|
Beate Hein Bennett
There is Shakespeare in the Park, and there is Shakespeare in the Parking Lot! Lucky New York! You can sit in the million dollar refurbished Delacorte Theater among thousands to admire stage/ screen stars under the stars. Or you can wander into a parking lot on the Lower East Side and be welcomed to a square ground-level performance space set up with chairs on three sides for an intimate audience of a hundred or so. Up center is a decrepit basket ball hoop with loops of colorful plastic flowers, below that hoop a love seat atop a picnic table with benches attached. A profusion of cheap plastic flowers adorns this setting from top to bottom.
“Midsummer Night’s Dream”(1698) may be Shakespeare’s most popular comedy. A cast of colorful characters, events and transformations, all in a profoundly comic spirit takes the audience on a trip through the tomfoolery of youthful love and the social pretensions of class and generational power. Set in mythical Athens and a mythical Forest, the play is Theater- writ- large with the actor at the center. The performative aspect of the characters themselves lies in their transformations. The ancient Greek “hero” Theseus has beat Hippolyta, the warrior queen of the mythical Amazons in battle but prepares now to possess her in marriage. Subsequently, the actors of Theseus and Hippolyta metamorphose into into Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the Forest. That couple quarrels over the guardianship of an Indian Changeling Boy, the son of one of Titania’s deceased devotees.
Two young Athenian lovers, Hermia and Lysander, try to escape Aegea’s (originally Aegeus) wrathful ploy to marry her daughter off to Demetrius, a bit of a playboy. He is pursued by Hermia’s dearest friend Helena, who is madly in love with Demetrius. The four are lost in the fairyland Forest where Puck, Oberon’s impish adjutant utterly confounds them by his misapplied magic. Added to this mix of characters is a group of “rude Mechanicals” who have come to the Forest to rehearse their theatrical offering of the “lamentable comedy” of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” Shakespeare’s story appropriation from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”. A wild chase after love in the parallel worlds of humans and spirits, rulers and ruled, parent and child, highborn and laborer enlivens the stage-- the world of “shadows”-- for the span of two hours.
Hamilton Clancy has directed a spirited ensemble of actors who seem to thrive on playing close to the audience. Mr. Clancy masterfully uses the site specific givens of an open space in his direction while giving the actors sufficient leeway to include unforeseen urban interferences. Theseus/Oberon played by Dave Marantz brings gravitas with a wink to his Theseus and endows Oberon with a bit of an earthy Irish/Scottish accent. Una Clancy plays his mate(s) Hippolyta/Titania with graceful hauteur. Of special note is Puck, played by Andy Rowell with a mesmerizing mix of whimsy, danger, and “dude” charm, lithely racing all over the space to fulfill Oberon’s globe wide mission. Hermia and Helena are a study in contrast: Hermia is the “little” spitfire while Helena is the tall pining lovebird. Miranda Reilly’s sporty Hermia plays the rebellious daughter full of argument while tall elegant Lia Bonfilio surprises with a physical humor that modifies Helena’s plaintive lines. Patrick Hart plays Lysander as a slightly befuddled philosophical young man, possibly of lower social status and so undesirable as a match for Hermia. By contrast, Kaleb Baker’s Demetrius comes off as a spoiled prep boy self-assured of his status. Both young men are ultimately leveled through their ordeal in the woods, caused by Puck’s confusion, and by Theseus as the ultimate social arbiter.
The “Rude Mechanicals”: Carpenter Peter Quince is the manager/director of “Pyramus and Thisbe.” Evangeline Fontaine plays the regisseur with the vigor (and frustration) in trying to keep a bunch of skeptical amateurs in line. His “star” performer Bottom, the Weaver played full-tilt by Alessandro Colla, has the super ego to play all the roles to please, to impress, but not to frighten the ladies in the audience—until he is “translated” into the famous ass, the mistook lover of Titania. Flute, the Bellows Mender, designated to play Thisby despite his protestations, “Do not make me play a woman, I have a beard coming on”—Shakepeare’s inside joke about boys playing female roles. Chris Martell plays a splendid Thisby with a “monstrous little voice.” Tailor Robin Starveling plays two parts, Thisby’s mother and the Man in the Moon (with a “lanthorn,” a little dog, and a thornbush). Adama Joy Sall (who also understudies Hyppolita/Titania) plays Starveling with serious gravity.
Basil Lvoff plays Snug, the Joiner who hesitantly takes on the role of Lion who must roar without frightening the ladies. Multitalented musician/actor Marion Stenforth plays Snout, the Tinker who with her accordion becomes the fate-full Wall; she displays great verbal and physical agility and humor. Ms. Stenforth also contributes original songs throughout the evening. Last not least, Titania’s attendant fairies: musical contributor Thammie Laine Quach as Mustardseed, Aria Martinelli as Cobweb, and Jasmin Gonzalez as Moth flutter with dragonfly wings through the woodlands to follow Titania’s commands and serve Bottom, her lover with delicacies only an ass would relish as well as singing him to dreamy slumber. Watching the actors play with these transformations and seeing all the rough tumble of the action so close under the dusky light of early evening within the urban streetscape feels very special and inclusive. For thirty years Hamilton Clancy and The Drilling Company have produced this magic with a generous spirit of joy. One would only wish for more than nine performances. |
| recordings | coupons | publications | classified |