Upright Egg Theatre Company's polished Shakespeare in the park production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" set the stage at Lowell Park in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 2nd, 2010. With brilliant artistic direction by Leah Adcock-Starr, and assistant direction by Taylor Norton, the company composed an entertaining and crafty comedy alluding the three intersecting plots. The play surrounds the events leading up to the marriage of "Theseus" (John Egan) and "Hippolyta" (Lindsey Cacich). With the devil-some "Oberon" (Corby Kelly), king of the fairies, and the resolute "Titania" (Rachel Weber), queen of the fairies, the couple returns from India with a "Changeling Child" (Sierrah DiCosimo), alongside blessings for the marriage of "Theseus" and "Hippolyta." "Oberon" loses a quarrel over the ownership of the "Indian Changeling Child," and seeks revenge by ordering his mischievous servant "Puck" (Larissa Shea) to place a flower potion on "Titania's" eyelids. "Titania's" first glimpse will be her love. The sequences intertwine well as "Titania" falls in love with the fervent "Nick Bottom" (Bryan Grosso), magically disguised as an ass, and a player for the troupe set to perform the wedding play of "Pyramus" (Bryan Grosso) and "Thisbe" (Tim Daly), play within a play. On route to potion "Titania," "Puck" places the flower droplets on one of the lovers' mates, "Lysander" (Nate Cameron), while "Oberon" potions "Demetrius" (Avi Aharoni), leaving frantic "Hermia" (Kendall Kent) and desperate "Helena" (Renee Roden) to quarrel over stolen love. Confusion ensues. "Puck" resolves the star-crossed lovers, as Oberon reverts "Titania," and "Bottom," and announces that it was nothing "but a dream."
An ingenious script led to clever acting and artistic direction, and held high regard throughout the large cast with few unfitting ends. Impish "Puck-led" fairies attributed to outright laughter while original cadences drove home the production's magic. Since performed outdoors, the green hills worked as perfect playing space and depth perception for actors and six audience transitions to aliven scenes amidst the park. With likenesses of the Elizabethan era, shredded blue and red banners held as backdrop alongside paint buckets posing as musical drums for a fairy renegade, and momentous cello serenades for comedic accents. Distinct costumes also placed the players in both historical and contemporary contexts, alluding the timeless piece. The audience reverted from their "slumber" after returning to their original placement and natural fade to black closing the play with a charming "goodnight to you all," by the "Indian Changeling Child."
Upright Egg Theatre Company's (www.uprightegg.com) fine production of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" plays through July 10th, 2010, with the final production located at Matthew's Park, beginning at 7:30pm in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Comments