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Volume CXXXIII, Number 5 |
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A wonderful Midsummer Night in early October
KELSEY ABBRUZZESE
STAFF WRITER
Shakespeare never seems funny in high school English, but the National Players brought A Midsummer Night's Dream to Bowdoin last weekend with the full humor Shakespeare intended.
The National Players, a group comprised mostly of recent college graduates, presented one of Shakespeare's most oft-performed plays about love, confusion, and plenty of magic. In this tangled story, Hermia (Cody Lindquist) and Lysander (Michael Propster) flee Athens to get married. They are followed by Hermia's friend Helena (Katie Mazzola) and Demetrius (James Gagne), the man Hermia is supposed to marry.
In the woods, Puck (Mary C. Davis), a hobgoblin working for the fairy king Oberon (Alex Major), bewitches both Lysander and Demetrius to fall in love with Helena. He also charms the fairy queen, Titania (Erin Kunkel), causing her to fall in love with Nick Bottom the Weaver (Mike Still). Puck transformed Bottom into an ass after seeing him and Peter Quince's troupe (Leo Goodman, Brent Stansell, Vancito Wallace, Lee Liebeskind, and Richard Fawley) practicing a play in the woods.
Since Oberon had ordered Puck to bewitch only Demetrius to fall in love with Helena, the fairy king orders Puck to fix the mess. Lysander and Hermia are married along with Demetrius and Helena and the Duke of Thebes (Alex Major) and his fiancée Hippolyta (Erin Kunkel). After the wedding party, they see a unique version of Pyramus and Thisbe performed by Bottom and the rest of the troupe.
"This story of troubled youths, quarreling fairies and hopeful, starry-eyed lovers moves ahead full throttle from the opening scene. We are left little time to ponder these people's situations and their problems and are instead invited simply to enjoy the ride. Which, needless to say, is a lot like love itself," said director Clay Hopper, a graduate student at Boston University's College of Fine Arts.
A sparse set and modern costumes took the play out of Shakespeare's time and into our own. The "Athenian garments" of Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia and Helena were Catholic school uniforms, complete with ties, plaid skirts and knee-high socks. Peter Quince's troupe wore work belts and overalls, giving the impression that they truly were blue-collar workers trying their best to put on a decent play.
The characters were perfectly cast, with Katie Mazzola capturing Helena's insecurity and neurotic devotion to Demetrius. Her whining and the number of times she tackled Demetrius to keep him by her side made the audience believe the line, "I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, / The more you beat me, I will fawn on you."
Helena's rival for Demetrius's love, Hermia, was well played by Cody Lindquist. Though Lindquist was on crutches, she made such good use of them that audience members were asking if they were part of the play. Leo Goodman and the rest of Peter Quince's actors brought the play to its comic peak at the end during their performance of Pyramus and Thisbe, showing the true absurdity of having actors dressed up as walls and the moonlight for this ancient Roman story.
Mike Still also gave a wonderful performance as Bottom the Weaver. When he first swaggered onstage wearing sunglasses and high-fiving the rest of the troupe, it was apparent he was comfortable in Bottom's role as the pompous, overconfident leader. Adding the horse's head to his costume drew even more laughs from the audience.
Thanks to the National Players, the audience found it was easy to laugh
at Shakespeare. Their words may have been Shakespeare's English, but the
actors' facial expressions, gestures and actions brought the play to life.
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