|
Theater Reviews Jul 30, 1999 - Tahoe Shakespeare Festival's "Midsummer Dream" a Smash Hit By By Jack Neal
 As if one needs a breath of fresh air when sitting on the edge of Lake Tahoe with the beauties of the lake all around, "Dream" is just such a fresh breath as it reminds audiences that the sexual trysts in the bedrooms of the high and mighty and the low and without clout are age-old happenings worth little more than a gossip columnist's notice - other than as bawdy and titillating theater.  Which is, of course, what makes the dithering silliness of "Dream" so attractive and hilarious for audiences, modern ones most especially included. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" derives it's charm from a theatrical device, in this case a love potion administered to humans by a fairy - a hyperactive, scalawag of a fairy named Puck. When a drop of the potion is placed in a victim's eyes, that person is "doomed" to fall madly in love with the first person he or she sees when they awaken. The catch is that no one can be sure who that first person will be, which leads to mismatched couples and the play's collapse into the nonsense of high good humor. Things get off and running, when Hermia flees to the nearby woods with her intended, Lysander, to escape an enforced marriage to Demetrius, who pursues the pair with his jilted ex-love, Helena, clinging to him like "a spaniel." Enter Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, from whose feuding all discord flows. Under orders from Oberon, fairy trickster Puck administers a powerful love potion that causes the lovers to mix, match and attach with outrageous results. Meanwhile, bound for the same woods where all this mix matching and near mating is happening are a band of six amateur thespians in search of a secluded spot to rehearse their play, "The Most Lamentable Comedy and Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe." Even though the play's star is Bottom, a ham of all hams, they hope to perform before the Duke of Athens on the day of his wedding and be handsomely rewarded for their efforts. When Bottom also falls under Puck's spell and becomes a pawn in the inside love games between Oberon and Titania, "Dream's" plot thickens into an even gooier mishmash of mirth and mayhem. Shaun Carroll's Puck doesn't steal the show, no one in this high-powered troupe of players is going to allow that, but his energy level, charisma and enigmatic stage presence make him a Puck of rare brilliance. When the reversal of Hermia's fortunes in the woods makes her a monstrously frustrated lover, Eowyn Mader makes the most of every twitch and spasm of Hermia's love's-down-the-drain-and-I'm-mad-as-hell stress. As Hermia's love, Lysander, Gillen Morrison is - tall, slim and puppy like - as head-over-heels and hapless as he can be. As the pleased-beyond-belief recipient of the love potion's mismatching in her favor, Carolyn Howarth plays the sex crazed Helena like Miss Piggy in heat. Likewise, Thomas Redding's Demetrius heats up into a get-on-your-marks-get-set-go performance that pants and smirks its way into the heart of any onlooker who's ever warmed to the thought of impending sex. And what about those amateur thespians who deliver Bottom, one Shakespeare's most beloved comedic characters, to Sand Harbor audiences? Bottom himself, donkey ears and all, in the hands of the very capable Gary Wright, is over-the-top in a madcap, yet sweet ah-shucks-I-must-be-cute way. Egged-on by Patrick McBride as a ditzy Flute, Brian Montagnese as a bewildered Starveling, Philip Charles Sneed as a where-am-I Snout, Christine Nicholson as an earnest Quince and Peter Mohrmann as a king-of-the-forest Snug, this zany troupe of wannabe actors is as poised and suave as a "Three Stooges Meet the Marx Brothers" flick. Adam Toothaker (Theseus, Duke of Athens), Joe Nesnow (Egeus, father of Hermia), Hugh Dignon (Oberon), Sands Hall (Titania) and Karyn Casl (Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons) all give solid, excellent, in-the-heady-spirit-of-things performances. Lynne Collins's direction takes liberties, but the final product is without question: It's snappy, with-it, funny and fast. Peter Compton's set complements the play, Sand Harbor's gorgeous look and sets the cast free to romp, which they - without exception - do. Clare Henkel's costumes are attractive, Patrick Toebe's lighting gets the job done, and - most importantly - the sound designs of Chris Christensen work without a hitch; the audience can hear.  "A Midsummer Night's Dream" alternates with Shakespeare's "As You Like It" nightly except Mondays at 7:30 p.m. through Sunday, August 29. All performances are at Sand Harbor, Nevada. The company presents special children's matinees of "Winnie the Pooh Midsummer Night's Dream" Saturdays and Sundays at 3 at Incline High School, Incline, Nevada. For all Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival ticket inquiries call 1 800 74 SHOWS or visit their web site today!
|
The Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival at Sand Harbor hit its stride straight on Friday night (7/30/99) with a festival-opening "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that was as much fun and entertaining as any fine cast with crisp and inventive direction can make it - which is very entertaining, indeed. An engaging, splendid cast, in a fast and effectively unaffected production, brings to ribald-and-vivid life this most enchanting of William Shakespeare's comedies and they'll be doing it nearly all of August.