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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">GLTF’s
‘Midsummer’ a dreamy production<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
review appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
</I>5/7/10</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">A Midsummer Night’s
Dream</SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> is one of
Shakespeare's earliest works and one of his most fanciful comedies.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is an absolutely delightful diversion
about two young couples in love with the wrong partners, who venture into woods
populated by mischievous fairies and fall prey to their manipulations of the
human heart.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
playwright’s pretense is that all this is but a dream; a carefree charade that
allows for mortals to mingle with pixies and for all sorts of absurdities to
seem commonplace.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In fact, the play
closes with a crafty reminder of this (as if the play’s title were not enough)
by Puck, the most impish of the fairies, who states: “</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">If
we shadows have offended/Think but this and all is mended/That you have but
slumber'd here/While these visions did appear.“<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This
pretense is fully embraced and re-envisioned by director Charlie Fee in his
Great Lakes Theater Festival production of this play, which is a reprisal of his
2003 presentation.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Fee
transports this 1590s reverie to the 1960s, where the dream is more
hallucination, complete with surreal landscapes by Gage Williams, period
costuming by </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Star Moxley
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">and
an interweaving of Beatle’s music to facilitate the
storytelling. </SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">This year’s version has not
lost the charm or unabashed playfulness of the 2003 adaptation, despite changes
in its venue and casting.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Gone is the cavernous Ohio Theatre
staging, replaced and enhanced by the intimacy that the Hanna Theatre
affords—including the use of aisles to extend the play’s action into the
audience.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Gone, and missed, are actors Andrew
May and Sara Bruner, who so understood and mastered Shakespeare’s words that the
classic roles they embodied seemed to have been written specifically for
them.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Fortunately, this year’s rendering
brings back many superb, well-seasoned performers and introduces some very
talented members to complete the repertory company. </SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Newcomers Gisela Chipe and Kevin
Crouch bring a subtle silliness that plays perfectly in this production and are
wonderful as the lovers Hermia and Lysander.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Dane Agostinis as Demetrius, who also
loves Hermia, and Lina Chambers as Helena, who adores Demetrius, are also quite
good.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Aled Davies once again takes on the
duo roles of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Oberon, the King of the Fairies,
and does so with perfection.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Lynn
Allison nicely complements Davies as both Hippolyta, who is betrothed to
Theseus, and Titania, the Queen of the Fairies.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Introduced early and reappearing
intermittently throughout the play is an incompetent and outrageously funny
troupe of artisans who are preparing for a performance at Theseus and
Hippolyta’s wedding.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Their lead
player is Bottom, played by the outlandish David Anthony Smith.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Smith never misses an opportunity to
milk a moment for comedic effect and, as he has done in so many past
productions, always hits his mark with remarkable precision.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Rounding out the rest of the troupe,
and also doubling as fairies, are veteran GLTF performers Dudley Swetland, M.A.
Taylor, and Lynn Robert Berg, who are joined by Erin Childs and Mitch
McCarrell.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Collectively, they raise
the level of absurdity in this production and, in their enactment of the wedding
play in the final scene, are brilliant.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Eduardo Placer is a charmer in the
pivotal role of Puck, the </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>"shrewd
and knavish sprite" whose pranks and misdeeds set this play’s insanity in
motion.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His physicality captures
all that is playful and marvelously mischievous in this character.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>Some
theater purists may balk at the GLTF’s reconstruction of </SPAN><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">A Midsummer Night’s
Dream</SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> (and, at least
with regard to the insertion of some contemporary phrases into Shakespeare’s
sacrosanct prose and poetry, are justified).</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Some GLTF faithful may find it
necessary to make comparisons with the 2003 version.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">This is a shame, for the current
production certainly stands on its own merits and is a thoroughly delightful and
enjoyable mid-Spring night’s diversion.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">A
Midsummer Night’s Dream</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> continues in
repertory with <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Bat Boy: The Musical</I>
through May 16 at PlayhouseSquare’s Hanna Theatre in downtown Cleveland.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $15 to
$49, call 216-241-6000 or visit <B><A href=""><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><FONT
color=#bd7200>www.greatlakestheater.org</FONT></SPAN></A>.<o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></P>
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style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>