A DELIGHTFULLY DIVERTING TAKE ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
When Mother Nature gets a credit as Ambience Director in the program, you know you're in for a ride.
Indeed, the weather at Tuesday's opening night performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream was, at first, a bit of a letdown. An all-day downpour had reduced the size of the crowd to fewer than 100 hardy souls — far less than the usual swell of 400 to 800 that populates the Freewill Shakespeare Festival on a glorious Edmonton evening in Hawrelak Park's Heritage Amphitheatre.
But for those who were properly protected with hats and slickers (pretty much everyone), the weather only served to punctuate the performance with the reminder that this moment happens but once. Tucked into my blanket, I stuffed my hand into my bag of popcorn as occasional damp gusts blew through the covered area and was grateful for the opportunity.
This year's comedy by Shakespeare brings a sizable contingent of fresh faces to the 34th annual festival, some of whom are recent graduates, or still students, of the University of Alberta's theatre programs. Newcomers were balanced with trusted stalwarts including Michael Peng as Philostrate (whose voice energizes the whole room in his role as Master of the Revels) and Nadien Chu as Hippolyta/titania.
Read the program ahead of time if you must (I read it forwards and backward and was no further ahead). But the production's director and adapter of the script, David Horak, keeps the elegant prose accessible as at least three sets of couples embark on a merry chase to find true love.
The story is set in a back alley, with a manhole cover and garbage bin providing comical entries and exits. It opens as Duke Theseus (Ian Leung) prepares to marry Queen Hippolyta (Chu). An irritable Egeus (Troy O'donnell) enters, asking the duke for help because his stubborn daughter Hermia (Kijo Eunice Katama) refuses to marry Egeus' chosen suitor Demetrius (Moses Kouyate). Theseus tells Hermia she must resolve the problem before his wedding, lest she be either executed or sent to a nunnery, (I have always maintained that nun was actually an excellent career choice for medieval women and never understood its power as a threat. Where else were women not only in charge but also never had to worry about what to wear to work?)
Later, Hermia runs away to the forest to be with her chosen one, Lysander ( Vincent Forcier). Meanwhile, Helena pines for her pick, Demetrius, a band of faeries led by Puck makes mischief among would-be lovers all while a crew of workers in fluorescent construction vests rehearses a play to be performed at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Naturally, there's more.
Brett Dahl is inspired as the flowered-studded Helena, who chases after a man with no interest in her only to find herself later beset with suitors. ( Vindicating all mothers who tell their children that good things come to those who wait.) By turns coyly flirtatious and rightly furious, Helena is like a gazelle with a mission, leaping gracefully from one on-stage predicament to the next. Also a highlight is Ruth Alexander as Nicky Bottom/pyramus/ass. Extravagantly self-focused, Bottom's rippling and uproarious Scottish accent projects well into the concession at the far side of the festival site, though once the donkey head is put into place, the character is much more difficult to hear.
Delightful costumes by Alison Yanota bring alive the simple stage (also designed by Yanota). Gowns are made from plastic drop sheets, breastplates take shape with the use of knee pads, and reams of shimmering fabric conjure a moon. Watch for the inventive use of a pool noodle.
The festival productions start at 8 p.m. to take advantage of nightfall, and by the time 10 p.m. rolled round in the two-and-ahalf-hour run of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the audience was truly open to magic (enhanced by Scott Peters' lighting). The last scene sees the workers perform a play after a series of weddings. The happy lovers observe the playwithin-a-play while perched nearby on lawn chairs, or splayed out on their bellies like drowsy children entranced by a bedtime story.
The whole night was a merciful break from climate change, and war, and city council's unfathomable plan to shut down Hawrelak Park for an inexcusable three years for a “rehabilitation project.” Catch it while you can.