Theatre--Review (AUI/AURA at Cite)

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” uttered Puck, the mischievous sprite in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the latest production from Acting Unlimited, Inc. and AURA, and what a lively production it was. Filled with expressive actors, a gorgeous set, incredible hair and make-up, and suggestive mood lighting, this reproduction is sure to please all, and is another successful venture in this company’s repertoire. There are still three more performances for August 4th, 5th, and 6th, so please call 291-1122 or contact Cité des Arts for ticket information.


For those unfamiliar with the convoluted story, it’s an intoxicating blend of mortals and immortals. The mortals involve two disparate couples, for the beautiful Hermia loves Lysander, but she has already been promised by her father to wed Demetrius. Throw into the mix another lady, Helena, who is lovesick over Demetrius, and you have a classic soap opera of foolish young things who spurn the very people they should love. This quartet wanders into the woods to encounter the immortals in the form of fairies, led by King Oberon and Queen Titania, in the midst of their own lovers’ spat. Using the potent petals of a plant and the impish character of Puck, the King orders that certain characters fall in love with the first thing they see, all for hilarious results. As if this weren’t enough, there rambles on stage an acting troupe set to perform a play for the upcoming nuptials of the young quartet, and their company is nearly overwhelmed by the self-imposing figure of an actor named Bottom. The fact that all these parts congeal into a perfect parfait by the conclusion is a tribute both to Shakespeare and to the impeccable direction by Cody Daigle and Cara Hayden. Never once did I feel lost amid the chaos, and sometimes Shakespeare’s language can leave people bewildered. It also helped tremendously that this particular cast seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage, an added bonus to the play’s atmosphere.


For this cast, Daigle and Hayden drew from a rich talent pool, for there are so many rewarding characters in this play. It hardly seems fair to single out only a few, for each actor added something of note, from Phillip Smith’s Flute, with an orange-laden bosom, to Mychael Zulauf’s commanding presence as Oberon, to Martha Diaz’s particularly appealing Helena. (In all fairness, Ms. Diaz is far too pretty to be spouting lines about her homeliness, but once you buy the magic of the play, you forget this.) The actors playing the quartet of lovers (Phillip Spear as Lysander, Nick Dooley as Demetrius, Morgan James as Hermia, and Ms. Diaz as Helena) all played their roles admirably, though the men do get their fair share of stringent face-slaps. Whether the play is written this way or the roles are filled by expert actors, this play has two characters that steal the show: Puck and Bottom. An underappreciated talent of incredible comic timing, Erin Segura, complete with a nest-like wig, laughed at the mortals while drawing the audience in, periodically breaking the fourth wall, especially in her final monologue. But Bottom is the role of which most actors dream, and Gerard Ducharme filled the stage with enough pomposity to make William Shatner cringe. His egregious over-acting—that is a compliment, by the way—elevated the play’s spirited mood, and the acting troupe’s play for the newly-wedded couples, brought peals of laughter from the audience.


The thing I appreciate about Acting Unlimited is its ability to harness a wide age-range in their cast. Though it was mostly upper teens and twenty-somethings, there was a good display of mature actors in the form of Robert Sidman as Egeus, Michael Munzing as Theseus, and Kate Schneider as Hippolyta. On the other spectrum, Zachary Mishlove, Annette Diaz, Naomi Roberts, and Hannah Corkern played a gathering of children who serve the fairy queen. The play also benefited from lovely musical composition from Mychael Zulauf and Kelly Griffin, and sung mostly by the Diva Fairies (Cindy Hebert, Kelly Griffin, and Ali Roberts). And if this were possible, the extra character in this production was the set, designed by the brilliant Duncan Thistlewaite, and that set was in some ways the richest character of them all. There literally was something for everyone.


Normally, I would rank this excellent production a ten, but there were two extremely minor things that distracted me. In the scene where the fairies are lulling Titania to sleep, all the fairies and Titania herself were upstaged by the positioning of the guitar player, who sat center-stage, thus shifting the scene’s focus away from the actors. It was an awkward bit of staging, and I cannot tell if it was intentional or just happened that way. And while I loved the look of the costumes and the rich color scheme involved in the fabric choices, I was on several occasions distracted by the outfits which were not hemmed. Jagged edges, frayed hems, and lengthy dangling strings of six inches or longer marred what should have been a pitch-perfect production. The outfits of some characters, Hermia for instance, were perfectly hemmed, and yet she stood opposite actors whose material was merely cut. Those relatively minor accents make the production a 9.5 instead of a ten.


But the merriment and the infectious spirit of the play should make you forget all that. Yes, we mortals can be fools, but the only fools I know would be the ones who would miss this exquisite production.
--Vincent P. Barras