Midsummer Night's Dream
Oct. 25th, 2004 02:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
garnigalDerek and I went to Stratford Festival Theatre's Midsummer Night's Dream on Saturday night. We were both really impressed with the performance. As D. put it, "I've never been to a Shakespearean play that made me laugh until I cried."
Obviously, it was wonderful. I think it was even better than Guys and Dolls, and I love musicals. Of course, Stratford does Shakespeare better than anything else.
This year, they went with an Amazonian forest and a modern time period for setting. According to the director, Leon Rubin, Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that practically screams for musical accompaniment (after seeing his ideas carried out, I'm not disagreeing), and the Latin-flavoured music they used matched the setting well. Some of those Shakespearean actors have good singing voices; in addition to the orchestra, some of the fairy lines were sung (e.g. when Puck and Oberon apply the love potion and the antidotes). Because of the importance of the music, the fairy gatherings were preceded by large, athletic dance numbers. The choreographer, Donna Feore, was quoted as saying that the Festival stage reminded her of a circus, so she employed some of the circus techniques she'd studied over the course of her career. The dance numbers included tumbling lines, breakfalling, really athletic and interesting stuff. She also put trapezes up in the flys, and had some of the fairies first conversing up there, and then doing a trapeze act and bungee tumbling to fit in with the tumbling on the stage. They had a Cirque du Soleil adviser, so it looked a lot like the aerials I've seen on CBC from Cirque.
There were some real stand out performances:
Jeffrey Wetsch as Lysander. As soon as Lysander came on stage in his hip hop gear (all he was missing was some bling), we knew it was going to be funny. He has a good voice, a good ear for the poetry and for the meaning of the lines, but his greatest skill is in his body language. While Helena and Hermia are fighting, Demetrius and Lysander are onstage, watching, listening. Wetsch played his devotion to Helena to perfection, lying on the stage and kicking his feet as he watched her adoringly, kissing her feet as she came close, and so many more little actions that just screamed "love". All of them were excellent physical actors, but Lysander really stood out for me.
Michelle Giroux as Helena. I liked Helena for the same reasons I liked Lysander - their physicality onstage made the lines so much more accessible. I've studied this play in highschool and university, and seen it performed at least three times, but their performances made it easier to understand than ever before. Helena compares her devotion to Demetrius to that of a spaniel (beat it and it keeps coming back), but she performed those lines on all fours, retrieving Demetrius' dropped map, and other doggy actions (we won't talk about leg-humping).
Thom Marriott as Bottom. He just rocked. He owned the stage whenever he was on it, and that's saying something, because the rest of the mechanicals were excellent as well. He played Bottom with the perfect combo of naivete, greed/lust, and vanity. The costumers did a brilliant job with the ass-head too. The lower jaw moved whenever he spoke, and when he waited, he chewed his cud. It was killer.
Probably the funniest part of the whole play was the Mechanical's performance at the palace. Every time one of them came on to do their prologue, they bowed to the actor/audience, then they broke the fourth wall and stared at the audience/audience. They just looked so terrified, it was hysterical. Our favourite part was the Wall though. Anthony Malarky as Tom Snout as the Wall was brilliant. The Wall was tall and narrow and straw-covered, then, when they needed a chink to talk through, it suddenly expanded, accordian style, with absolutely no warning. Hee. So now, long and low. Then Bottom and Starveling (as Pyremus and Thisbe) got on their knees to talk through it, and Tom slowly raises it on one corner so they can stand up. Then just as the kiss through the chink comes, the Wall falls, and Bottom and Starveling actually kiss, and look so horrified, again, tee hee. But the best part of that is Tom Snout is laughing so hard about the accidental kiss that the wall is shaking for the rest of the scene. It is so freaking funny, and just a random little touch by the director.
Of course, there were some things that weren't so good:
Dana Green as Titania/Hippolyta. Totally highschool Shakespeare. Static presence on stage, typical rhythmic repitition of the lines. Good dancer, though.
Actually, that was my only problem. Everything else was wonderful.
Final kudos go to the costumers, seamstresses, and designers. The overall look of the show was seamless. The costumes were great. I loved the contrast between preppy Demetrius and hip hop Lysander and slutty Hermia and school girl Helena. I also loved the gradual destruction of the costumes as they wandered through the forest. The fairy costumes were pretty and pretty minimal, as usual. As I mentioned above, the stage was utilised fully, with fairies crawling, jumping, bouncing and dancing all over.
