Sciences Participating with Arts & Culture in Education

Wanna be Transfixed? Midsummer Night’s Dream at Dawson: A Preview

Here’s why you should go see A Midsummer's Night Dream, as directed by W. Steven Lecky, performed by third-year Professional Theatre Students, and written by it-goes-without-saying Shakespeare. It’s only your loss if you don’t go, and not just because of the price: (Dawson students $5, seniors & students $8, regular folk $12).

First off, it’s a comedy. There are three plots: 1) The fairy king, Oberon (actually a fairy, guys, like from fairy tales), is trying to get revenge on his wife, Queen Titania, for not giving him the motherless human child she is raising so it will become one of his underlings. 2) Two women and two men are lost in the forest at night, a forest enchanted by these self-same fairies. 3) A troupe of bumbling, and positively endearing, actors are going through the forest to Athens to put on a play for the Duke. And. They. Are. Hysterical.

Here’s a word often associated with Shakespeare: ‘relevant.’ This performance is unique because of its contemporary energy. Not that the actors are slouching around in jeans and beanies, or that the youth of these actors is bleeding through into the classical text. No: there is a feeling of ‘now’. What you’re seeing is not unfolding in Athens of Greek Antiquity, nor in late 16th century, but presently; the story is right there in front of you; the characters live and breathe.

More incentive! This is a love story, with every kind of love that I can name off the top of my head: New love, old love, familial love, unrequited love, sensual love, platonic love, love that parades as hatred, transcendant love, even magic-induced love. Love is rampant in this play, and the energy of that is palpable on stage.

Kudos to these young actors for pulling off a mature piece -- it is Shakespeare, after all -- as well as bringing across playfulness, and for finding such fun in an Elizabethan-originating play. There is poetry to the dialogue, but the lines still run like conversation, so we, the audience, aren’t getting lost in iambs. To their talent, the actors express both aspects fluently.

Now, my favourite: The fairies. They do not conform to any of your typical Tinkerbellesque ideas of them. These fairies are beastly. Which brings into stark relief the fact that there are helpless human beings lost in the dark, in the home of supernatural creatures. Shivers.

Speaking of which, the play is worth seeing just for the final haunting scene, when we gain a glimpse at how fairies perforate our normal human world. You get chills, really.

Recommended, this run of Midsummer’s. Guaranteed to be one you can never see the likes of again. I would even go so far as to say it is… transformative. I’m urging you to go. Go!

Enjoy the show! 

Runs November 10th – 22nd, 2014

Previews: Nov. 10th & 11th, 7:30 pm
Opening: Nov. 12th, 8:00 pm
Performances: Nov. 13th -15th, 20th – 22nd, 8:00 pm
Matinées: Wed Nov 12th, 14th & 20th, 12:30 pm
Closing Nov. 22nd, 8:00 pm