Mill Valley’s Curtain Theater has opened its 24th season with everyone’s favorite comedy about fairies, Amazons, community theater actors and talking donkeys. William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream plays at the Old Mill Park Amphitheatre through Sept. 2.
Often Midsummer is used as a Shakespearean “gateway drug.” It’s one of the most accessible of the Bard’s works for general audiences. One doesn’t have to understand heightened Elizabethan poetry to laugh at a guy with a donkey head. The fact that almost every plot point can be explained as “it’s magic” makes it an easy show to explain to younger audiences. And since it’s already set in a magical forest, it’s a perfect show to do in an outdoor space.
But it is also a play that is 500 years old and one of the most performed in the world. It is a hard play to elevate above the noise of every other summer Shakespeare production.
There are some good things here. The set would be beautiful even if they had not built anything. The Old Mill Park is an enviable place to stage any play, let alone one set in a magical forest. Set designer Steve Coleman’s fantastical set plays to the strengths of the location and is beautiful enough to distract however momentarily from the natural beauty surrounding it.
Similarly well-crafted are the costumes by Jody Branham. Despite one’s thoughts about whether or not we should continue to be doing “pumpkin pants” Shakespeare, it’s still a testament to the skill of the artist that the costumes look coherent and intentionally designed to fit into this production’s world.
Titania (Heather Cherry) was a strong casting choice. With good stage presence, a practiced voice for outdoor theater and a sense of control over the character which is imperative to make the comedy work, she was one of the brightest points in the cast.
Similarly strong was Rachel Ka’iulani Kennealy. Puck is a hard role to make one’s own. Kennealy succeeds in finding and grounding the loveable chaos that makes Puck such a beloved character.
Cassie Nesbit’s Hermia and Grisha Driscoll’s Demetrius were solid. Both actors made safe, consistent choices with their characters that helped keep the lover’s scenes pushing forward smoothly.
Which of course leaves Bottom. For a character that has such a relatively small role in the overall play, Bottom shares with Puck the distinction of being able to make or break a production of Midsummer. Glenn Havlan was one of the more dynamic actors on the stage. Not all of his choices hit, but he was making novel choices, especially with the more famous lines. Regardless of whether or not all the choices worked is almost irrelevant because even missed choices made for interesting moments.
Making risky choices is one of the main themes of this play. So it’s odd that so many of director Michele Delattre’s choices were so safe, lacking the risk necessary to elevate any production from “yet another Midsummer” to a show worthy of being that gateway drug to a love of the Bard.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ runs Saturday, Sunday and Labor Day Monday through Sept. 2 at the Old Mill Park Amphitheater, 352 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. All shows 2pm. Free. Donations graciously accepted. curtaintheatre.org.
