Matthew J. Palm: “Midsummer” is stylish, energetic.
A good cook will tell you that you have to know when to stop adding seasonings to a dish. Too many flavors confuse the palette. Shakespeare adapters should learn from that. A few twists can spice up the evening. But too many start to blur a production’s focus.
Red Fish Theatre and AntiGravity Orlando have come up with an energetic and stylish production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and they have attention-getting ideas.
Dianna Castronuovo’s exhilarating aerial routines lift performers on ropes, silks and more. Genderbending means two women play Duke Theseus and “his” bride Hippolyta, as well as Oberon and Titania, “king” and queen of the fairies. Bottom is also female — a sort of British-accented Jersey girl with leopard-print tights, big hair and a bigger voice.
But like a chef who adds a pinch of cumin when there’s already ginger and lemongrass in the stew, this production goes one step further — and it’s a step too far. Shakespeare’s dialogue is peppered with anachronistic phrases that grow tiresome. When Theseus bellows “Is there no play? No Netflix and chill?” it feels desperate.
And there’s no need for desperate measures; the audience is laughing aplenty at the Shakespearean dialogue without the added nonsense. That’s because director Adam Graham keeps visuals strong — and funny — with his charismatic performers constantly in motion.
If you’ve forgotten the plot, just recall it involves fairy magic that causes young lovers to fall for the wrong people during a night in the forest. Here, it’s more like a night at the Electric Daisy Carnival.
Black light, glow sticks, fluorescent makeup: It’s a wonder someone didn’t say, “If music be the food of love, rave on.” (The original quote does appear, borrowed from Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”)
The most spectacular entrance is for Tatiana, singing Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” in a circular aerial contraption, as if Glinda’s floating bubble detoured from Oz to Studio 54.
Is there any substance under the style? Alanna Fagan as Hermia and Zach Page as Lysander (gamely clad for much of the show in Mickey Mouse boxer shorts and a yellow rain slicker) handle Shakespeare’s dialogue best. Kristie Kuhl has a fun way with put-out Helena.
But the theater’s sound system, so great for the troupes’ inventive “Rocky Horror Show” last fall, is not conducive to hearing the nuances of Shakespearean prose. If I had to guess, though, I’d say the audience was far more interested in the high-flying “wow” factor than the words.
What: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Length: 2:15, including intermission Where: AntiGravity Theatre, 5390 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway, Kissimmee When: 8 p.m. Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays; through Aug. 28 Cost: $20-$55 Online: redfishtheatre.com