Wednesday, July 5 at the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, The Old Globe opened Darko Tresnjak’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the first of three Shakespeare productions in the summer repertory festival. The play continues through Sept. 29.
Acclaimed New York director Jesse Berger makes his Globe debut with Shakespeare’s great tragedy “Othello” (July 7-Oct. 1). Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Tresnjak also stages the Bard’s “bloody joke,” “Titus Andronicus” (July 9-Sept. 30). The three contrasting works play in rotating repertory (see complete schedule at www.theoldglobe.org or call [619] 23-GLOBE).
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” certainly ranks at the top of Shakespeare’s comedies. It is also a perfectly constructed tale, following four young people, two of each sex, from the court of Athens to an enchanted forest and back again. Their saga is woven with scenes between the battling Fairy King Oberon (J. Paul Boehmer), and his Queen Titania (Lise Bruneau), and a sextet of comical, common workmen, who earnestly and argumentatively rehearse a performance of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” which they hope to (and do eventually) present at court.
There are enchantments and transformations all around, and the production makes for an enchanting evening in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, where all the design elements conspire to incorporate the trees of Balboa Park.
Christopher R. Walker’s sound design and original music are a real plus, as each entrance of the “Mechanicals” is heralded by clinks and clangs. Peggy Hickey’s choreography enlivens the court and the fairies alike, and Paloma Young’s costumes are wonderful, from Athens High School uniforms for the young people to outrageously sensuous garb for the Fairy King and Queen. York Kennedy’s lighting design is exquisite.
All the action takes place upon the effective, basic festival set created by Ralph Funicello. Scenic elements include stairways on each side, a steeply descending ramp or staircase upstage, a moving center-stage platform, and, as is traditional, many doors upper above and under below. For “Dream” there is a beautiful moon unit upon which Titania sleeps and entertains her visitor, Bottom the Weaver, transformed into an Ass by Oberon’s minion, Puck.
That’s a lot of space devoted to the enhancements. How about the enchantment of actors and director?
Julie Jesneck, who plays Desdemona on alternate evenings, is quirky, gauche and deliciously comic as Helena, an Athens High graduate. Her friend Hermia (Eve Danziesen) is the most popular girl in the class, loved by both Demetrius (David Villalobos), whom Hermia’s father approves and Helena loves; and Lysander (UCSD MFA graduate Owiso Odera), whom Hermia prefers. Tresnjak utilizes Odera’s natural, dancer-like body and innate comic abilities to great advantage. One can hardly wait to see this fine young actor as Aaron, Tamora’s dastardly lover, in “Titus Andronicus.”
As for the Mechanicals, they’re a bit askew, overpowered vocally and dramatically by Jonathan Peck as Bottom, which is as it should be (Bottom’s an ass, an overweening community theater actor); however, the contrast is more extreme than usual.
By comparison, stalwart Shakespearean Charles Janasz seems particularly sweet and ineffectual as Peter Quince the carpenter, who has fashioned the brief “Pyramus and Thisbe” in which Bottom plays Pyramus and Francis Flute (delightful Michael Urie) plays Thisbe. The play-within-a-play scene, comic though it is, is played with utter sincerity, causing tears to arise, as intended. “Merry and tragical “¦ hot ice and wondrous, strange snow,” indeed.
Boehmer and Bruneau are authoritative as both Oberon and Titania and as Duke Theseus and his intended bride, Hippolyta, whom he’s won by force. Theirs are the nuptials celebrated at the play’s denouement.
As Puck, Oberon’s capricious factotum, 12-year-old Michael Drummond certainly looks the part. With his gorgeous blond hair and child’s body, he is beautiful at this age, far more suited to the role of the Changeling Child than he is to Puck, who needs a certain edge and knowingness. Despite amplification, his dialogue was only 50 percent intelligible.
Nonetheless, there is much to savor in Tresnjak’s production. As always, he paints beautiful stage images, and the play’s final scene will live in memory a long while.
The joy of repertory is seeing each of one’s favorite actors perform other, contrasting roles throughout the summer. It causes the theater maven to salivate.