BWW Reviews: Theatreworks MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Eventually Finds Its Hip-Hop Rhythm

I will admit to looking upon the setting for Theatreworks' A Midsummer Night's Dream-a bare stage with a graffitied backdrop-with a touch of misgiving. Bringing Shakespeare into different eras is a common device and one which the familiarity and timelessness of his work can bear, but the space felt a bit too prosaic for the most fantastical of the Bard's comedies.

And indeed, for a few scenes it seemed my fears would be borne out. The first scenes in Athens felt stilted and awkward, with noticeable stumbles in the dialogue. There were bright spots-the dramatically-inclined mechanicals are always good for a laugh, and Rachel Baker is instantly winning as a geeky, snarky Helena-but there didn't feel like much magic in the air. At least, not until Puck (Sammie Joe Kinnett, once again displaying his fine knack for poetic dialogue and comic timing) pulled away the urban backdrop and opened the tent onto the Rock Ledge Ranch grounds, twinkling with fairy lights in the twilight, and Midsummer finds its funky rhythm.

Murray Ross' fairies are a hip-hop crew, grooving to pulsing beats and led by a suave, sexy Oberon (Jim Braswell) and a vibrant and equally sexy Titania (Tanisha Lynn Pyron). They bring a modern list to iambic pentameter, highlighting the music and urgency of the language. And the mischief they instigate induces gales of laughter from the audience. Baker's Helena remains a strong presence in this section, with her "spaniel" speech a refreshing take on the character. Rather than pathetically pleading for Demetrius' (Mike Lee) attention, she turns the dialogue into a playful come-on, shifting the expected power dynamic between the characters in an intriguing fashion. And you feel for her when she expresses dismay and humiliation at the starry-eyed Lysander (Erik Brevik) and Demetrius begging for her favor.

Then of course there are the mechanicals and their ill-conceived production of "Pyramus and Thisbe," as usual a comic highlight of the evening. Tom Paradise gets in some good moments as the harried author/director Peter Quince, but inevitably it is Bottom (Robert Reis) who steals the show with his strutting and declaiming-and later, prancing and braying. (In a neat local touch, Bottom's ass head bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Blucifer the DIA horse.) The staging of "Pyramus and Thisbe" proves that bad entertainment held a unique fascination long before the days of Mystery Science Theater 3000, as the wedding guests cheerfully comment on the action and heckle the performers. Lee, who gets some of the best jabs, overdoes it a bit here, but there's so much to laugh at it doesn't seem to matter much.

Despite its early awkwardness, the production of one of Shakespeare's most beloved works provides enough comedy and toe-tapping music to create a magical evening of theatre. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM plays now through August 22nd at Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site, Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30pm. For tickets, contact the Theatreworks box office at 719-255-3232 or visit theatreworkscs.org.

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