In 2007, Commonwealth Shakespeare’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Boston Common was one of their first shows that I saw. To quote myself:
Here we are almost 20 years later, and it’s time to do it again! Back then I was working in the neighborhood, literally walking over to the site during my lunch break to watch them set up. Now it’s a family event.
How was it? Well, it’s Dream. It’s simultaneously one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces, and yet it’s also one of his funniest, safest, most approachable plays. You can have small children perform this. Sure, there are darker themes if you want to go there, but few productions I’ve seen do that. Most are happy to play to the easy physical comedy.
And so it was here as well. CommShakes is kind of known for that, but then again I’d think that any “free outdoor Shakespeare” group is going to do the same. You want people to wander in and sit down. You don’t want them turned off by the language they don’t understand. You want the laughs to be obvious, and the action to be entertaining.
First, Pictures!
The biggest thing that’s going to differentiate Dreams is the staging and costumes. Are we going woodsy? Neon? Outer space? You tell me. I thought that some of them kind of looked like psychedelic mushrooms.
But What About …
I know, we’re missing somebody. We’ve got to see Nick Bottom! Waiting to see how they’ll do Bottom’s transformation is like going to Winter’s Tale and wondering how they’ll do the bear. Ready?
So How Was It?
As an early review, my wife turned to me after the introduction of the Mechanicals and said, “I like that guy. He’s funny.” That’s an understatement. Our guy was more suave than I would have thought, more Jim Carrey than Chris Farley. I’m still trying to place the character he was doing – not a buffoon, more of an overacting, charismatic Don Juan type of character. It absolutely worked. I told my wife, “There are people who believe that Hamlet and Nick Bottom are Shakespeare’s greatest creations.”
I also want to say a word about Helena. It’s easy to single out her “treat me like your spaniel” speech and think, “Yikes, Helena, not exactly standing up for feminism.” But you know something? When first Lysander and then Demetrius profess their love, this Helena was taking no shit. She did a spectacular job of presenting herself as, “You guys are screwing with me, it’s mean, knock it off right now, I’m not falling for it.” So really the opposite of how she’s sometimes written off. She was probably the most memorable part of the play for me.
What i didn’t like was the singing and dancing. Sorry. It just wasn’t good – it was like every number was being performed by the Mechanicals, and it really bugged me. Particularly when Hippolyta goes to lie down. I always thought of that particular song as a magic spell. I want the audience to feel like every time the music starts, the magic happens (The Tempest is the same way). There was also too much of it. Toward the end, every time they stopped for a song and dance number, I sighed and checked my watch.
Speaking of that, the other problem is that they just go too long. The show started at 8 pm, and at 11 pm we’re still going. Sometimes a show should be quick, hit-and-run, intense. Get in, get the laughs, tell the story, send people home happy and talking about it, not thinking “Oh good it’s finally over; let’s beat the traffic.” Bottom’s death, for instance, just didn’t work. I know that it’s Die, die, die, die, die, but you could do that in 10 seconds or 5 minutes. This one felt more like the latter, which was no doubt on purpose because the entire cast shouts the last “DIE!” at him like they, too, are tired of it. Long way to go for the laugh when it’s 11 pm.