The Dartmouth Players infused their latest production, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare, with a full measure of passion and bawdy humor.
Friday's performance was both farcical and sensual (though at times it took on the appearance of a music video, with enough writhing on-stage to rival MTV), but most importantly, it was crowd-pleasing.
From start to finish, this latest production does a good job not only of preventing Shakespeare's sometimes convoluted plot twists from getting onerous, but of making the bard funny, even in iambic pentameter.
The mortal cast carries off most of the jokes with great comic dexterity. Although some cast members (most notably Jay Hanlon '97 in the role of Demetrius) sometimes resorted to cheap mugging for laughs, much of the humor comes from the text itself.
Amanda Jones '97 is hilarious and affecting as Hermia, and Eyal Podell '97 equally adroit in his portrayal of her lover Lysander. Rebecca Gorman '96 also puts in a fine performance as Helena.
But Shakespeare's classic tale of love and magic on a warm summer's night would not be complete without a full cast of spirits, and in this respect the production delivers in full measure.
With a surreal backdrop, an equally strange musical score and a crescent moon that seemed to moveat random, the cast of spirits darted or wriggled around the stage in what winds up looking like a Henri Rousseau painting come alive.
As was explained by Drama Professor James Loehlin, the play's director, in the program, "above all else ["A Midsummer Night's Dream"] is a play about love."
This theme comes across countless times in the sexual performances of the actors playing the fairies, who often approach each other as if too kiss, only to turn away at the last moment. There are also many scenes of mock-lovemaking.
The serpentine Nate Levine '97 plays Puck, well, puckishly. Levine's Puck is impish and innocent at the same time, and the audience easily forgave him for all the mischief caused since they were in on the joke.
But Chris Ferry '95 stole the show as the hilarious weaver-come-actor Nick Bottom, whose death scene brought down the house.
As one sophomore parent said as the lights went up for intermission, "I didn't know I liked Shakespeare."
