Chelly Coyle writes:
Overall I thought the production was a tremendous amount of fun. I loved the setting. The Maple Grove was beautiful and really augmented the sense of “spirits”. This seemed especially strong to me the deeper into the cemetery the play went. Cemeteries have always invoked strong feelings for me. They are both peaceful and otherworldly. Whenever I’m in one, I can’t help but to start imagining the stories of the folks interned in them. Midsummer certainly easily falls into the category of a great--fun story.
Overall I thought the production was a tremendous amount of fun. I loved the setting. The Maple Grove was beautiful and really augmented the sense of “spirits”. This seemed especially strong to me the deeper into the cemetery the play went. Cemeteries have always invoked strong feelings for me. They are both peaceful and otherworldly. Whenever I’m in one, I can’t help but to start imagining the stories of the folks interned in them. Midsummer certainly easily falls into the category of a great--fun story.
Having characters interact with audience members prior to the actual start of the show was a nice stage setter. Puck was particularly strong as the actor had great physicality and a sense of how to use his body in conjunction with the costume/gargoyle mask---a neat imagery connection to the cemetery.
Walking from scene to scene was exciting because as I got more involved I allowed myself to get closer to the actors which really gave me the feeling of being part of the action. It was as if I was a silent part of the scene and at times not really even silent as the spirit puppets, Puck and other characters actually touched or otherwise involved audience members. I also like the fact that the audience’s numbers were limited as it also facilitated that up close and involved feeling.
The puppet spirits, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustardseed were awesome, beautifully designed and wonderfully executed by the actors using them. Their color and textures seemed to reflect the stone and statuary found in cemeteries. I found the “head” masks of Oberon and Titania to be less effective because they seemed to limit the movement of the actors too much making them come across as stiff—more so with Oberon than Titania.
There were two things that were minor negatives for me. The first was that the initial scenes were played too close to the public roadway and the traffic noise was annoying and interfered with hearing the actors. Secondly, the audience, including myself, were initially unsure about when to move. Although an explanation was given prior to the start of the play that we were to follow the actors, if you do this again I would suggest that this explanation be expanded upon to include clearer encouragement to stay close to the action.
