‘Brilliant’ director will help bring A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the stage in Leighton Buzzard

Susan, who will be director for the production, has loved reading and scribbling stories for as long as she can remember. Her first encounter with Shakespeare was Julius Caesar at age 11.

This led to a long path of part-time education as an adult: over the course of 14 years, while bringing up her family, she took an Open University BA (Hons) in literature and Creative Writing and completed an MA and PhD in Shakespeare at Royal Holloway, University of London – where she is an Honorary Research Associate. She is also a London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art gold medallist.

Susan has previously directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet and The Comedy of Errors, and she also runs ‘No Shakesfear’ acting workshops. Her main passion is bringing accessible, exciting Shakespeare to local audiences. She says that “of all Shakespeare’s comedies, I particularly love the humour in A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

Sue has strong local connections – her lifelong love of the theatre has led her to be a member of TADS Theatre group in Toddington for over 40 years, where she has acted, directed, worked on and off stage and penned a number of pantomimes. In total, she has directed over 40 productions and plays for casts aged four to 84!

She also enjoys writing Shakespeare-themed fiction: her debut thriller, So Now Go Tell, is due for release by Matador on June 28 (the date of the Leighton Buzzard dress rehearsal!). She also had a youth play, Beauty and the Beast, published by Cressrelles in 1997.

Her non-fiction book on Shakespeare: Shakespeare, Objects and Phenomenology, was published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2020. She is currently contributing to a book on the Early Modern Imagination, which will be published by the same company in Autumn 2023.

Mike Ward, of Leighton Buzzard Drama Group, said: “We have been very lucky to have the services of Dr Sue Sachon as director for this production. Sue has her individual way of thinking about Shakespeare, using her immense knowledge on the subject to create new approaches and to bring to life all the humour. Her proposal for our show, A Midsummer Night’s Dream in June is brilliant.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is at the Library Theatre on June 29, 30 and July 1 at 7.45pm. Tickets can be purchased online via www.lbdg.org.uk or the Library Theatre Box Office. For telephone bookings call 0300 300 8125. In-person bookings are available at the Library Theatre counter (second floor) on Tuesdays, 10am-3pm.