A Midsummer Night's Dream is probably my favorite Shakespeare play. Partly because it's also probably the one I've seen the most on stage (this is my 10th time seeing it, and
my 7th time writing about it in my almost 15 years as a Twin Cities Theater Blogger), but also because it's really the perfect rom com, with a little bit of everything. In his final season as the Guthrie's Artistic Director,
Joe Dowling staged a memorable in-the-round production in 2015, and now current Artistic Director Joseph Haj is bringing us his version of this classic. I was lucky enough to attend the first meet-and-greet with the cast and creative team back in early January, when Joe talked about what the show means to him. He staged it at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in March 2020, and we know how that story goes - the show only had a few performances before being cancelled due to the pandemic. So this is a re-do of sorts, even bringing a few cast and creatives back. But this is a fresh, new
Midsummer, bringing a bright warm glow to the Guthrie stage now when we need in most in this bleak, dark Midwinter. It's a delightful production full of heart, humor, and hope, and more music than any previous
Midsummer I've seen. Whether you've never seen
Midsummer before (where have you been?) or you've seen it a dozen times, here are ten reasons to
see the Guthrie's new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream:
- Wikipedia says, "A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's most popular and widely performed plays," and there's a reason for that. It really is the perfect rom com, with not just one but multiple love stories, new and old, requited and not. And the meta play-within-a-play plot pokes gentle fun at theater itself, allowing us to laugh at and enjoy the thing we're actually laughing at and enjoying!
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| photo by Dan Norman |
Director Joseph Haj has truly brought a feeling of joy and love and wonder to the stage. The show is so playful and fun, the multiple storylines crystal clear, with a fresh and modern feeling while still staying true to the original.- This show is very accessible, even for Shakespeare novices. In fact, it opens with an informal discussion with Royer Bockus (Helena) talking to the audience and asking about their love stories, which TBH felt a bit unnecessary at first, but paid off in the best way at the end of the show and really bought the themes of the show home. Royer (last seen locally in the Jungle's charming production of Fly by Night) is able to show off her delightfully quirky ukulele and songwriting skills.
- This dreamy cast is full of beloved Guthrie veterans and newcomers to the Twin Cities. Truly everyone in the cast (13 playing named characters, sometimes more than one, plus the 4 essentials filling out the world without words) is a joy to watch. John Catron and Regina Marie Williams (the 2023 Hamlet couple reunited) play two very different kinds of royal couples, regal in different ways. The History Play's Falstaff, Jimmy Kieffer, returns in the role of another mischief-maker, Puck, having so much fun playing with these foolish mortals, playing them like an orchestra conductor. The four young lovers (Ari Derambakhsh, Justin Withers, Jonathan Luke Stevens, and Royer Bockus) are all played by Guthrie newcomers and are all so fantastic, their sparring so sharp and funny I could watch a spin-off with just the four of them. The troupe of "rude mechanicals" is just the best - a hilarious and endearing Remy Auberjonois as Bottom in the most charming ass head you'll ever see, with Max Wojtanowicz, Kimberly Richardson (a #TCTheater favorite making her Guthrie stage debut), Dustin Bronson, and Aimee K. Bryant. This cast is truly an embarrassment of riches.
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Bottom (Remy Auberjonois) and Titania
(Regina Marie Williams, photo by Dan Norman) |
The costumes are an absolute feast for the eyes, and so cleverly constructed. The Athenians are dressed in royal gold or classic black/grey/white, each character's style clearly reflecting their personalities - Lysander is a rock star in guyliner and black leather, Demetrius is a bit of a nerd in suspenders and pants that are a little too short, Hermia dresses like the most popular girl at the party, Helena in pants but still chic. As they head into the woods, they don sensible shoes, knapsacks, and leather pants, with a more elegant look for the final scene back at court achieved by adding or changing pieces. The fairy costumes are out of this world, with countless flowers adoring hair, beards, and clothing, and bright colors of green and purple that'll make you yearn for spring (even more than we already are).- The set continues this fantastical feeling, and it's no surprise that set and costumes work together so well - both were designed by Lex Liang. The show opens with a fairly bare stage, but when we move into the woods the scrim is removed, the huge central set piece turned around to reveal a multi-level rock formation with plenty of spots for our cast to perch, overflowing with colorful florals.
- Composer Jack Herrick has created a world of music for this play, setting some lyrics to music, adding songs, and creating an almost constant underscoring. I wouldn't call it a musical, but the flow of text to music and back again is seamless and wonderful. There is a recorded track which he also plays along to on various stringed and percussive instruments (and he's occasionally acknowledged by the characters), and some of the cast play instruments too. I particularly love how Lysander (Jonathan Luke Stevens) uses the guitar almost as an extension of himself as he woos Helena, with a show-stopping moment of impersonating a certain Minnesota musician. Such a smart use of music in the storytelling.
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| the rude mechanicals (photo by Dan Norman) |
The play-within-a-play performed by the rude mechanicals is worth the price of admission alone. They're just so sincere and so proud of the play that you can't help but love them for it. It's ridiculous fun (Remy Auberjonois in the weirdest death scene I've ever seen), with more music (because when Aimee K. Bryant plays a wall you better let that wall sing!), and when Max Wojtanowicz as Flute as Thisbe sings for their fallen lover it's really quite touching. And let's not forget Dustin Bronson/Snug/Lion's terrifying roaring, Kimberly Richardson/Robin/Moon's... mooning, and William Sturdivant's Peter Quince trying to keep the whole thing on track.- Act II opens with the best "previously on" scene I've ever seen at the theater, it's so funny and clever (think silent film). The Pyramus and Thisbe preview song is also quite adorable.
- Because the world is dark and scary right now, it's good to reminded that there is still light in the world, there is still love and community and laughter and happy endings.
