by Geoff Hoff~

William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream is, probably, his most produced work. There are many reasons for that; it is fairly simple, fairly magical and very funny. It is “safe” Shakespeare, for those who think they don’t or can’t understand or appreciate the plays. Besides, it’s always fun to see someone turned into a donkey.

A recap for those who haven’t yet seen it, there are three main plots, all centered around the impending marriage of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian queen, Hippolyta. The first involves two sets of lovers. Hermia and Lysander deeply love each other, but Hermia’s father insists she marry Demetrius. Hermia’s best friend Helena is madly in love with Demetrius and, indeed, once held his love as her own. Hermia and Lysander decide to elope to avoid the consequences of her not marrying who her father chooses for her. Helena and Demetrius, for very different reasons, both follow them into the enchanted woods they must cross to get out of the country.

The second plot centers around a fight between Oberon and Titania, the king and queen of the fairies, involving who gets to keep a young boy. They both use the mischievous spirit Robin Goodfellow, also called Puck, in their schemes against each other.

And thirdly, a group of rough citizens of the town have decided to present a play to be performed at the wedding celebrations and use the forest as their rehearsal hall. As with much of Shakespeare, any citizen more common than a courtier is the object of scorn and worthy of the highest sarcasm, and these rude players are the epitome of Shakespearean commoners.

Different productions of the play focus on different aspects. Often, the focus is the magic and mischief of the fairies. Sometimes it is the romantic comedy of the lovers. Sometime, as in the production by the Powerhouse Theatre, it is the slapstick humor of the band of players trying to get their production in shape to present to the duke. And they are funny.

This play seems to have been written to be performed outdoors, and often is. Doing it outside in the middle of Santa Monica on a platform surrounded by apartment buildings seems an odd choice, however. At the beginning, the traffic noise, sirens, airplanes and people on their balconies talking on their cell phones threatened to overtake the magical forest. However, it is a credit to the production, director and actors that eventually those distractions didn’t matter. What mattered was the raunchy fun on display.

Joshua Green and Melissa Collins played both the duke and his bride and Oberon and Titania. Ms. Collins was especially good as the fairy queen. The four lovers, Emmalinda MacLean, Nathaniel Meek, Blake Anthony and Chase McKenna, were all good and played with the director’s very bawdy interpretation gamely. There was one odd casting problem, however. There is much made in the text about Hermia being shorter than Helena. She even has a bit of a complex about it. And Helena is described at least once as long-legged and once derisively called a “painted maypole”. Ms. Maclean, who played Hermia, is much taller than Ms. McKenna. Besides this odd physical anomaly, they both comported themselves well.

The common players, played by Kyle Cadman, Madeline Harris, Dee Amerio Sudik, Tom Hinman, Corwin Evans and Mike Kindle, most of whom also play Titania’s fairies, were surprisingly agile and versatile, all required to do some amazing acts of slapstick acrobatics, and, at one point, a rock song. Mr. Cadman was especially delightful as Bottom, the player with such an inflated (and unjustified) self-image all the rest bend to his will. Mr. Evans is a real surprise as Snug, the reluctant player who must be a lion and fears frightening the ladies of the court. Without giving anything away, by the end of the evening, you see him in a very, very different light.

Brian Ruppenkamp brings a slightly world-weary, sardonic quality to Puck.

The costumes by Ariel Boroff were good, mostly simply stylized modern dress, and director Jonathan Redding had a lot of fun inserting modern technology and references into the production to greater and lesser degree of success, but it is always fun.

Midsummer Night’s Dream plays Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 7:30 pm through July 31, 2010.

The Powerhouse Theatre is located at 3116 Second Street, Santa Monica, 90404, right on the border of Santa Monica and Venice, one block east of Main between Marine and Rose.

Tickets are free but a reservation is required.

Reservations on-line at www.powerhousetheatre.com or by phone at (800) 595-4849