Brown’s Beautiful Midsummer Dream

You’ve got to hand it to the creative team behind A Midsummer Night’s Dream: They obviously went all out to create a show with tremendous beauty and style. Featuring a cast of talented thespians from Brown University, this latest incarnation of the Shakespeare classic works best as a meditation on love and desire.

A series of interconnected plots involve two romances, wayward fairies, magic charms and a band of Athenian craftsmen rehearsing a play for a wedding celebration. The  story begins with Theseus, the Duke of Athens, preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Egeus, an Athenian nobleman, marches into Theseus’s court with his daughter, Hermia, and two young men, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus wishes Hermia to marry Demetrius (who loves Hermia), but Hermia is in love with Lysander and refuses to comply. After the fairies encounter these lovers in the forest, chaos ensues. Relationships are strained to the breaking point. But in the end, love ultimately wins out.

I enjoyed the antics of the Athenian troupe, who carry wooden boxes with them wherever they go. Their recreation of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe is outrageous and hysterically funny.
Standouts in the large ensemble were Jaclyn Licht as Hermia, Conor Sweeney as Demetrius, Natalie Cutler as Helena, Will Conard as Lysander, Brian Semel as Francis Flute, Amelia Scaramucci as Cobweb, Anna Stacy as Nick Bottom, Uche Onwunaka as Oberon, and Manuel Lopez as Titania, queen of the fairies. And the fairies are unencumbered by traditional behavior. They flit about, dispensing their humor and commenting on the world around them.

Director Kira Hawkridge has come up with an ingenious conceit: Audience members are encouraged to become a part of this magical world by sitting on the stage. Hawkridge further enhanced the story by including singing, dance and a slew of modern rock songs. Shakespeare purists looking for a more serious interpretation may scoff at the creative liberties taken, but it is hard to deny that the flamboyant spectacle is entrancing. There are characters who twirl on sheets suspended in the air and an amusing interlude when Helena, Demetrius and Lysander are physically entwined in a raucous menage a trois.

The costumes, make-up, and lighting design were all first-rate.

This production was a triumph and did justice to the unique language of Shakespeare.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs through March 13. Stuart Theatre, Brown University. For tickets, contact Brown Theatre Box Office, 83 Waterman St, 401-863-2838 or brown.edu/tickets.