A Midsummer Night's Dream
This most popular of Shakespeare’s works follows the mad-cap adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, and their interactions with the Duke of Athens, Theseus, the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta and with the fairy court of Oberon and Titania. While small parts of the plot, such as the story of Pyramus and Thisbe or Bottom’s transformation into an ass, are borrowed from other sources such as Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Midsummer is one of the few plays of the Bard with no known source material for its main plot.
While Midsummer is quite possibly the most over-produced of all of Shakespeare’s work, save Romeo & Juliet, it is always a joy to see it done well. The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum revives their magnificent production of this well loved tale with the fire and joy that it might have had at its very first viewing at The Globe.
The production is directed by Melora Marshall in a setting seemingly built for this play, the cast moves about the stage with a near perfect sense of grace and desire, fueled by all the colors of love. The opening scene starts a little clunky but after the entrance of Hermia (Meredith Sweeney), Lysander (Ira Heinichen) and Demetrius (Matt Ducati), the temperature really heats up. The young lovers as a team create endless fun and while often times they can be the slower part of the show, this is never the case in this production. Of the four young lovers, Willow Geer as Helena is a true stand-out. She never over powers the others when they are onstage together, but her moments alone on stage are some of the very best of the production, mixing perfectly the comedy with an “aww”, doe eyed quality.
The rude mechanicals are lead by Thad Geer as Bottom, who is the most explosive and unpredictable Bottom one could ask for. He has a superb grasp of the antics of the play and works wonderfully with his other cast mates, such as Earnestine Phillips as Quince and David Marmor as Flute. Yet, the real stars of this production, as with most versions of the show, are the fairy world. Aaron Hendry commands as the spited fairy king Oberon and Abby Craden is not only fluid and beautiful as Titania but rules with equal strength to Hendry, which is not an easily found quality. The jewel of the fairy world has to be Elizabeth Tobias as Puck, who brings such a brilliant level of playfulness, animalistic coyness and childlike wonder to this role, it is, by far, a most beautiful and unrestrained performance.
The setting is beautiful and perfectly crafted, the actors well fitted to their parts and the laughs never stop. Pack a lunch, grab a bottle of wine and slumber while these visions do appear. This is one dream you won’t want to wake from too soon.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is now playing at The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum at 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Topanga Canyon June 27th through September 26th. For tickets and more information, call (310) 455-3723 or visit online at www.theatricum.com.