my father, who founded caracalla almost 15 years ago, always believed that shakespeare spent his so—calledeally recognise his voice in lebanon. hold — six, seven, eight. in 1990, during the final months of the civil war, fighting forced the company from our homes. as a family, we retreated from beirut and travelled up into the chouf mountains. so it was here in the mountain palace of beit ed—dine with explosions and gunfire just a short drive away that we devised our legendary dance production of shakespeare's midsummer night's dream. confined by war, the palace provided a haven for caracalla, while the barouk forest, a place of inspiration. out of this wood, do not desire to go. thou shalt remain here whether thou wilt or no. here in the forest, we could forget about conflict. what better place to recreate our midsummer night's dream? to transport shakespeare's tale of love and magic into dance, we found the thread of the story, inspired by these trees. words became movements. in our production, barouk is our mystical forest, and the fairies are enchanted genies. their mischief causes cha