Context: The play opens with men in dominant positions: Theseus rules Athens, Egeus demands obedience from his daughter. Men also seem prepared to use sex for their own ends: Demetrius threatens Helena, Oberon humiliates Titania. Yet the women will not submit: Titania refuses to hand over the changeling boy, Hermia elopes. This production offers an interesting reflection on the relative power of men and women. A modern approach is established at the opening with a fight between Theseus and Hippolyta. They are in armour, using swords - and Hippolyta wins. | 
