show itself are here.)

2012 marked our 21st expedition to Paris and the second time we had presented A Midsummer Night's Dream in the open-air theatre in the Bois de Boulogne.

This year we again broke records with over 2000 people seeing the show. An enthusistic and talented cast gave cracking performances - and were given great support by the crew and FOH teams. The weather was generally grey and miserable, with one performance touch-and-go because of a heavy downpour shortly before curtain-up. But the week ended on a glorious summer day with a capacity crowd for the final performance.

As usual, the Company was not slow in seeking out the attactions of Paris, soaking up the atmosphere, sights, bars and restaurants, with a bit of sightseeing thrown in.

Setting off from St Pancras on Eurostar
  The path from the bus to the theatre
  First rehearsal on stage : the most photographed moment of the show!
  Megan teaches the dance to the Paris fairies
  Danger - gazebo construction in progress!
  Penny and Laurence editing the subtitles
  Scary male fairies make their entrance
  The Curtain Call is set
  Box Office is set up ready to go ...
  ... and the theatre awaits the first audience
  The 'dressing room' was the tunnel behind the stage ...
  ... which also had the props table
  The Lion applies his make-up
  The Q & A session after the first performance
  And then time for a game of cards before the evening show
  Or maybe a walk to the Bagatelle to see the peacocks (and to have the most expensive cup of tea in Paris)
  It's not really raining; just dripping off the trees
  Sorry, we were wrong, it really is raining!
  On a brighter day, back into Paris on the bus ...
  ... and the Metro
  And time for a good meal
  And then some dancing
  Some free time to look at the well-known sights
  A typical Paris street scene
  Some lesser known parts of the city
  And some almost totally hidden
  A trip to Paris wouldn't be the same without a demonstration - this one against control of the Internet
  Off to another bar to support England
  The last performance - a packed house
  The whole Company on stage
  Celebrating the end of the run
  The Director gives his verdict on the production
  The last night meal
  A happy (and relieved) Tour Manager
  And back to St Pancras
 

Photography by Annemarie Fearnley, Jonathan Wober, Guinevere Tufnell, Stephen Doak and Laurence Tuerk.