My first encounter with Midsummer Night’s Dream came in a high school English class. We read much of the text aloud in class and the teacher assigned Bottom’s lines to me. I remember choking down laughter as I played my part and it dawned on me that Shakespeare was pretty hilarious for a dead guy.
The Guthrie’s production of Dream is a playful and ambitious updating of the original text. While the action still ostensibly unfolds in classical Athens and the characters still speak mostly in Elizabethan English, I don’t think think Shakespeare imagined a notebook computer as one of the stage props. I also don’t think he imagined his characters breaking out into elaborate song and dance numbers. The decision to include undeniably pop-sounding musical interludes is a bold one, but my friend and I both thought they slowed the pace, at least in the second half. To paraphrase my friend, it got a little too Broadway towards the end.
Still, it’s impossible not to give in to the play’s intrinsic charm and magic. All the actors are wonderful (but Oberon and Bottom are particularly superb). The set design and costumes bring an otherworldly splendor to the proceedings. When it was over, I was a little sad; the kind of sadness you get after waking from a good dream.
