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A Midsummer Night's Dream Love is in the air and on the earth lovers
of both fairies and foolish mortals collide in the forest outside Athens,
resulting in one midsummer night that none will soon forget. Throw in
a bunch of amateur actors, including a ham named Bottom given to making
an ass out of himself, and you may think it all a dream. But on the Poor
Players stage, it is a dream of uncommon reality that you are unlikely
to sleep through. On the foolish mortal side of things, Jen Meyer and Adam Parker are the young Athenians Hermia and Lysander – lovers who elope through the woods in order to escape Hermia’s forced marriage to Demetrius (Jeff Sullivan). While Demetrius chases after Hermia, he is vigorously chased by the hilariously nerdy and determined Helena (Bethany Smith) who is willing to do absolutely anything to win Demetrius’s heart and body. She’s even taken the liberty of bringing a little whip with her (in case he happens to be into that sort of thing…). The four combine for one of the best scenes when, following some of Puck’s mischief, both men end up fawning over and fighting over nerdy Helena, driving a confused Hermia into wanting to wring Helena’s neck, and driving a confused Helena to accuse them all of teasing and toying with her (while enjoying the new affection from her suitors just a little here and there). And then there are those actors. They’re hoping to perform at the royal wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, and they have the most lamentable comedy with which to entertain them. Martin White is the director of this misfit troop, with Josh Gren reluctantly but amusingly taking the female lead in the skit, Keath Hall playing the ferocious lion who does his best not to scare anyone, Brandon Walker is the effeminate, halitosis-suffering Snout who mimes a Wall (dressed in a Pink Floyd T-shirt from The Wall album), and Tara Donovan is the sunny moonbeam who gets a bit defensive when burned by the critics at the wedding party, with Tara also joining Julie Clemmons in a sensual introduction to the fairy world. And then, of course, there’s Bottom, here played by Director Richard Baird who employs great physical comedy in making an ass out of himself both as a half-man/half-donkey adored by the fairies and as a dramatically melodramatic actor who wants to perform every role in the play. Baird’s direction of the show is
sensual, effective, and creative. After an amusing pre-show of the mechanicals
preparing the stage for the production, it opens with a dramatic confrontation
between Theseus and Hippolyta that eventually seems strange (by the time
of their wedding prelude, all hostility has inexplicably disappeared),
but it does, however, add to the sexual and romantic tension nicely emphasized
throughout the evening. Overall the production is a fun, original, sexy
and notably discharged piece of theatre and a great way to kick off a
midsummer (or a pre-summer) evening. Rob Hopper ~ Cast ~ Director: Richard Baird
© Tara Donovan. All Rights Reserved. |