Your publication of Brad Minor’s review of ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ convinced me to relinquish being outside on a perfect June Saturday, to support the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
The elderly woman who’d had a hard time seeing from the balcony, and had been kindly—or not so, treated to a front row seat looked shell-shocked upon exiting the theater. From there, she probably heard every word but had to endure a close-up of the character Bottom’s ample hairy buttocks propped upon a vehicle as part of a fanciful interpretation of an ass. I always thought of the festival as a family affair, and indeed there were many children present, as well as genteel white-haired ladies who were no doubt made uncomfortable by this unnecessarily gross humor. For heavens’ sake, at least find a brownish leotard for the man.
Parents who’d brought their fairy-obsessed little girls were probably further mortified by the spirits being portrayed - not adorned with sparkling gossamer wings, but by a rusty saw, oil can, dolls, one of which sprouted demonic horns, and other objects whizzing about. Further, what began as a moving symbolic love-making between the finally well-matched and newly married couples was carried too far by frantic rolling around atop one another. Part of what had drawn me to this production was the fact that it had been done by the same group that had fabricated the puppet horses in the Broadway musical, ‘War Horse’, but this very clever and often amusing play went on for over two and a half hours - even cutting a favorite character Phoebe, and who remembers what else. I like imaginative and fanciful interpretations, but I think the Bard might have thought he had wandered into the inmates’ Thespian group at the asylum - especially during the play within the play. Lest you think I’m entirely negative, I thought the actors were superb, the mix of human and puppet characters well integrated, and the cat-fight between Helena and Hermia very funny and energetic. My problem is with the artistic choices made for this audience. I have an idea: how about warning the public when presenting an avante-garde performance, which for a matinee, part of a city-wide Arts and Ideas Festival, may be unsuitable for children and a general viewing audience.
Claudia Sorrentino
Guilford