There is perhaps no scenery more suitable for A Midsummer Night’s Dream than a park. In the Optimist Theater’s production, a lovely green expanse of lawn, surrounded by mature trees, was an ideal setting for their truncated version of Shakespeare’s comedy.
In a pre-show talk before the opening of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Lovers’ Tale, one of the play’s directors explains that the script has been trimmed to an intermission-less 75 minutes. The play’s four lovers have become the central focus (with a couple of puppets representing some other characters).
The result is a non-stop scene of magical, musical mischief. Four teenagers are caught in a web of fairies, who cast well-intentioned spells on the teens. Hermia (Rebekah Farr) is in love with Lysander (Fabian Guerrero), but she is told to bow to her father’s wishes and submit to his choice, Demetrius (King Hang). A Greek ruler, Theseus (Seth Hale) reiterates the law: Hermia may marry Demetrius or die. Thesus’s own fiancée, Hippolyta (Libby Amato), looks on with a disapproving eye. Perhaps to placate her, Thesus also adds a third choice: enter a nunnery.
Unhappy with these options, Hermia is only too willing to steal away with her lover to a distant land. As the couple prepares for their nighttime escape, Hermia bids farewell to her best friend, Helena (Susie Duecker). The latter, sadly, is madly in love with the same Demitrius who yearns for Hermia. However, in the hope of raising herself in Demetrius’s eyes, she tells him of Hermia’s secret escape.
Thus, all four lovers end up in a dark forest. Oberon, a fairy king (Seth Hale, again), spies on Demetrius and Helena. He sends his faithful fairy Puck (Libby Amato, again) to set things a-right. However, a case of mistaken identity (always a favorite ploy with Shakespeare) causes further unhappiness between the two couples. Although Puck delights in their confusion, Oberon is not pleased. He ensures that his wishes are faithfully carried out. In the end, then, all is well.
In playing out their parts, the cast is completely immersed in its work. Under the co-direction of ML Cogar and Tom Reed, the actors trample over and under a set of disguised platforms. Much to the audience’s delight, the foursome scamper through the “forest” (a set of beautifully designed, semi-transparent screens). This is a very physical production, which requires a great deal of running, as well as Keystone Kops-style timing, with a few dashes of slapstick comedy tossed in for good measure.
As Puck, the character who stage manages the whole mess, Libby Amato is especially delightful. Amato leaps, spins and chuckles with impish glee as the humans run amok. Her famous line, “Oh, what fools these mortals be!,” is entirely believable here.
The lovers do a good job of heightening their individual characteristics in a play which is written to make them basically interchangeable. As Hermia, Rebekah Farr is by turns coy and truculent. Farr is exceptional (and hilarious) in portraying Hermia’s disbelief when she loses Lysander’s love. Fabian Gerrero and King Hang are definitely on the right track as Lysander and Demetrius, respectively. Both characters seem to take great delight in either scoffing at the women, or chasing after them.
While all four actors deliver their lines with passion, confidence an precision, Duecker excels as the much-maligned Helena. The cadence of her speech, as well as her physical abilities, make her Helena particularly sympathetic. When poor Helena becomes convinced that all three of her friends are conspiring against her, Duecker makes us feel Helena’s pain.
In a lesser role, Michael Pettit is a strong presence as the silent puppeteer. When portraying Hermia’s father (voiced by Tom Reed), Pettit gives his four-foot puppet some convincingly human movements. Although less work is required in animating the appearance of Oberon’s queen, Titania, Pettit cleverly unfolds her soft, flowing presence.
The colorful, vibrant costumes of Mel Benson vividly predict the play’s outcome. Hermia and Lysander are bathed in shades of pink, orange and yellow, while Helena and Demetrius are clad in the cooler hues of purple, green and blue. When two female actors switch to playing fairies, they quickly lose parts of their outfits and enfold themselves in gauzy, green capes. On the afternoon performance seen by this reviewer, the transformations went off without a hitch.
During many of the scenes, pre-recorded music adds depth to the mood. The music is carried by a set of loudspeakers.
Milwaukee’s Optimist Theater clearly excels at presenting this type of theater, which it has since 2010. (Last year was an exception, of course, with no live shows produced during the pandemic.) For many years, the troupe performed on a permanent outdoor stage in downtown Milwaukee. This year, the company has “opened” itself to the entire Milwaukee community, with scheduled appearances scattered all over town.
