Mid-November's Midsummer

Back from (well, last night) A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare Theatre Company's lovely Sidney Harman Hall. It was an official Meet-Up selection of the DC area Shakespeare Explorers group, and the lovely Rosa Mexicano next door offered us a congenial meal and a chance to discuss, not all things Shakespeare, but some things Shakespeare, plus a little Lincoln and politics and parking and other what-nots.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to talk about the performance afterwards. I was up in the cheap seats mezzanine, my pick-up companions scattered as ticket-buying options allowed them, and my real goal at the end of any evening out is to get home. That meant rushing to the subway across the street in the hope of catching a train quickly; missing one means adding another 20 minutes or so to the journey home.

So what I really loved right away about this production was the design (kudos to Lee Savage, set designer, and Jennifer Moeller, costume designer). I thought the choice of a post-war aesthetic for the "real" people brought the story up to a more approachable time, and the shabby burlesque-theater aesthetic for the fairy kingdom was just really interesting. It reinforced the "all the world's a stage" idea that runs throughout Shakespeare, and underscored Puck's end speech about the play being but a dream. Or maybe our dreams are but a play. I just liked it.

Of course, then I had a funny dream afterwards, wherein one of my Meet-up chums left me a hastily scribbled note after the play, not having the opportunity to discuss it. The note just said "Nooooo!"

See, that's why I don't necessarily like to read reviews. It depresses me to be disagreed with. I have no idea what the reviewers are going to make of this odd staging, but I thought it was brilliant. And to give you an idea of how fully I buy into whatever I'm seeing, I didn't even realize that the same actor and actress (Tim Campbell and Sara Topham) played both the real-life royals (Theseus and Hippolyta) and the fairy royals (Oberon and Titania).

Tim Campbell and Sara Topham, in rehearsal.

Photo courtesy of Shakespeare Theatre Company

In the Nov. 9 issue of the STC's Asides newsletters about this production, Shakespeare scholar David Bevington writes about the transformations that happen during the course of the play: "The motif of transformation is inherently theatrical, calling attention to its own devices of impersonation and rapid changing of roles, for the delight of audiences and of the actors themselves."

So calling attention to the inherently theatrical experience by setting the play in a theater makes a lot of sense. Not bad for a play that's all nonsense! *g*

A Midsummer Night's Dream plays through December 30 at Sidney Harman Hall.
Directed by Ethan McSweeny

Cast:
Tim Campbell: Theseus/Oberon
Sara Topham: Hippolyta/Titania
Adam Green: Puck/Philostrate
Robert Beitzel: Lysander
Amelia Pedlow: Hermia
Christiana Clark: Helena
Chris Myers: Demetrius
Bruce Dow: Bottom
Ted van Griethuysen: Quince
David Graham Jones: Flute
Herschel Sparber: Snout
Robert Dorfman: Snug
Christopher Bloch: Robin Starveling
Lawrence Redmond: Egeus (Hermia's father)
Nancy Anderson: First Fairy
Maxwell Balay, Rohan Saxena (alternating): Changeling Boy

David Graham Jones (kneeling) and Bruce Dow rehearse as Flute and Bottom.

Photo courtesy of Shakespeare Theatre Company