Briana Maia, Atalanta Seigel, Johnny Lee Davenport, and Merritt Janson.
Rocco Sisto, Colby Lewis, Cloteal L. Horne, David Joseph, and Michael F. Toomey.
Jonathan Epstein and Alexander Sovronsky. in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare & Company. Kevin Sprague photo.
(All photos by Kevin Sprague)
The setting, not the story, updated in this A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Theatre Review by Gail M. Burns and Larry Murray
Larry Murray: A Midsummer Night’s Dream is probably Shakespeare’s best known and most performed play next to Romeo and Juliet, and while it has within it the seeds of the tragedy about the star crossed lovers, it does not end with a double suicide, but with the joy and happiness of a group wedding. But even more uplifting is that fantasy and reality are what we see married in this Shakespeare classic.
Gail M. Burns: And it is a very special show for Shakespeare & Company because it was the first show they ever presented outdoors at The Mount in 1978. Artistic Director Tony Simotes, a founding member of the company, played Puck back then. He has directed this production, which is the Company’s eighth, its second indoors in the Packer Playhouse.
Larry: Simotes decided to set this production in 1930’s New Orleans which means it opened, not surprisingly, with some Dixieland Jazz.
Gail: We both loved the music, composed by the multi-talented Alexander Sovronsky. In addition to acting as composer, music director and sound designer for this production, he also plays an hilarious Francis Flute who in turn is cast as the leading lady in Pyramus and Thisbe.
Larry: This play has been captured on film, danced as a ballet, performed as a puppet show, and cast in any number of interesting ways over recent decades, and the lively jazz approach worked for me, especially as it quickly left the specific setting on the banks of the Mississippi for the darker woods and backwaters of brackish night. The fairies were joined by the musicians, and who knew that Jonathan Epstein (Quince) was also a great trombone player or that Malcolm Ingram (Starveling/Moonshine) could play a soulful ukulele?
Gail: I knew about Ingram but not Epstein. Both those esteemed gentlemen, in small roles, were memorably hilarious. I will always cherish Epstein’s Bottom in the Company’s 2001 farewell production of Midsummer at The Mount, and we will next see Ingram as the bold and boisterous Falstaff in Henry VI, Parts 1 & 2. Here Epstein plays a Cajun Peter Quince in a ridiculous golden red toupee, and Ingram plays a pricelessly prissy Robin Starveling and does more with about five lines than lesser actors do in a leading role.
Larry: In a review we often give a quick plot summation early on, but A Midsummer Night’s Dream is so complicated with shifting relationships, identities and plot twists that I am simply going to throw my hands up in the air and pretend to give you the honor. I know I will mess it up, I can’t even keep my family’s aunts, uncles and cousins straight in my head.
The cast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The Mechanicals: Jonathan Epstein, Malcolm Ingram, Alexander Sovronsky, Robert Lohbauer, Annette Miller, and Johnny Lee Davenport..
Gail: Here’s my TV Guide-style one paragraph synopsis: “Four lovers mix it up with the fairies in the forest, where a company of blue collar workers are rehearsing a play for the Duke’s wedding celebration the following day.” Convoluted as the plot is, it is easy to follow in the moment, and full of laughs.
Larry: This production brought out the best of some of the regular performers at Shakespeare & Company and gave a few a chance to really chew the scenery. I found Anette Miller’s Snug/Lion simply hilarious while Epstein’s bumptious Quince was constantly upstaged by a recalcitrant music stand. The six mechanicals (as they are called) who perform the famous Pyramus and Thisbe play-within-a-play were all consummate clowns, though I think Johnny Lee Davenport might have made a better Oberon than Bottom.
Gail: He would have made a fine Oberon, but I was happy to see Rocco Sisto in that role and as Theseus with a nice distinction of temperament between the two roles. I was disappointed in Davenport as Bottom and Michael F. Toomey as Puck. Not that they were bad, just not memorable. I have seen so many Pucks in a variety of shapes and genders, and I am a huge fan of Toomey’s, so I was looking forward to adding him to my list of favorites, but I found his interpretation just missed the mark. And Davenport was up against stiff competition in my Best of Bottom list, with Epstein and Nigel Gore at the top.
Larry: The play opens in 1930’s dress and quickly shifts to more Shakespearean garments which are designed for their ability to help create not only character, but some pretty nifty theatrical effects. Deborah A. Brothers sure took on a massive task when she signed on as costume designer.
