Oak Park Festival Theatre’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with Aaron Latterell and Sonia Goldberg/Photo: Josh Darr
Oak Park Festival Theatre launches its forty-eighth season with Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” staged within Oak Park’s leafy Austin Gardens.
For those unfamiliar with the comedic, chaotic tale, three sets of stories intertwine over the course of the play. First, that of Athenian youths Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander, caught up in a love rectangle in which a royal couple is to decide their fates; next, fairy sovereigns Titania and Oberon, who are preoccupied with a petty quarrel; and lastly, a theater troupe made up of local tradesmen. All these characters find their way into the forest domain of the fairies, and the fantastical unfolds.
Forced to either marry the suitor chosen for her, die, or live out life as a cloistered nun, Hermia (a luminous Rachel J Jones) steals away to the forest to run off with Lysander and be free from the rigid structure of Athenian life. In this production, the role of Lysander (a gallant Taylor Dalton), and the put-upon, oft-weepy Helena (an earnest Lucas Prizant) are gender-swapped to great advantage. In a program note from new artistic director Peter G. Andersen, he points out the similarities in the journeys of the characters and the journeys that so many LGBTQ+ people are forced to make for acceptance. By reframing Lysander and Hermia and Demetrius and Helena as queer couples, the stakes seem higher. In earlier interactions with the story, I felt that the threat to Hermia’s life was exaggerated. In this telling, it makes disappointing sense.
Dialogue normally assigned to Titania (a regal Sonia Goldberg) is swapped with Oberon’s, giving her the upper hand in the power struggle between the two. In this production Titania shares a love of mischief with the fairy Puck, played with acrobatic glee by Will Wilhelm, and the two set into motion the night’s events, with the help of the magical love-in-idleness flower. When the juice of the enchanted flower is sprinkled over the eyes of a sleeping person, they are tricked into falling in love with the first living thing they see upon waking—be it man or beast. Meanwhile, the theater troupe, referred to as “the Mechanicals,” struggles to put a show together.
Oak Park Festival Theatre’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with Haven Crawley, Mark Lancaster, and Molly Brennan/Photo: Josh Darr
The cast is great; Aaron Latterell’s Theseus is poised and his Oberon a contrasting bohemian. Demetrius is a fickle character but is redeemable when played by Julio Cesar Gutierrez. Members of the enthusiastic Mechanicals (Chad Bay, Mark Lancaster and Haven Janeil Crawley), led by over-confident Nick Bottom (a scene-stealing, droll Molly Brennan) occasionally interact with the audience to great hilarity. Modern-day parlance, vocal inflections, and physical mannerisms amp up the humor of the show.
The simple set is thoughtfully designed—ladders are built into the sides and a catwalk of sorts on top offers more vantage points for characters throughout the show. A tiered stage surrounds the set. Devin Cameron’s lighting design and sound supervisor Max Martin’s work enhance the ethereality of the story, helping to further transport the audience. Christian Bufford’s choreography is a delight, and fight/intimacy director Kira Nutter’s work is well-done.
Enjoy a balmy evening out this summer and see what enchantments Oak Park Festival Theatre has to offer.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Oak Park Festival Theatre, 167 Forest Avenue, Oak Park, (708)300-9396, oakparkfestival.com, $38. Through August 19.
