A Midsummer Night's Dream
On Friday, May 18th, I got tickets to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" performed at the Classic Stage Company.
The "famous people" in the cast included:
Bebe Neuwirth - Hippolyta and Titania
Anthony Heald - Theseus and Oberon
Christina Ricci - Hermia
Now the MAIN reason I went to see this was because a good friend of mine, Carrie, was the fight choreographer. She used to attend the same taekwondo school as I did before moving to California. However, she returned to NYC to do this job. So myself and another classmate from school, Masako, went to see the performance.
Overall, it was an amazing production. The space was small! I had 2 front row seats and there were times I could literally reach out and touch one of the actors if I wanted to. (and had to restrain myself from doing so at key point, but I digress....)
Hopefully most of you know the basic story of this extremely funny Shakespearean play, but the gist of it is as follows.
Hippolyta and Theseus are planning their wedding. However, Theseus has a matter to attend first. It's a lover's tangle between 4 young people. Hermia loves Lysander. However, her father has promised her in marriage to Demetrius. Meanwhile, Helena, Hermia's friend, is in love with Demetrius, but he wouldn't give her the time of day. Hermia and Lysander secretly decide to run away to Athens and will meet in the woods. Helena finds out and ends up telling Demetrius, hoping this will make him find favor in her. (Helena actually "sleeps" inside her suitcase in the woods)
Meanwhile, a bunch of common workers decide that they will put on a play for the Duke's (Theseus) wedding. They too decide they will meet in the woods, ostensibly to rehearse "Pryamus and Thisbe."
The woods, of course, is filled with faeries, including the faerie king and queen Oberon and Titania. the king and queen are estranged because she refuses to give up an Indian child she is rearing since his dead mother was one of her worshipers. Oberon decides to punish her and gets his henchman Robin Goodfellow, or Puck, to obtain a specific flower whose nectar - when applied to a sleeping person's eyelids - will cause a person to fall in love with the first thing they see upon awaking.
At one point, Oberon sees Demetrius in the woods, treating Helena horribly, and later tells Puck to use some of the nectar on Demetrius. Only Puck uses it on Lysander by mistake, so Lysander spurns Hermia. And then Puck tries to correct it by putting the nectar on Lysander's eyes as well. So now both men are in love with Helena, not Hermia.
In addition, for sport, they change one of the common workers - a man named Nick Bottom - into a donkey. Of course, he is the first thing Titania sees when she awakes and she falls madly in love with him and spends the night with him.
The four young people end up fighting each other with everyone chasing Helena - the two men for love, and Hermia in sheer spite and anger. Much clothing is removed...
Oberon eventually orders Puck to sort things out again, which he does.
The next morning, Oberon removes the spell from Titania, who then disappears with him into the woods again. Theseus, Hipployta and Hermia's father find the four nearly naked lovers and all the loves are finally sorted out properly. Lysander loves Hermia, Demetrius loves Helena and Theseus insists that there be a triple wedding where all the lovers finally wed properly. Meanwhile, Nick Bottom is turned back into a human, just in time to join his coworkers in performing "Pyramus and Thisbe." Pretty much the remainder of the play consists of the horrible acting that they do - Bottom as Pyramus keeps going out of character and addressing the audience, Thisbe, his lover, is played by a man, and another character is literally "the wall" that separates them. The three newly wed couples essentially comment and poke fun at the play and eventually, when it's over, retire to their bed chambers. At that point, the faeries return to the stage and my favorite monologue by Puck is essentially delivered by the entire cast, line by line:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
Overall, I LOVED the production. You might be able to tell in some of the pictures, but the back wall is a huge tilted mirror. Even if you cannot see some of the action on the stage in front of you, you had but to look up at the mirror, and you could see everything. Also, the floor was completely covered in peatmoss, a soft soil-like covering, which made it feel like you were outdoors. And of course, the thousands of pink flower petals that they showered down onto the stage when we first "entered the woods" with the faeries was just amazing.
My only problem with the play was the God-awful recitation of Shakespeare's wonderfully lyrical lines by the younger actors. They just didn't understand how to speak with Shakespearean English, and it was pretty cringe-worthy. They redeemed themselves in their comedic acting later, with the chase scenes and lover's quarrels, but I would have preferred actors who know and understand exactly what they are saying, and thus, convey the same meaning to the audience. My poor friend Masako couldn't understand most of it for that reason. Although she admitted to me during the intermission that she treated it like a Kabuki play.
Both Bebe Neuwirth and Anthony Heald were spellbinding as their two characters. I loved them both! In fact, pretty much all of the actors, except the four lovers, were playing dual roles in the play. The workers doubled as the faerie court.
Also, the actors playing Nick Bottom and Puck were both amazing! I loved how Puck had multiple costume changes throughout the play. At one point, he was dressed like Alic in Wonderland, and another, he was dressed as a pink elephant (you can see this costume in the picture where he's surrounded by the 4 sleeping lovers).
And speaking of sleeping lovers, as each article of clothing was removed, I kept wondering just how far they were going to go - luckily, it was only to underwear.
At one point, though, they all rolled away from Puck, and the actor playing Lysander rolled ALMOST onto my feet - and he was nicely built, let me tell you.
Seriously, we had GREAT seats!
I thoroughly enjoyed the closeness of the stage (the entire theatre could seat only about 199 people, so it felt like you were IN the play with the actors as well. And I really loved that mirrored wall in the back, especially when you had folks lying down on the ground - you could see a lovely tableau in the mirror every time you looked up.