Gail: The costumes are glorious while allowing the actors a free range of movement, which they sreiously need here. The only person impeded by her gown was Merritt Janson as Titania. A long train on her gown as the Fairy Queen tripped not only her but any nearby costars on several occasions.
Larry: The other element, the set, designed by Travis George, utilized the bare pipe setup that is basic to all productions, but subtly reconfigured the stage area and seating to bring the actors as close to the audience as possible. I loved how the pipes lent themselves to the illusion of cast iron balconies with plantation shutters and speakeasy draperies for the downtown passages, and into a mossy fairyland for the Delta scenes.
Gail: There were reasons why I didn’t completely buy the 1930′s New Orleans setting, but I agree the Packer Playhouse worked beautifully to evoke the languid swampy setting. Combined with Brothers’ costumes, Matthew E. Adelson’s lighting design, and Allen’s choreography, the effect was truly magical in the fairy scenes. Kelly Galvin, Cloteal L. Horne, Brianna Maia and Atalanta Siegel made a fabulous fairy foursome.
Larry: No credit is given for a fight choreographer per se, but I take it that movement director Barbara Allen is largely responsible for the amazing battle of the sexes we saw on stage. David Joseph (Lysander) and Colby Lewis (Demetrius) were shown a thing or two by Galvin’s Hermia who was not about to take any guff from the guys.
Gail: I love the scenes in which the anger, frustration and desperation build between the young lovers. And while Galvin’s fearless physicality was impressive, Horne was a feisty Helena. Joseph, as always, was a stand out physical comic and hunky leading man. He got to sing a little too, which is always a treat.
Larry: While there are so many wonderful elements to recommend this production, there is one problem, its inordinate length, which may have been fine 400 years ago, when people had few distractions beyond marauding Vikings, plagues and temperamental kings, but our busy lives are also rather soft and informal.
Gail: Actually, Elizabethan audiences didn’t sit at all! Nor did they stay still or quiet. The choppy construction of this play, which leaps from lovers to fairies to mechanicals in rapid succession, was calculated to cater to a crowd which was continuously moving and chattering and eating. Still I always find that I am ready to go home just as the mechanicals arrive to present Pyramus and Thisbe, and, charming and funny as that segment of the play is, it adds an extra 20 minutes to the show.
Larry: All told it runs close to three hours, and would have benefitted from some editing, or a second intermission to keep the audience alert and watered. Even so, I would be a far less entertained person if I had opted out of seeing this Midsummer Night’s Dream. When Tina Packer staged the company’s original version outdoors at The Mount, I traveled from Boston to see it, and back then we had mosquitoes and the threat of rain to contend with as well, but somehow it just didn’t seem to require as much tenacity.
Gail: As always, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a great play to introduce youngsters to the joys of Shakespeare on stage. Despite its length, there are laughs and action aplenty and all ages will enjoy it.
Shakespeare & Company presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, Costume Design by Deborah A. Brothers, Set Design by Travis George, Lighting Design by Matthew E. Adelson, Composer/Sound Designer/Music Director Alexander Sovronsky, Movement Director Barbara Allen, Stage Management by Diane Healy. Directed by Tony Simotes.
Cast: Nick Bottom/Pyramus – Johnny Lee Davenport, Peter Quince – Jonathan Epstein, Hermia/Fairy – Kelly Galvin, Helena/Fairy – Cloteal L. Horne, Robin Starveling/Moonshone – Malcolm Ingram, Hippolyta/Titania – Merritt Janson, Lysander – David Joseph, Demetrius – Colby Lewis, Tom Snout/Wall – Robert Lohbauer, Peaseblossom/Manager of Mirth – Briana Maia, Snug the Joiner/Lion/Egeus – Annette Miller, Mustardseed/Manager of Mirth – Atalanta Siegel, Theseus/Oberon – Rocco Sisto, Francis Flute/Thisbe – Alexander Sovronsky, Puck/Master of Ceremonies – Michael F. Toomey. Five Acts. One intermission. About three hours. June 21-August 30, 2014 at the Packer Playhouse on the Shakespeare & Company campus, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA 01230. 413-637-3353 www.shakespeare.org
A jazzy “Midsummer’s Night Dream” set in 1930′s New Orleans (All photos by Kevin Sprague) The setting, not the story, updated in this A Midsummer Night's Dream…
