The play that needs no introduction gets a woodsy handling at the Theatricum Botanicum. It’s an ideal setting for Shakespeare’s much loved play, and the folks at this little gem of a theatre nestled in Topanga Canyon know it; A Midsummer Night’s Dream is, quite rightly, a signature feather in their repertory cap. Performers zip on and off the built-up stage from a hill or trail, swing from a tree jutting out in the middle of the stage floor – it adds three-dimensional magic to the production. But where this magic was blunted in the Theatricum’s enjoyable but hit-or-miss, overperformed production of Cymbeline, it gets full expression here.
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Thad Geer and Abby Craden
Not so convincing, perhaps, are the fairies, dressed up as they are in shreds of gossamer fabrics and awkwardly face-painted with blotches and streaks of colour. Clicking, purring, whirring, moving like semi-contortionist circus performers, the otherness of the fairies — as conveyed in the costumes and makeup — doesn’t actually detract from the production but nonetheless feels rather forced. More troublesome are Abby Craden and Michael McFall’s performances as, respectively, Titania and Oberon – the fairy queen and king. Both eventually settle into something comfortable. Getting there, however, involves such exaggerated mannerisms and line delivery that it’s touch-and-go for a while. Puck, at least, is every bit the likeable mischief-maker one could hope for. David Pintado, one of three actors playing the role this season, offers a cheery performance as lithe in physicality as in speech. As the mover and shaker of plots gone awry, he’s a loveable catalyst in a cast of performers who play out their roles with considerable verve. And how about this: Thad Geer, who unceremoniously flatlined as the titular character in Cymbeline, shines with a hilariously cartoonish, unabashedly larger-than-life Bottom. There are a few other nitpicks – the inert young boy who forms the changeling object of Oberon’s interest is, as uncharitable as it is to say it, outperformed by a dachshund that takes to the stage later in the play.
Nettlesome Moments
That last crack is more than uncharitable, of course, especially for people not immune to the cuteness of kids however they stand confused on the stage. It’s a low blow. But that’s just the sort of pesky snark that emerges when a play is satisfying in the whole but oddly irksome in some of its details. And yet who can stay upset with Theatricum? Shakespeare’s confection of love and social expectations, magic and dreams, is indeed satisfying on the whole, with a dedicated, passionate cast and the aforementioned ideal setting. The Bard’s words and craft leap off from page to audience imagination courtesy of the Theatricum’s obvious love of the play. It surely is a summer dream worth having.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Written by Shakespeare. Directed by Melora Marshal. Starring Melissa Camilo, Abby Craden, Matt Ducati, Thad Geer, Willow Geer, Ira Heinichen, Natalie Jones, Michael McFall, Lexi Pearl, Earnestine Phillips, David Pintado, Meredith Sweeney, Elizabeth Tobias, Jeff Wiesen. On stage at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7. For tickets and information, call 310.455.3723 or visit online at www.theatricum.com.
Frédérik invites you to discuss this production and more at his blog (www.inkandashes.net).
