When you see a show at the Warehouse Theatre, you can automatically expect two things. First, uncomfortable chairs. I know, it’s hateful to say it, but we all know it and there it is. We just have to live with it until some generous benefactor gifts them with new seating. How I pray for that day.
The second thing you can expect is to experience the magic of live theatre. The Warehouse bills itself as being “intense, immediate, and unexpected,” and with nearly every show, they succeed at all three of these, often spectacularly. Their black box setting presents a blank slate with which directors can orient and construct stages in a nearly infinite variety of ways. Which makes it all the more delightful to see a show staged in the sparest setting imaginable, utilizing the black box itself as a blackboard for director Jayce Tromsness’ imagination.
Tromsness’ production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream comes packaged in the guise of a visiting theatre troupe. Teatro Moltoimpassionato, as they’re called, are a motley band of eastern Europeans who travel the world presenting plays in repertory. Sadly, half of their troop defected on their way to the states, and the remaining six actors struggle to present Shakespeare’s classic. So begins the framing device, as these 6 (portrayed by some terrific upstate talent) shamble, late, onto the empty Warehouse stage. They have a couple of racks of costumes, a couple of folding chairs, a large rolling ladder and a scaffold to utilize as their set pieces. And without missing a beat, this motley band launches into an impassioned performance.
But that’s just the framing device, the set up for a play within the play. And it’s a way for Tromsness to create a unique and funny modern-dress take on the bard’s familiar tale of lovers, fairies and, well, yet another play within the play.
The cast is uniformly terrific, taking on many personas and accents over the course of the evening. Anne Kelly Tromsness is both affecting and amusing as Helena, Titania, and ‘The Wall.” Brock Koonce blusters and commands as Theseus, Oberon, and a tipsy, redneck Peter Quince. Paul Savas is hysterical as a hat-tipping Demetrius and New Yawk-ish Bottom. Jason Adkins is a wonderful Lysander and, together with the delightful Kerrie Seymour, a funny puppeteer. Matt Reece rounds out the ensemble as the officious Puck and, in impromptu drag, Hippolyta. Reece also plays the “stage manager” of the resident company, giving him an omnipresence that helps ground the entire evening. Credit must also go to young Mae Evelene Tromsness, who handles both her verbal and non-verbal parts with assurance.
Director Jayce Tromsness makes great use of the open stage concept, creating some truly wonderful moments, from the forest of ropes to the scene lit entirely with flashlights. He adds an extra dimension of “meta” with a large screen, upon which are sometimes projected stage directions and dialogue, sometimes for the audience’s reference, sometimes for the actor’s. Seemingly ancient gags are hilariously reborn – who would think that hiding behind a rolling clothes rack could actually be funny in this day and age? – while spotlights, office machinery, and power tools all appear to great comic effect.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most familiar plays. In fact, I’m pretty sure a local high school is putting on a production at the very same time as this one is running. But I can promise that you’ve never seen it done like this. Of course it’s not perfect, it drags in places, but it’s enchanting, unique, laugh-out-loud funny, and definitely worth your time.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs through March 19 at The Warehouse Theatre in Greenville’s historic West End. For tickets, contact the box office at 864.235.6948.
Comments