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The Rice Thresher
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Tim Crippen thresher editorial staff The Alley Theatre's production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is visually stunning and funny, but it overlooks some subtleties that could make the production great. Alley Artistic Director Gregory Boyd achieves his advertised goal of focusing on the "dream" of the play. He does so by using elements from different times and locations that inexplicably meld together as in a dream. The costumes look like they are from the '40s to the '80s and from pulp fantasy novels. In choosing sets and costumes that exist out of time, Boyd, costume designer Judith Dolan and scenic designer Vincent Mountain have accomplished the goal of creating a dreamy tone in the visual aspect of the play. A Midsummer Night's Dream tells the story of young Athenian lovers who escape to the woods to avoid arranged marriage. The mischievous Puck, as instructed by the quarrelling King and Queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania, casts spells on the Athenians to confuse their passions. Meanwhile, a group of artisans from the town rehearses a play in the same woods. When the lead artisan and actor is magically given the head of an ass and Puck causes both of the young Athenian men to fall in love with the same woman, confusion follows. All is conveniently wrapped up with a wedding at which the artisans perform their "Pyramus and Thisbe." In his concern about creating the dream, Boyd has seemingly neglected the actors or has at least expected too much of the younger ones. The young lovers all have problems creating a humorous character without going overboard. Chris Henry Coffey, as Lysander, bellows most of his lines. For the most part, he's more annoying than funny. Laura Heisler's Hermia is too sweet, making her love for Lysander neither comic nor idyllic - only juvenile. Perhaps Boyd wishes to portray young love as idealistic and exaggerated, but he could have chosen a way to do so without making his characters grating to watch. Boyd, like many directors, chooses to have the same actors play the roles of Athenian nobles Theseus, Hippolyta and Philostrate and fairies Oberon, Titania and Puck. Because the Athenian and the forest sets and costumes are so different, Boyd makes the character pairs seem more disparate than Shakespeare may have intended. Some of the actors take advantage of the opportunity to portray two characters. For example, Shakespeare's creation of Hippolyta and Titania (both played by Elizabeth Heflin) requires enough snobbery and distance to make them similar, but Heflin skillfully adds a sensual side to Titania to distinguish her. Todd Waite, who portrays both Theseus and Oberon, is too stiff in his role as Oberon to do the costume and setting justice. Jonathan Scarfe, who plays both Puck and Philostrate, the "Master of Revels," has tremendous energy. His Puck is sinister and diabolical, and as Philostrate, he performs onstage (and in the theater's lobby) before the actual opening of the play. Playgoers enter to the nine fairies dancing in the aisles, Philostrate running about like a social director and a live band performing onstage, headed by Rice alumnus Joel Stein (Baker '95). Stein also composed original songs for the play, which he periodically wanders onstage to perform either as background or in the spotlight. He looks like a wandering hippie and adds a great subtle comedic element. Despite some problems with the acting, the atmosphere is great and the cast provides consistent laughs. The artisans Quince, Bottom, Flute, Snout, Starveling and Snug really steal the show. James Black and John Tyson, who played the leads in last season's A Comedy of Errors at the Alley, continue their great chemistry as Nick Bottom and Francis Flute. In the artisans' play within the play, they take the leads as Pyramus and Thisbe. Tyson has the subtlety of Johnny Carson and Black reminds me of Anthony Hopkins in Titus. This group of characters portrays Shakespeare's dialogue in dry, unexaggerated tones and allows his language and their own understated physical expression to create all of the comedy. At the show I attended, they had the audience rolling by the last scene, and Tyson even had to pause to stop his own laughter. Sure, he broke character, but to me, evoking that kind of audience response is quite a feat. All in all, I would call the Alley's A Midsummer Night's Dream an accomplishment. Boyd has made some fascinating artistic decisions and allows the tender side of the play to come out. The brief moment when Bottom recalls his affair in the woods is beautiful. For the great comedy and at least some great actors, A Midsummer Night's Dream is worth the drive downtown.
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