|
|
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
|
LaSalle Players third
show of their season is Shakespeare's romantic comedy, "A
Midsummer Night's Dream". It was suggested by "A Knight's Tale"
from Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" and written
around 1594 to 1596. It portrays the adventures of four young
Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors. Moonlight, magic
and midsummer madness infect the lovers, tradesmen and fairies
in this tale. It takes place in and around the Duke's palace and
the moonlit forest in Athens. The plot revolves
around Theseus, the Duke of Athens impending marriage to a
feisty Hippolyta, an Amazon warrior. It also concerns the
lovers. Hermia loves Lysander, but is promised to Demetrius by
her mother. She refuses to marry him, Egeus complains to Theseus
who orders Hermia to obey her mother's wishes or die. Hermia and
Lysander run off together to the woods. They are pursued by her
friend Helena and Demetrius, whom she loves and to whom she has
told about the lovers' escape plan. The four of them are lost in
the woods and set upon by mischievous fairies led by young
prankster Puck who wreaks havoc with the people caught in there.
It is orchestrated by Oberon, the King with mayhem resulting.
Oberon is distracted by problems with his own lover, Titania the
queen and plays a major practical joke on her. Add in the
hilarious country bumpkins practicing a tragic comedy for the
Duke's nuptials and you have the ingredients for the laugh riot
that follows. Director Kristopher Lencowski from Brown
University takes his 17 high school students on a whirlwind trip
of one of the Bard's best known shows. It will help you escape
from your current day problems into the magical world of the
past. He has Puck enter from the audience, climbing on the backs
of the seats in the audience. Puck invites the performers
onstage with him, tips over a table explaining this is a
balcony and for the audience to use their imaginations to
participate in the hour and forty minute show that follows.
Director Lencowski
obtains the slapstick antics necessary to pull this show off by
his talented cast. He keeps the cast around the playing area
playing multiple groups of people, almost like an improv troupe.
They supply the sound effects. David Cabral from PC supplies the
costumes especially impressive are the farce outfits at the end
of the show. The lighting design is by Mrs. Elissa Pensa
Cerros. The biggest scene stealer in this show is Molly
Nocera as Bottom, the weaver. Her over the top delivery is
splendid and definitely needed to capture the comic essence
Shakespeare planned for this show. Molly's powerful vocal
prowess, facial expressions and physical comedy are topnotch.
Her farcical antics excel even when she has a donkey ears on her
head. Molly and her fellow trades-people are a hoot in the
closing scene of the show where the lovers comically
kill themselves like in "Romeo and Juliet" but with more
humorous results. Molly's death scene is a showstopper where she
tries to kill herself in various ways and is dressed like a
Roman soldier from "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to
the Forum", knocks four huge columns over and one of her
funniest lines is "What the hell are you doing here? Her fellow
comedians include Peter Dolan as Snug, the lion, Victoria
Szlashta as Snout, the wall, played Sonya in "Summerfolk") Sean
Walsh as Peter Quince, (played Cornelius in "Hello,Dolly" and a
comic old man in "Summerfolk") who is supposed to be the
director of this comic farce but is constantly interrupted by
Bottom and Colin Whitney is a hoot as Francis Flute, the
bellows-mender who is dressed in drag as Thisby and also plays
Moonshine.(Colin uses a high pitch voice as the woman and has
some fast costume changes in this scene.) Sean plays the
keyboards in the death scene and the plays hysterical musical
passages that keep the crowd in stitches. The young lovers are
excellent in their roles. Matt Kilduff as Demetrius, oversexed
and overbearing) Devin Carreiro as Helena, (unrequited
love) John Coletta as Lysander(confused and endearing) and
Gabrielle Whitney as Hermia(full of righteous indignation) play
the young lovers. They shine in their scenes especially while
running through the woods. Their physical humor is excellent
including pratfalls, fighting with each other, having a sword
fight with wooden bats, jumping off chairs as well as throwing
each other around and calling Hermia a dwarf as well as several
other derogatory names.
Meg Miller plays Egeus,
Hermia's strict mother who demands she marry Demetrius or be put
to death. Also fantastic are Brendan Hefner as Oberon and Julia
Harvey as Titania. His delivery is right on the money, showing
his acting depth in this enormous role. (He also did an
excellent job in "Summerfolk") She really shines in her scenes,
playing them with a light comic touch especially in the falling
in love with a jackass scene which elicits many laughs. Alison
Russo plays her fairy attendant who waits on her. Also wonderful
are Sam Stone, who commands the stage as Theseus, the
Duke(Saw him as the doctor in "Summerfolk") and Juliet Demasi as
Hippolyta. Another scene stealer is Luke Doyle as mischief maker
Puck who throws fairy dust at the lovers to make them fall in
love with each other. He does astounding work and steals many a
scene with his crazy antics. His athletic skills
include balancing himself on the rails in the audience, on
various set pieces and he moves around like a whirling dervish.
The talented cast is rewarded with a spontaneous standing
ovation at the close of the show. So for an excellent evening of
a comic Shakespearean romp be sure to catch "A Midsummer Night's
Dream".
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (4 to 6 March, 2010) LaSalle Players, LaSalle Academy, 612 Academy Avenue, Providence,RI 1(401)351-7750 ext.183 or www.lasalle-academy.org
|
