Theater Review—

‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Offers Promising Start

For The New Season At Long Wharf Theatre

By Julie Stern

NEW HAVEN — In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the mysterious woods become a dream landscape where fairies reign, magic transforms, and lovers are gripped by erotic passions that are more powerful than the rule of law and the political authority of Theseus, the king of Athens.

Long Wharf is currently offering a wonderful production of this popular Shakespeare tale as its 2005-06 season opener.

Shortly before his own wedding to haughty Hippolita, queen of the Amazons, Theseus is approached by one of his citizens, Egeus, who begs the sovereign to back him up in forcing his daughter, Hermia, to marry his chosen candidate for son-in-law, Demetrius. But Hermia is in love with Lysander, and refuses to have anything to do with Demetrius. Meanwhile, Helena, who was originally betrothed to Demetrius, is heartbroken, and wants him back.

Declaring that a father’s decisions are paramount, Theseus delivers an ultimatum to Hermia: if she refuses to marry Demetrius, she must either die or spend the rest of her life in a convent. He orders her to announce her choice by the day of the royal wedding.

Rather than submit, the desperate Hermia and her beloved Lysander flee into the woods, from whence they hope to find their way to a distant kinsman who will protect them and enable them to marry each other. Not to be deterred, Demetrius heads into the woods after them, determined to get Hermia back, while the frantic Helena follows on his heels, hoping to get him.

The forest is terra incognita, governed by Oberon, the king of the fairies, whose squabbles with his wife Titania seem to foreshadow conflicts between Theseus and Hippolita (both couples being played by the same actors). Oberon commands his servant Puck to find Demetrius and sprinkle magic dust in his eyes while he sleeps, so that when he wakes he will fall back in love with Helena. In addition, he orders him to play a joke on Titania, to avenge her disrespect.

Out of this dual mission arise the comic complications of the plot: Puck sprinkles the dust into the eyes of the wrong Athenian, so that Lysander is suddenly smitten with Helena. Titania encounters a party of tradesmen who are in the forest to rehearse a play they hope to put on as part of the entertainment at the royal wedding. Puck turns one of them into an ass, and causes Titania to wake up madly in love with a donkey.

Since this is one of Shakespeare’s comedies, we know that everything will turn out fine in the end; the pleasure of the play is in watching how it gets there. This Long Wharf production has done a wonderful job with both the forest part and the tradesmen’s scenes.

Director Kim Rubenstein, choreographer Stephen Buescher, set and costume designer G.W. Mercier, lighting designer Joel Moritz, and original music and sound designer John Gromada have created a work of sheer magic.

The figures dancing on a giant rocking moon, the shimmering gleam of diaphanous fabrics, the luminous a capella singing of the fairies guarding their sleeping queen, and the boisterously physical and acrobatic fighting that takes place before Helena and Hermia can sort out who loves them and what is going on, are a continuous visual treat.

In addition, the dopey tradesmen bring an uproarious vein of low burlesque entertainment every time they try to get their show together, in anticipation of being rewarded with drinking money from the royal couple. From their stumbling rehearsals to their triumphant final performance of a show that is “tediously short” according to the chamberlain, who explains to the king that it is only about ten lines, but that makes it ten lines too long… these bumblers are accomplished clowns, and a joy to watch.

Another asset of this performance is the way that Mia Barron, as Hermia, and Cheyenne Casebier, as Helena, get deep enough into their characters to make them distinctively individual. Shakespearean comedies traditionally feature a pair of heroines, both of whom must get married off to the right men, and in many productions, the pair come off as being almost interchangeable in looks (beautiful), dress (similar), and manner (sweet, though one is usually sassier than her cohort).

This production makes their personalities clear, distinguishing between the tall, melodramatically weird Helena, and the short, normally obedient Hermia. When their squabbling escalates into a physical fight, it is both believable and enthralling.

Jason Denuszek, as Lysander, and Markus Potter as Demetrius, are also fun to watch when they fight.

In contrast, Tom Nelis and Christina Rouner are less satisfying in the dual roles of the two royal couples. Perhaps modeled too much on the British royal family, Nelis seems stiff and wooden. Rouner’s body language is very funny when she is talking, but while she is truly beautiful – as befits an Amazon queen – when she opens her mouth to talk, the audience gets a little restive, as if waiting for the good stuff to return.

And there is plenty of good stuff in this Long Wharf opener. It definitely promises well for the coming season.

(Performances of this comedy continue until October 9 on Tuesday through Sunday evenings and weekend afternoons. Visit LongWharf.org for the full schedule of regular performances and special programs.

Tickets range from $20 to $60, and student, senior and group rates are available.

See the listing in the Theater section of this week’s Enjoy calendar or call the Long Wharf box office, 203-787-4282, for additional information.)