Theatre review: A Midsummer Night's Dream

"What fools these mortals be!"
--Puck

I remember doing a bastardized version of Midsummer Night’s Dream in high school. One of the English teachers rewrote the basic plot in “plain” English, cut it down to ninety minutes, and cast most of the senior class as fairies. The big hit of the event was the star quarterback playing Thisbe, having to wear a wig and a dress and kiss another football player onstage.

Well, that’s the beauty of Shakespeare, isn’t it? That his plays are so infinitely malleable. That quarterbacks and cheerleaders can half-heartedly muddle through one of his comedies, and it’s still funny. That a lighthearted piece of frivolity like Midsummer can stand the test of time, that it can still be enjoyable and relevant 400 years later.

The general plot is probably familiar; Theseus, the duke of Athens, is getting ready to marry Hippolyta, and needs entertainments for his four-day celebration. Egeus, a nobleman, brings his daughter Hermia to Theseus. He wants her to wed Demetrius; she is in love with Lysander. Theseus threatens to have her executed if she doesn’t obey her father, so she and Lysander make plans to run away and marry elsewhere. She tells her friend Helena of their plans; Helena, who is desperately in love with Demetrius, who wants nothing to do with her.

The four lovers end up in the woods outside of Athens. Also in the woods are a straggling band of actors, rehearsing a play for Theseus; and fairies; their queen, Titania, and king, Oberon. Oberon sends Puck to drip a love potion in Titania’s eyes, making her fall in love with the first thing she sees upon waking. He wants her to fall in love with him, but instead, she falls for one of the actors, Bottom, whose head Puck has transformed into the head of a donkey. Puck also gets some love potion on Lysander, who falls in love with Helena and abandons Hermia. Then Demetrius gets some, and also falls in love with Helena.

Eventually, it all gets straightened out. Demetrius and Helena wed, Lysander and Hermia wed, Titania and Oberon wed, and Theseus and Hippolyta wed. The actors present their play, “Pyramus and Thisbe,” with Bottom’s proper human head restored. And all is well.

It’s been a summer of Shakespeare here in San Diego; three plays of his at the Old Globe, and now Midsummer at La Jolla Playhouse. This is definitely the prettiest production of Midsummer I’ve ever seen. Visually, it’s somewhere between Alice in Wonderland and Cirque du Soleil, fully of sparkle and whimsy. There are even acrobats. The furniture flies (including the piano, which turns end over end in a stunt reminiscent of Tommy Lee’s drum set), the fairies cavort in massive upside-down chandeliers, mirrors become pools of water. What appears to be a large Victorian drawing room becomes a forest of chandeliers and window panes; the furniture and curtains fly away, the maids turn into fairies, the butler becomes Puck. There’s an onstage orchestra, playing selections from Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

David C. Woolard’s costumes are easily the most stunning element. Some of them are literally upside-down, to mirror the furniture; Hippolyta’s skirt and Bottom’s donkey head are elaborate woven golden cages. Each one is beautiful and carefully crafted and unique, and these costumes combined with Neil Patel’s set design make the play.

The actors aren’t nearly as good. As you might expect, Bottom (Lucas Caleb Rooney) and Puck (Martin Moran) are the most engaging cast members. They keep the entire production from spinning off into mere spectacle. The lovers, I’m afraid, are a bit of a dud—Hermia (Amelia Campbell) and Helena (J. Smith-Cameron) are shrill, Demetrius (Sean Mahon) and Lysander (Tim Hopper) are dull. I had a hard time believing anyone could love any of them. And their period Victorian costumes are equally dull. Daniel Oreskes as Theseus and Oberon and Charlayne Woodard as Hippolyta and Titania have a commanding stage presence, and the fairies are nimble and acrobatic. But I found myself more interested in the set and costumes than in the actors, or the story.

But it’s still a great evening. The music, the costumes, the acrobatic feats, all the visual surprises and delights more than make up for the rest. Production-heavy plays often become mere spectacle, overshadowing the text and the talent; but in La Jolla Playhouse’s Midsummer, the production is the talent. All the elements tie together to become a fantasy, not just a spectacle--surely what Shakespeare must have imagined when he wrote it.


Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Christopher Ashley
With Kyle Anderson, Ken Berkeley, Amelia Campbell, Cate Campbell, Maggie Carney, Maritxell Carrero, Matthew Cusick, Matthew Patrick Davis, Sara Garcia, Zachary Harrison, Tim Hopper, Sean Mahon, Jonathan McMurtry, Hugo Medina, Martin Moran, Amanda Naughton, Daniel Oreskes, Tatyana Petruk, Christopher Douglas Reed, Lucas Caleb Rooney, J. Smith-Cameron, Anne Stella, Charlayne Woodard, and Bowman Wright
Set Design: Neil Patel
Lighting Design: Howell Binkley
Sound Design: Leon Rothenberg
Costume Design: David C. Woolard
Music: Mark Bennett and Felix Mendelssohn
Running Time: Two hours and fifteen minutes with one fifteen-minute intermission
La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego; (858) 550-1010
Tickets $31 - $66
Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 pm; Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm; Sundays at 7 pm; Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 pm
July 20 – August 22, 2010