Midsummer Magic at APT

You won’t hear the text of Will Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in a finer

setting than American Player’s Theatre’s outdoor amphitheater in the Wisconsin woods.

Just as the young lovers Lysander and Hermia, Helena and Demetreus, are bewitched

by love, APT theatergoers will be spellbound by the stage lit forest, the swoops of a

small bat, and the music of whippoorwills and frogs calling from a nearby pond.

I’ve seen Midsummer before, but in this place verses like this land anew:

“And then the moon, like to a silver bow

New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night

Of our solemnities.”

And:

“Tomorrow night, when Phoebe doth behold

Her silver visage in the watery glass

Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,

A time that lovers’ flights doth still conceal,

Through Athens’ gates have we devised to steal.”

Shakespeare’s Midsummer shows us that passion is not just for the young. The Duke of

Athens, betrothed to the warrior queen Hippolyta, waits impatiently for their wedding day

just days away.

As to the four young lovers, the course of true love is running far from smooth: Hermia’s

father has promised to wed her to Demetreus, even though she loves Lysander.

Meanwhile Hermia’s bestie Helena loves Demetreus, who once loved her back, but is

now infatuated with Hermia.

Marital passions are a theme in the fairy kingdom as well. King Oberon and Queen

Titania are acrimonious over differences in how to raise a young halfling: Titania wants

to be his surrogate mother while Oberon wants to make him his valet.

Complicating the swirl is the charming charlatan Puck, who is everywhere at once

looking to make mischief.

Puck offers one of the best reasons to see this production of Midsummer. Puck is

cleverly portrayed by Joshua Castille and Casey Hoekstra working in tandem. Together

they are disarming, surprising and as hilarious as a pair of vaudeville clowns. Costume

designer Daniele Tyler Mathews designed Puck’s fantastically platinum pompadour wigs

and green and red makeup accents which emphasize their eyes and expressions.

Puck’s merry movements also incorporate American Sign Language. The program

notes Castille is a deaf performance artist but the way he and Hoekstra seamlessly play

off each other, alternating spoken verse and physical signing, you won’t notice unless

you read the cast bios.

Fans of APT’s Core Company are another reason to see the play. The Midsummer cast

includes Jim Devita as Oberon; Samantha Newcomb as Hermia; Josh Krause as

Demetrius; and James Ridge and Nate Burger as Flute and Snout.

Newcomb makes a delightfully feisty Hermione. After her handsome Lysander casts her

aside, she is ready to take the low road and go mano a mano with that painted maypole

Helene.

The rough mechanicals are a hoot throughout. Sam Luis Massaro gave me Jack Black

vibes in all the best ways as Bottom, the troupe’s supremely confident lead actor. The

scene in which Quince (played by Sun Mee Chomet) helps sort everyone into their

assigned roles -- hilariously captures the excruciating mix of excitement and

apprehension the amateur thespians feel as they reckon with the prospect of performing

for the duke.

A low-tech approach serves this production best. I much preferred it when an actor

played a wooden recorder live on stage or when the chirps and calls of nature provided

the score versus the times when choral music and animal sounds were part of the

sound design. Likewise, the scene shifts involving a large metal staircase were

distracting especially when shouldered off the stage by the Luna mothlike fairies, which

temporarily took them out of the spirit world.

Still, given the excellent setting, acting and story, APT’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

is a diverting and welcome escape into woods for all ages.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at American Players Theatre runs through Oct. 4 in The

Hill Theatre. For tickets visit www.americanplayers.org.

Photo credit: Michael Brosilow