The Words, March 2015
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By Amanda Zimmerman ‘16
In English classes we spend a lot of time reading, but nothing is quite like seeing Shakespeare’s words come to life on stage. On March 1st, a group of English students traveled to the Guthrie Theater to watch A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This comedy tells a tangled tale of mortals, fairies, and a group of amateur actors whose awful play-within-a-play provides an hilarious conclusion to a story already full of humor.
It is clear when walking into the theater that directors Joe Dowling and David Bolger want this performance to be immersive. The audience encircles the stage. Actors enter and exit in all directions, even emerging from beneath the stage or descending from the ceiling. This version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is full of life. Puck pounces animalistically; the fairies move like acrobats; even Nick Bottom has a frantic energy. Fun musical numbers, like the one when fairies sing Queen Titania to sleep, break up the scenes of dialogue. The mortal characters wear modern clothes, but once the four lovers Helena, Hermia, Demetrius, and Lysander enter the woods, they are stripped to their underwear to symbolize the freedom and vulnerability of the fairy’s domain. The glittery fairies are scantily clad; their costumes echo the surrounding forest, but with a distinctly punk twist.
Most students enjoyed the play and were happy to share their opinions. David St. Germain ‘16 praised the technical aspects of the performance, especially the lighting, which is creatively used in place of props and set decorations. Sveta Iukhymovych ’16 liked the fact that one pair of actors play both the fairies Oberon and Titania and the mortals Theseus and Hippolyta, a choice which illuminates the parallels between the four characters. Sophie Raynor ‘15 thought this staging of the play gives Hippolyta more power than usual. The Amazon queen has few lines, but in this performance her silences become significant and at times intimidating.
Professor Jennifer Baltzer-Lovato planned this outing for her Shakespeare class, and the English department provided a limited number of additional free tickets and transportation to interested majors. These English Evenings at the Theater offer students a chance to experience theater productions both around the Twin Cities and performed by the Macalester Theatre and Dance Department. Typically the English Department provides tickets when an English major or alum is involved in the production or, as was the case with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, when a professor plans a trip for their class.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will continue at the Guthrie Theater until March 29th, 2015.