UMass Lowell Connector Logo

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ of a Performance

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is the first production by the Theatre Arts Program since last year’s “Refuge”. (Photo courtesy of Umass Lowell Theatre Arts Program)

Hannah Manning
Connector Editor

The reputation of Shakespeare precedes him. The mere mention of Hamlet will have anyone who has taken a high school English class cringe. When done wrong, Shakespeare can be a muddle of “Olde English” with a meaning that gets lost in every new gimmick slapped onto a new production of “Romeo and Juliet” or “Othello.” But when done right, it can be downright enthralling to behold.

The UMass Lowell Theatre Arts program did Shakespeare right.

Written by William Shakespeare in the 1590s, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a comedy about love, confusion and terrible acting. Two lovers, Hermia and Lysander, plot to steal away and become married, and flee to the fairy woods. They are followed by Helena and Demetrius, who fill out the two other sides of the love rectangle. Oberon, the king of the fairies, meddles in their love lives to get back at the queen of the fairies all the while a hapless acting troupe struggles to perform a play good enough to not be killed by the Duke of Athens.

A massive tree with curled branches and a gate in the middle were the centerpiece of the minimalist set. Light Designer Jeff Adelberg strung up lightbulbs down from the stage lights, illuminating the set with a warm glow. A mobile of butterflies came down from the lights during the wedding scene in Act II and complimented the rest of the set nicely. The look of the stage rarely changed aside from benches and other props being brought in or out.

The audience sat on the stage with the actors as the play went on, which allowed for some humorous instances of actor-audience interaction which led to programs being played with and shoelaces being untied.

UMass Lowell’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” featured strong performances from its 15 actors. Each member of the small cast jam-packed so many quirks into their respective characters that every moment of stage time was spent doing something visually interesting.

Ignacio Llacer, who played the mischievous Puck, scratched at his face like a rat and played with props near to him on stage with wide-eyed curiosity, reinforcing his characterization as a simple changeling boy. Llacer stood out amongst the incredibly talented cast due to his devoted and compelling performance, punctuated by his quick delivery of lines and overall grace.

The dialogue from the original play was unchanged, but the actors kept their natural accents, which gave them more freedom to play with their lines. They read their parts passionately and wholeheartedly to the audience.

Andrew Prensky, who played the dual role of Bottom and Pyramus, did particularly well with his readings, stretching out words and making sound effects, milking every syllable for what it was worth. His best performance came when he had to act badly as Bottom as Pyramus, drawing a death scene out to more than three minutes that kept the audience in stitches.

The performances of all of the leads were strong; Megan Morrissey injected a fire into her Hermia, who had a massive problem with being called short. Jack Croughwell and Daniel Jacavanco, who played Demetrius and Lysander respectively, had excellent stage chemistry and played off of each other wonderfully. Camille Gagnon-Fors played Helena with equal amounts love-struck desperation and desperation-fueled suspiciousness.

The blocking of the actors was another impressive aspect of the show. Each character had a distinct way of moving; the fairies pranced around the stage waving their arms, Puck crawled on all fours and moved swiftly on the balls of his feet. The actors’ efforts paid off in creating two hours’ worth of spectacle.

One of the strongest blocking scenes was when Hermia confronted Helena about ‘stealing’ her Lysander. All four characters leapt across the stage and into each other’s arms. The actors quick and light on their feet while their ragged under-clothes made more than enough of a statement about the craziness of the events past.

Costume designer Brooke Stanton had the royal human characters in grey and brown Victorian-era clothes, with nary an ankle exposed. As the play wore on and tensions grew higher, the four main humans gradually lost layers of their clothing until they were screaming and lunging at each other in their underwear. It was an interesting way to illustrate how madcap the events of the play were, and it was ultimately successful as well.

The actors who played the characters in the acting troupe had dual roles: the troupe members and as the fairies. The acting troupe dressed more down-to-earth and country as the royal characters. But the fairies were bedecked in flower crowns, colorful robes, and Christmas lights underneath the robes to light them up on stage.

The contrast of clothing choices made the class differences between the different groups of characters that much more apparent.

While in corsets and three-piece suits, however, the script allowed for several anachronisms to elicit laughs from the audience. Bottom entered from stage left singing the “Indiana Jones” theme. Demetrius and Lysander engaged in a rock-paper-scissors contest over Helena’s love, which later devolved into a nasty pushup contest that nobody truly won. The actors sold every gesture with conviction, and it paid off in giggles from the audience.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” benefited greatly from the endless reserves of energy from its small cast. The response from the community was immediate; the show had two consecutive sold-out nights and counting. It will run until Nov. 6 in Comley-Lane Theatre in Mahoney Hall. The performances on Friday and Saturday will be held at 7:30 p.m., while the final performance on Sunday will be at 2 p.m. Tickets can be reserved by emailing UMLplaytix@gmail.com.

Hannah Manning

Hannah Manning is the Editor in Chief of the UMass Lowell Connector. A native of Haverhill, Mass., she is a senior working towards her bachelor's in English with a concentration in journalism and professional writing. She likes hockey, music and her fellow staff members at the Connector.

Related posts