This years version of Midsummer Night's Dream can only be described as a spectacle, an extravaganza, words usually reserved for big Broadway musicals. I just wish I could see it again.
Obviously, it was wonderful. I think it was even better than Guys and Dolls, and I love musicals. Of course, Stratford does Shakespeare better than anything else.
This year, they went with an Amazonian forest and a modern time period for setting. According to the director, Leon Rubin, Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that practically screams for musical accompaniment (after seeing his ideas carried out, I'm not disagreeing), and the Latin-flavoured music they used matched the setting well. Some of those Shakespearean actors have good singing voices; in addition to the orchestra, some of the fairy lines were sung (e.g. when Puck and Oberon apply the love potion and the antidotes). Because of the importance of the music, the fairy gatherings were preceded by large, athletic dance numbers. The choreographer, Donna Feore, was quoted as saying that the Festival stage reminded her of a circus, so she employed some of the circus techniques she'd studied over the course of her career. The dance numbers included tumbling lines, breakfalling, really athletic and interesting stuff. She also put trapezes up in the flys, and had some of the fairies first conversing up there, and then doing a trapeze act and bungee tumbling to fit in with the tumbling on the stage. They had a Cirque du Soleil adviser, so it looked a lot like the aerials I've seen on CBC from Cirque.
There were some real stand out performances:
Jeffrey Wetsch as Lysander. As soon as Lysander came on stage in his hip hop gear (all he was missing was some bling), we knew it was going to be funny. He has a good voice, a good ear for the poetry and for the meaning of the lines, but his greatest skill is in his body language. While Helena and Hermia are fighting, Demetrius and Lysander are onstage, watching, listening. Wetsch played his devotion to Helena to perfection, lying on the stage and kicking his feet as he watched her adoringly, kissing her feet as she came close, and so many more little actions that just screamed "love". All of them were excellent physical actors, but Lysander really stood out for me.
Michelle Giroux as Helena. I liked Helena for the same reasons I liked Lysander - their physicality onstage made the lines so much more accessible. I've studied this play in highschool and university, and seen it performed at least three times, but their performances made it easier to understand than ever before. Helena compares her devotion to Demetrius to that of a spaniel (beat it and it keeps coming back), but she performed those lines on all fours, retrieving Demetrius' dropped map, and other doggy actions (we won't talk about leg-humping).
Thom Marriott as Bottom. He just rocked. He owned the stage whenever he was on it, and that's saying something, because the rest of the mechanicals were excellent as well. He played Bottom with the perfect combo of naivete, greed/lust, and vanity. The costumers did a brilliant job with the ass-head too. The lower jaw moved whenever he spoke, and when he waited, he chewed his cud. It was killer.
Probably the funniest part of the whole play was the Mechanical's performance at the palace. Every time one of them came on to do their prologue, they bowed to the actor/audience, then they broke the fourth wall and stared at the audience/audience. They just looked so terrified, it was hysterical. Our favourite part was the Wall though. Anthony Malarky as Tom Snout as the Wall was brilliant. The Wall was tall and narrow and straw-covered, then, when they needed a chink to talk through, it suddenly expanded, accordian style, with absolutely no warning. Hee. So now, long and low. Then Bottom and Starveling (as Pyremus and Thisbe) got on their knees to talk through it, and Tom slowly raises it on one corner so they can stand up. Then just as the kiss through the chink comes, the Wall falls, and Bottom and Starveling actually kiss, and look so horrified, again, tee hee. But the best part of that is Tom Snout is laughing so hard about the accidental kiss that the wall is shaking for the rest of the scene. It is so freaking funny, and just a random little touch by the director.
Of course, there were some things that weren't so good:
Dana Green as Titania/Hippolyta. Totally highschool Shakespeare. Static presence on stage, typical rhythmic repitition of the lines. Good dancer, though.
Actually, that was my only problem. Everything else was wonderful.
Final kudos go to the costumers, seamstresses, and designers. The overall look of the show was seamless. The costumes were great. I loved the contrast between preppy Demetrius and hip hop Lysander and slutty Hermia and school girl Helena. I also loved the gradual destruction of the costumes as they wandered through the forest. The fairy costumes were pretty and pretty minimal, as usual. As I mentioned above, the stage was utilised fully, with fairies crawling, jumping, bouncing and dancing all over.
This years version of Midsummer Night's Dream can only be described as a spectacle, an extravaganza, words usually reserved for big Broadway musicals. I just wish I could see it again.
