Two
views of "Midsummer: A Banquet"
Lucy Komisar
Paulanne Simmons
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“Midsummer: A Banquet” is charming Shakespeare plus tapas “Midsummer: A Banquet.” If this is an “immersive” experience, I’m glad
it doesn’t include leaving your round black bistro table or
interacting in the show. It just means the actors are close in and
around you. And sometimes on platforms in the rafters, where the
first welcome is staged by accordion and trumpet players. (Original
music by Sean Hagerty). Think of it as an intimate chamber
performance of Shakespeare.
It’s Athens, a place of royals and fairies. The women wear black leather skirts and white blouses, the men brown pants, black boots, suspenders. Theseus (Ryan Wuestewald), duke of Athens, and Hippolyta (Victoria Rae Sook), queen of the Amazons, are about to be wed. But other nuptial plans are contested. The father of Hermia (Caroline Amos) wants her to marry Demetrius (Joshua Gonzales), but she prefers Lysander (Alex J. Gould). To square the triangle, Helena (Adrienne Paquin) loves Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander take flight into the forest. Demetrius follows in pursuit of Hermia and Helena goes after him.
Meanwhile, the fairy King Oberon (Wuestewald), is annoyed with his wife Titania (Sook), because she pays two much attention to a “changeling,” the infant child of a follower who has been given to her. He gets the fairy Puck (Lauren F. Walker) to squirt the juice of a magical flower in her eyes so that when she wakes, she will fall in love with the first being she sees. And while Puck is at it, Oberon has noticed the difficulties of the two erstwhile couples and orders the potion to douse the eyes of “the Athenian.” He assumes Puck will target Demetrius, who will then fall in love with Helena. Titania wakes to see Bottom, the craftsman, whose head is now that
of an ass. Oberon is amused. But the other plan goes amiss. The
flower juice lands in the eyes of Lysander, who falls for Helena.
Don’t worry, there is an antidote.
My favorite character and actor is the overwrought Bottom, played by Charles Osborne. Adrienne Paquin as Helena is terrific, and also a fine singer. I loved Lauren Walker, a charmer who plays Puck with gusto and has a strong, mellow voice. In fact, everyone is good. The direction by Zach Morris is often magical, with actors walking around with class jars lit gold and red with candles or climbing a pillar which has turned into a tree topped with a garland of leaves (set by Jason Simms). There’s a nice couples dance. Then it gets more physical, even a little slapstick, with the four lovers cavorting, jumping on tables and over each other. For the food, the tables are set with plates of cheese, salami,
veggies, dips, whole grain rolls. (Tasting menu by Emilie Baltz.)
You get a glass of wine and can buy more. Premium tickets get you
several other dishes, but the price isn’t worth it. A glass
with a mushroom, olive, dried apricot. Then a small bowl of beans,
quinoa, tahini, tomato. Finally, actors throw out handfulls of cherries
tied in cloth napkins. Everybody gets to toast the couples with
champagne and wish them sweet lives with chocolate. Visit Lucy’s website http://thekomisarscoop.com/ Serving Shakespeare in a Different Way – “Midsummer: A Banquet”
Midsummer:
A Banquet Food of Love Productions and Third Rail Projects turn A Midsummer
Night’s Dream into Midsummer: A Banquet in a very tasty tribute
to the Bard. The show, directed and choreographed by Zach Morris,
features a talented cast that sings, serves, dances and acts. All
of the actors play several parts, and they slip in and out of their
roles and tasks as seamlessly as day turns into night or the seasons
change. Of all Shakespeare’s plays, probably none goes better
with a multi-course meal than this much beloved comedy. While the actors perform, the audience feasts. The menu, created by executive chef, Jacob Rosette, is of course, delicious, and quite healthy. There’s also wine and champagne that’s served at the end of the show. But aside from the interesting concept, what makes this production truly innovative is Morris’s whimsical and delightful direction. Morris makes excellent use of Café Fae’s space: a pillar is turned into a tree, and actors descend from a catwalk. He supplements Shakespeare’s transcendent dialogue with tremendous physical humor, especially in the fight and flight scenes. And he makes very clever and effective use of dance. The cast is made up of eight talented actors: Caroline Amos, Joshua Gonzales, Alex J. Gould, Charles Osborne, Adrienne Paquin, Victoria Rae Sook, Lauren F. Walker, Ryan Wuestewald. Although they are uniformly excellent, Osborne is unforgettable as the clueless and clownish mechanical, Bottom. And Amos and Paquin prove formidable opponents as Hermia and Helena when they try to straighten out their confused lovers Purists may complain that in adapting the play, Morris and Sook have cut too deeply into Shakespeare’s text. Others may grumble that the menu offers many appetizers with no main course. But sometimes a gentle breeze on a summer night is much more effective than a winter’s storm. |
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