William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” has served as many a director’s favorite creative backdrop for their own re-interpretation of this night of chaotic comedy.
Few have brought the work and all of its sexual mayhem to life in such a visionary, ethereal, whimsical, seductive and frankly hysterical manner as Mark Rucker, perhaps South Coast Repertory’s favorite interpreter of Shakespeare.
“The whole play is but a prelude to a honeymoon,” Rucker says. “It’s a comedy, but the stakes are very high.”
What fuels Rucker’s adaptation is the metamorphic work of scenic designer Cameron Anderson. Forest trees have limbs of plexiglass covered with love notes and book pages stolen by fairies.
And for the Mechanicals—a bumbling tribe of journeymen who are preparing a play for a royal wedding—Cameron has created a Tim Burtonesque truck made of musical instruments, discarded furniture, a bathtub, a motorcycle and illuminated bottles.
The symbiotic lighting design of Lap Chi Chu intensifies Anderson’s dreamlike landscape. Costume designer Nephelie Andonyadis harmonizes the scenic landscape beautifully with costumes ranging from regal royal gowns and uniforms to a collage of pants and skirts made of stolen ties, rags and anything else the fairies can heist.
The cast includes more than 20 actors who possess an array of talents—acting, comedy, dance and song. Standouts include Rob Campbell as the impish fairy Puck who dominates the stage every time he appears. The play’s sleepy and seductive lovers, played by Kathleen Early, Nick Gabriel and Tobie Wind-ham all shine. South Coast Rep newcomer Dana Green is magical as she transforms from the librarian-like Helena in the opening scene to a forest fox as day drifts to night.
The Mechanical’s bumbling Nick Bottom, played by Patrick Kerr, steals the show in a brilliantly bad “death scene” that recalls Monty Python’s “Spamalot.”
Rucker’s near pitch-perfect production likely will be regarded as one of South Coast Rep’s best, a truly original and enjoyable take on Shakespeare. It’s a show that will both surprise and delight audiences.
—Robert Palmer is a lawyer with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Irvine and an arts buff.
