Review: Magical A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at WSC Avant Bard

How do you create a supernatural character on stage? With fancy costumes? With trailing bedsheets, goofy headgear and a wing or two? And how supernatural can it really be, if you know it's an actor there in front of you on the boards?

WSC Avant-Bard's magical production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream offers an elegantly simple solution to this question, and it is an absolute treat. It doesn't matter if you are the most hardened grown-up or the most precocious, spoiled brat the world has ever seen. You will be entranced by this production's creativity for much of the show's 2+ hours' traffic on the Gunston Arts Center stage.

Director Randy Baker, whose work with Rorschach Theater has enriched the Washington D.C. theater scene for many years, has brought together an inspired company of young actors who cast a spell both in the flesh and as shadow-puppeteers, manipulating and voicing the mischievous sprites of Shakespeare's fairy realm. They also provide musical accompaniment when not in action, creating a sort of ad-hoc Gamelan Orchestra that comments on the action.

The action, as always, centers on ancient Athens where the mythical King Theseus is about to marry his Amazon bride Hippolyta (subtle hint: he was more interested than she was). Christian R. Gibbs and Melissa Marie Hmelnicky set the right tone of dead-pan humor as the real-life royal couple, and double behind the main screen as Oberon and Titania, rulers of the fairy kingdom in the woods outside of town.

Pre-nuptial trouble appears in the form of Egeus (Toni Rae Salmi, playing the meanest mom you'll ever see), who is trying to force her daughter Hermia (the brilliant Jenna Berk) to marry Demetrius (the solid Robert Pike) against her will. Demetrius, the cad, flirts with Hermia's BFF Helena (played with relish by Rachel Viele) but he still wants Hermia's money; apparently he's into threesomes? Anyway Hermia's beau, Lysander (the endearing Danny Cackley) lays plans to elope with Hermia. All they need to do is sneak into the woods, where ...

Well, let's put it this way; the minute you get into the woods the fairies take over, and the shape-shifter Puck (the delightful Daven Ralston) manages the feat of transitioning from the shadow-fairy world to the real world with the aid of some nice slapstick. Puck manages to screw up the love lives of the youngsters from Athens, but she was originally sent on a mission to humiliate the fairy queen Titania.

ANd Puck spots a perfect 'mate' for her queen when a handful of Athenian craftsmen show up. It seems this gang of truly rank amateurs dream of putting on THE GREATEST SHOW EVER SEEN in honor of Theseus' wedding; why? So they can get a hefty pension and never have to work a lick ever again. Leading the troupe are its director/playwright Peter Quince (Ms. Salmi again) and Bottom the Weaver (played with all-out, ham-fisted relish by Zach Brewster-Geisz). Puck effectively kidnaps Bottom, and the transition from real to fairy world for Bottom is great fun to watch. Costume Designer Debra Kim Sivigny creates numerous smart outfits here, one of the most amusing being the outfit for Bottom's, um translation into an Ass.

The cast, both leads and supporting roles, are constantly in motion whirling around and behind the audience. All ends well, of course but Ms. Sivigny's set, dotted as it is with shadow-puppet screens across the stage, ensures that we are given a banquet for the eyes. Alex Vernon's translucent puppets, meanwhile, are finely articulated and are a delight to see in action.

WSC Avant Bard has a reputation for edgy, 'mature' material but this is a show that everyone should see. If your child-or more to the point, your inner child-is bored to death by Shakespeare, this should cure it.

Production Photo: Puck (Daven Ralston) consulting with the fair royal couple Titania and Oberon (shadow puppets, controlled & voiced by Melissa Marie Hmelnicky and Christian R. Gibbs). Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.

Running Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes with one intermission.

Midsummer Night's Dream runs January 14-February 7 at Gunston Theatre Two, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA.

Tickets are available online at AvantBard.org/tickets or by calling 703-418-4808.

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