A Midsummer Night's Dream (review)

Shakespearean productions remain haunted by prior iterations, even as audiences challenge them to present new ideas and visions. South Coast Repertory (SCR) took on this challenge in their successfully revitalized A Midsummer Night's Dream by questioning themes of harmony, love, and marriage that are usually celebrated at the end of the play. Mark Rucker, who has directed world premieres by contemporary playwrights like Richard Greenberg, Christopher Shinn, and Annie Weisman, drew attention to the darker, unsettling side of human nature lying beneath the play's frivolity and mischievous characters. By sharply contrasting settings in the forest of Athens and the court of Theseus, Rucker revealed the truth behind the cheerful joining of young lovers who, in reality, are capable only of deception. Scenic designer Cameron Anderson, known for her bold use of oversized, horizontally and vertically extended scenic objects, supported Rucker's directorial concept by creating a "universe" in which transformations and revelations occur every time humans and fairies made contact.

The opening scene at the court of Athens, which already hinted at the dark forest beyond, served as a "liminal" space where the staged prosperity and perfection of love was merely a temporary deception. A huge white cloth covering the entire stage suddenly dropped to the floor to reveal the noble couple seated on an extremely long, stark white couch with elegant square cushions. This sudden transformation of the scene, along with visual elements already on the stage, anticipated the later divorce between false and true, façade and essence. Here, Theseus, played by a muscular Elijah Alexander, appeared during a photo session for the press corps in advance of his impending wedding to the Amazon queen Hippolyta (Susannah Schulman). An enlarged "painting" of a wild flower and a serpent at the center of the white backdrop suggested a seventeenth-century Dutch still life, pointing to the duality of human life (life and death) and duplicity of human nature (the existence of the serpent beside the sweet). An enormous mid-century style silver arc lamp hung over the couple, suggesting not only a spotlight, but also the couple's status as celebrities constantly in the limelight. The production's eclectic scenography reflected contemporary celebrity-crazed, tabloid culture, particularly amid the flash of strobe lights and the sound of cameras.

"Duality" describes not just the media celebrities, but also the other characters. The allegedly true love of Lysander and Hermia (maintained in the face of the King's order) illuminated the young lovers' immaturity and superficiality. Hermia, as portrayed by Kathleen Early, was both a spoiled daughter and wife-to-be who pouted at every opportunity. Nick Gabriel was a nerdish Lysander, alternating between extreme shyness and robust sexual desire. Demetrius, as played by Tobie Windham, appeared to be a young executive pursuing Hermia— despite her obvious dislike of him—in a quest for political and financial power through his future father-in-law (William Francis McGuire). Wearing glasses and behaving like an awkward spinster, Dana Green's Helena tried to defend her desire for both self-transformation and a lover, inviting advances from both Lysander and Demetrius.

The transformation of the four lovers began in the forest as the fairies stripped the characters of their clothes. The clothes, like their feelings for one another, were apparently of so little consequence that the characters did not even notice their absence. The act of stripping away outward appearances to reveal a "natural" state signified the fairies' ability to remove pretense and false feelings. Under the fairies' magical spells, the lovers showed their lack of constancy and emotional commitment, falling in love with whomever they saw upon waking.

Nick Gabriel (Lysander) and Rob Campbell (Puck) in A Midsummer Night's Dream. (Photo: Henry DiRocco.)

By stripping off the humans' clothes, the fairies also demonstrated their superiority to the humans, who are blind both in love and in the pursuit of happiness and prosperity. The fairies' costumes, designed by Nephelie Andonyadis, were...