A Midsummer Nights Dream Review - Freud Meet Shakespeare

Some three hundred years prior to the Freud’s classic work on the subconscious, Shakespeare seemingly anticipated the role of dreams in our everyday love life; so hints the Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  In fact, the Austrian analyst features prominently throughout the play as Puck literally emerges from Freud in very dramatic fashion near the onset of the play.  Freud is also represented in the cigars chewed, smoked, and held by many of the characters.  All mortal characters here also dress as if plucked out of a Victorian novel.  Other surprises woven into the classic comedy by director Gary Griffin include the overt sexuality of Puck and the Mechanicals re-imagined as aspiring musicians.  What was not surprising was the shear joy and exuberance brought on by this wonderfully conceived production.  When lovers and fairy queen's find their heart's desire suddenly redrawn to others, great laughter ensues. 

All acting is top notch and the actors kept the audience engage throughout the performance.  Elizabeth Ledo’s set the tempo with her rendition of Puck as an androgynous sexually charged mischief maker eager to please Oberon, the King of the Fairies.  Oberon, played by Timothy Edward Kane, is played with just the right amount of over the top.  Tracy Michelle Arnold more than holds her own as Oberon’s wife Titania, who is not afraid to stand up to her husband.  Her much more understated performance as Hippolyta speaks to her range as an actress.

Earth bound characters are also played wonderfully.  Under Gary Griffin’s direction, the Mechanicals are presented as a wandering folk and blues singing theater troop.  Tim Kazurinsky (Peter Quince), formerly of Saturday Night Live as well as many television and film roles, makes a natural leader of this group.  His timing is impecable and readily set up his cohorts for the big laughs.  Ron Orbach excells as Nick Bottom whose transformation from actor to ass to love interest of the Queen of the Fairies is done with  sincerity and comedic charm.  Sean Parris (Thistle), Richard Manera (Snug) and Michael Aaron Linder (Tom Snout) elicit many laughs via subtle and not so subtle mannerisms and their delivery of choice dialogue.  The lovers in A Midsummer Night's Dream include Andy Truschinski (Lysander), Matt Schwader (Demetrius), Christina Nieves (Hermia), and Laura Huizenga (Helena).  They do an especially good job with the more physical action occurring midway through the play.   

What I found most enjoyable about this production of a Midsummer Night’s Dream was that the unbridled creativity never interfered with the magic of the story.  That Gary Griffin is able to offer a unique vision of A Midsummer Night’s Dream without ever compromising the core value of the play is a testament to his love and understanding of the work.  The fairies here are allowed to cast spells on the mere mortals and they in turn are never the wiser.  Great thinkers like Freud can speculate at how unseen forces play at our perceptions of reality.  In the end, however, it would serve us best to simply laugh at this folly.  Puck says it best when he exclaims to Oberon, “Lord what fools these mortals be.”

Bottom Line:  A Midsummer Night’s Dream is highly recommended.  To purchase tickets, click here:

http://www.chicagoshakes.com/main.taf?p=2,66

All photos by Liz Lauren