Despite the horrible mangling of Shakespeare's lines by some, the play was highly enjoyable and I'm glad I went to see it.
The "famous people" in the cast included:
Bebe Neuwirth - Hippolyta and Titania
Anthony Heald - Theseus and Oberon
Christina Ricci - Hermia
Now the MAIN reason I went to see this was because a good friend of mine, Carrie, was the fight choreographer. She used to attend the same taekwondo school as I did before moving to California. However, she returned to NYC to do this job. So myself and another classmate from school, Masako, went to see the performance.
Overall, it was an amazing production. The space was small! I had 2 front row seats and there were times I could literally reach out and touch one of the actors if I wanted to. (and had to restrain myself from doing so at key point, but I digress....)
Hopefully most of you know the basic story of this extremely funny Shakespearean play, but the gist of it is as follows.
Hippolyta and Theseus are planning their wedding. However, Theseus has a matter to attend first. It's a lover's tangle between 4 young people. Hermia loves Lysander. However, her father has promised her in marriage to Demetrius. Meanwhile, Helena, Hermia's friend, is in love with Demetrius, but he wouldn't give her the time of day. Hermia and Lysander secretly decide to run away to Athens and will meet in the woods. Helena finds out and ends up telling Demetrius, hoping this will make him find favor in her. (Helena actually "sleeps" inside her suitcase in the woods)
Meanwhile, a bunch of common workers decide that they will put on a play for the Duke's (Theseus) wedding. They too decide they will meet in the woods, ostensibly to rehearse "Pryamus and Thisbe."
The woods, of course, is filled with faeries, including the faerie king and queen Oberon and Titania. the king and queen are estranged because she refuses to give up an Indian child she is rearing since his dead mother was one of her worshipers. Oberon decides to punish her and gets his henchman Robin Goodfellow, or Puck, to obtain a specific flower whose nectar - when applied to a sleeping person's eyelids - will cause a person to fall in love with the first thing they see upon awaking.
At one point, Oberon sees Demetrius in the woods, treating Helena horribly, and later tells Puck to use some of the nectar on Demetrius. Only Puck uses it on Lysander by mistake, so Lysander spurns Hermia. And then Puck tries to correct it by putting the nectar on Lysander's eyes as well. So now both men are in love with Helena, not Hermia.
In addition, for sport, they change one of the common workers - a man named Nick Bottom - into a donkey. Of course, he is the first thing Titania sees when she awakes and she falls madly in love with him and spends the night with him.
The four young people end up fighting each other with everyone chasing Helena - the two men for love, and Hermia in sheer spite and anger. Much clothing is removed...
Oberon eventually orders Puck to sort things out again, which he does.
The next morning, Oberon removes the spell from Titania, who then disappears with him into the woods again. Theseus, Hipployta and Hermia's father find the four nearly naked lovers and all the loves are finally sorted out properly. Lysander loves Hermia, Demetrius loves Helena and Theseus insists that there be a triple wedding where all the lovers finally wed properly. Meanwhile, Nick Bottom is turned back into a human, just in time to join his coworkers in performing "Pyramus and Thisbe." Pretty much the remainder of the play consists of the horrible acting that they do - Bottom as Pyramus keeps going out of character and addressing the audience, Thisbe, his lover, is played by a man, and another character is literally "the wall" that separates them. The three newly wed couples essentially comment and poke fun at the play and eventually, when it's over, retire to their bed chambers. At that point, the faeries return to the stage and my favorite monologue by Puck is essentially delivered by the entire cast, line by line:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
Overall, I LOVED the production. You might be able to tell in some of the pictures, but the back wall is a huge tilted mirror. Even if you cannot see some of the action on the stage in front of you, you had but to look up at the mirror, and you could see everything. Also, the floor was completely covered in peatmoss, a soft soil-like covering, which made it feel like you were outdoors. And of course, the thousands of pink flower petals that they showered down onto the stage when we first "entered the woods" with the faeries was just amazing.
My only problem with the play was the God-awful recitation of Shakespeare's wonderfully lyrical lines by the younger actors. They just didn't understand how to speak with Shakespearean English, and it was pretty cringe-worthy. They redeemed themselves in their comedic acting later, with the chase scenes and lover's quarrels, but I would have preferred actors who know and understand exactly what they are saying, and thus, convey the same meaning to the audience. My poor friend Masako couldn't understand most of it for that reason. Although she admitted to me during the intermission that she treated it like a Kabuki play.
Both Bebe Neuwirth and Anthony Heald were spellbinding as their two characters. I loved them both! In fact, pretty much all of the actors, except the four lovers, were playing dual roles in the play. The workers doubled as the faerie court.
Also, the actors playing Nick Bottom and Puck were both amazing! I loved how Puck had multiple costume changes throughout the play. At one point, he was dressed like Alic in Wonderland, and another, he was dressed as a pink elephant (you can see this costume in the picture where he's surrounded by the 4 sleeping lovers).
And speaking of sleeping lovers, as each article of clothing was removed, I kept wondering just how far they were going to go - luckily, it was only to underwear.
At one point, though, they all rolled away from Puck, and the actor playing Lysander rolled ALMOST onto my feet - and he was nicely built, let me tell you.
Seriously, we had GREAT seats!
I thoroughly enjoyed the closeness of the stage (the entire theatre could seat only about 199 people, so it felt like you were IN the play with the actors as well. And I really loved that mirrored wall in the back, especially when you had folks lying down on the ground - you could see a lovely tableau in the mirror every time you looked up.
Despite the horrible mangling of Shakespeare's lines by some, the play was highly enjoyable and I'm glad I went to see it.