A Review
by RKB

As presented by the Performance Company, William Shakespeare's
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" was wild, funny, and entertaining,
with a few things that worked and a few things that didn't.
In other words, it was an eclectic and exciting presentation of
live theatre. And let's face it, when we're talking about one
of Shakespeare's silliest comedies, isn't that enough?

The story revolves around four lovers who venture into the woods
outside the city of Athens and end up getting involved with the
Fairies and Peskies who live there. Hermia loves Lysander, but
her father orders her to marry Demetreus. Demetreus, in turn, is
loved by Helena, Hermia's best friend.

In order to escape from her father, Hermia and Lysander head
towards his relative's home outside Athens, but end up spending
the night in the forest. Demetreus follows them, and Helena follows
Demetreus.

Meanwhile, a local performance company is in the midst of
rehearsing a comic tragedy (or is it tragic comedy?) to present
at the wedding of Hippolyta and Theseus, ruler of Athens.
They decide to rehearse in the forest.

Unbeknownst to all of these mere mortals, Oberon & Titania, King
and Queen of the Fairies, are in the midst of a lover's quarrel.
When the lovers venture into the forest, the men are put under
a spell to fall in love with the first woman they see...which
happens to be Helena---for both of them! The lead actors' head
is transformed into the head of a donkey, and then Titania is made to
fall in love with him!

And that's when the story really gets started!

Let's start with the actors: the four
leads are all absolutely wonderful! When any of them are on the
stage the show seems to pick up pace and move along sprightly.
Each are terrific comedians, with Elysia Harris as Helena
especially good. First she is star-struck over Demetreus, then she
is horror-struck at Lysander's affections, and then she is
struck dumb by Demetreus' change of heart.
Elysia played broad comedy (her scene hugging
Demetreus' cloak was hilarious) and slapstick (the fight between
her and Hermia when both men were after Helena's affection) equally well.
And her prodigious comedic talents are in addition to her straight dramatic
talents, on display when she is melancholy over Demetreus
at the beginning of the play.

Elyse Whetstone played against type as Hermia,
bringing a quiet bearing of self-confidence to the role of
hapless daughter, then total confusion when neither of the men
cared for her. She presented a strong sense of dignity to her
role...until she went crazy and tried to scratch her friend's
eyes out, that is! Mostly, however, Elyse was the
calming voice in the comedy; the voice of reason who only went
crazy when things became too fantastical for her to understand.

The men, of course, held their own. Josh Eal as Demetreus
and Austin Flynn as Lysander were also excellent.
Each had to play two roles, and they were the same:
first they were both The Man In Love With Hermia, and
then they were The Man In Love With Helena. Josh played
it more straight, and Austin played it with a lighter comedic
touch. Yet when Josh as Demetreus threatens to rape Helena
to get rid of her,
"If thou follow me, do not believe but I shall do thee
mischief in the wood,"
and she swoons, we laugh. When Austin
(as Lysander, under the spell of Oberon) tells Hermia,
"Be certain, nothing truer:
'tis no jest, That I do hate thee and love Helena,"
we gasp.
By the end of Act One we desperately wanted
the lovers to reconcile, and this was
mostly because of these actors.

As for the supporting players, Dustin Mills as Bottom, the lead actor
transformed into an ass, was incredible.
He lit up every scene he was in, especially during the initial
discussion about what role(s) he could play and then later during
the actual performance of the tragic comedy (or was it comic tragedy?).
His death scene, ably supported by Ben Brinkerhoff, who under-played
brilliantly, had the house in stitches.
Here's hoping Dustin and these other new players will appear
regularly in Jay County Civic theatre from now on.

Another wonderful part of the show was Jessica Daniels and
Ashley Yarian as Nightengale.
Jessica started the show by dancing a beautiful ballet-type
dance, which she also choreographed. In the beginning of the
second act, Ashley took over and danced beautifully to
another Jessica choreography.
Both young women are very talented. I enjoyed their dances
very much,and look forward to more from both of them.

I also want to mention Matt Burgess (making a welcome comeback to the
Jay County stage) as Snug. He played his role just right:
during all of his scenes he could be seen in the background
practicing his Lion growl and ferociousness. If you
noticed him, you smiled because it was funny;
it was icing on the cake.
Welcome Back, Matt!

I do have a few comments/questions, though.

First of all, call me old-fashioned if you must,
but I would have preferred a more "fairie"
like environment for the design of the show.
To me, the Fairies and Peskies seemed less like fantastical beings
and more like juvenile delinquents. In fact, when the two groups
face off against each other, I got definite West Side Story vibes.
Maybe this was what Director Andre Whetstone was going for,
but if it was, I kind of wished she'd done more with it.

Also, one story point of the show didn't quite work for me:
I didn't understand the whole Titania and Oberon lovers' quarrel;
I understand the cause was the little boy that Titania
(a totally regal and fun Claire Boxell) wanted to raise
that Oberon also wanted....but then....what? Somehow Oberon
acquired the boy, and Titania forgot about him, or forgave
Oberon for taking him, or decided to raise the boy
WITH Oberon?!? I just didn't understand that whole thing.
When I looked at the source material, one line is all there
is to it, so maybe Shakespeare thought he was running out of time?
Anyway, it was odd.

Measure for measure (oops, wrong play!),
this was another entertaining night of live theatre.
NOW Jay County Civic can not only say that they have
"done" Shakespeare, they can say they've done Shakespeare WELL!

The Cast & Crew List

A Review of the Show