A Midsummer Night's Dream

Elijah Alexander and Susannah Schulman
in South Coast Repertory's 2011 production
of A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare.
Photo by Henry DiRocco/SCR.

South Coast Repertory is currently showing a wonderfully fresh and imaginative production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, through February 20th, 2011.

Led by the wildly inventive director Mark Rucker, off go four young lovers into The Woods on a midsummer evening—when strange and wonderful things are likely to happen. This shimmering Shakespearean fantasy features the antics of supernatural creatures—the fairies led by Oberon and Titania and, of course, the impish Puck, who creates chaos in the night. But what fun to join in the dream, knowing that by daylight all will be well in a mystical, moon-drenched masterpiece.

This is the first time I've seen a professional production of this play. I've only ever seen one other live performance (a college production) and the movie with Michelle Pfeifer as Titania.

Overall, I really liked this production. It is definitely wild, imaginative, and unique. The opening scenes are  formal and felt stilted to me, but once we enter the forest of the faeries, things came to vibrant life. 

The first thing I noticed was that most of Titania's faeries are male and... well... fairies. There is a lot of sensuality between the faeries, as well as the other characters. I personally found all the innuendo a little bit uncomfortable. Beyond that, I really enjoyed the performance.

I really liked how the director, Mark Rucker, created definitive differences between the main romantic characters; Toby Windham as Demetrius is handsome & athletic, while Nick Gabriel as Lysander is adorably nerdish. Kathleen Early as Hermia is beautiful & sweet, but with unexpected spunk, while Dana Green as Helena is intelligent and shrewd, but unsure of how to defend herself. (I'm especially thinking of the girl-fight scene.)

Nick Gabriel, Kathleen Early, Dana Green and Tobie Windham
in South Coast Repertory's 2011 production of
 A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.
Photo by Henry DiRocco/SCR.

I thought it was a brilliant idea to double cast Theseus King of Athens as Oberon King of Faeries; Hippolyta, Theseus' Queen-elect as Titania Queen of Faeries; and the courtesans of Theseus' court as Puck and the other faeries. To me, that choice of double casting held a symbolism that perhaps it was all just a dream after all...

Elijah Alexander as Oberon and Susannah Schulman as Titania create magical faery royalty that are vibrant, feisty, and not held to human convention. On a side note, I loved that at the end, when Titania and Oberon make up, Titania seems not to realize yet that Oberon has the boy (which is why they were fighting in the first place.) I totally got the sense that as soon as she figured it out, they'd be fighting again. The other two productions I've seen, once Titania wakes up, Oberon is seemly forgiven everything in spite of the fact that he stole the boy from her, which never rang true to me. So the ending of that story arc in this production was extremely satisfying.

Richard Doyle and Patrick Kerr in
South Coast Repertory's 2011 production of
A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare.
Photo by Henry DiRocco/SCR.

Rob Campbell as Puck is an ultra-cool bad-boy, not the usual eager-to-please Puck that jumps at Oberon's bidding. This Puck has spunk and rules of his own.

Another part that I loved was in the second act. The play (within the play) Pyramus and Thisby is put on by a group of well meaning town workers to celebrate Theseus and Hippolyta's marriage. The performance is absolutely and brilliantly hilarious. Best.  Pyramus.  And Thisby.  EVER.

I also loved that Rucker added music and live singing to the play. While this is not a new idea, the music was jazzy and modern, and the faeries dance as if they are at a hot night club. Very fun!

And I was excited that several members of the cast had familiar faces: Hal Landon (Peter Quince), Richard Doyle (Robin Starveling), and John-David Keller (Snug) are keystone actors in SCR's annual production of A Christmas Carol. (Which was especially good this last year.) It's always fun to see them in other roles. Also I remember Kathleen Early (Hermia) from In The Next Room earlier this season (she was adorable and sweet in that play too), and Nick Gabriel (Lysander) from Ordinary Days last season (also an adorably nerdish character). 

If you get a chance to see this production, I highly recommend it. It's not everyone's style, I'd estimate maybe a quarter of the audience left at intermission. But those who stayed gave a standing ovation at curtain call.

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

Now Playing at South Coast Repertory

January 21st - February 20th, 2011

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