A Dream in Hanoi

Documentary following American and Vietnamese actors as they battle cultural differences to put on Shakespeare in Hanoi

This documentary follows two companies, one American, one Vietnamese, as they come together to stage the first performances in Vietnam of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The film follows the actors, directors, producers and technicians from both countries as they struggle to surmount the obstacles of language, culture, and ideology on their journey to opening night at Hanoi's famous Opera House.

Their relationship begins to unravel when the celebrated Vietnamese director decides to add a few characters to Shakespeare's play; the stage manager fights two-hour lunch breaks while the Vietnamese producer says she is pathologically obsessed with time; the American lead actor introduces his beautiful Vietnamese leading lady to full-mouth kissing on stage; and American feminism clashes with Vietnamese expectations of female behaviour when the Vietnamese leading man chastises his US co-star for her in-your-face performance...