David Foubert, James Francis Egbert, Keith Hale, Darin F. Earl II, Jeffrey Marc Alkins, and EricHoffmann as The Mechanicals. Photo by Avery Brunkus.
So, they went and turned a perfectly good summertime play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, into a wintry play, A Midwinter Night’s Dream. It opened - brrrrrrrrrr - at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, at Drew University, Madison, on December 6th.
This play is a reworking of William Shakespeare’s familiar and quite famous A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
What to expect as the on-stage temperature plunges?
Well, I expected a whole lot of very cold weather. I expected vast and lovely green lawns to be turned into huge mountains of snow. Gorgeous summer ponds would now be dangerous sheets of ice. Lovely hillsides would now be filled with skiiers and (OMG) snowboarders. Girls in shimmering summer dresses would now be shivering in long warm winter coats. Little boys would not be playing baseball, but ice hockey.
And me? Ten-degree temperatures and a snowstorm on top of my head – and really tired arms from lots of snow shoveling.
BRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
But none of those things happened. Not one!
This new winter-is-summer play A Midwinter Night’s Dream, is an absolute theatrical delight – something for everybody, something with a little bit of ice and snow, but something truly wonderful (95% of the lines are the same.)
Emily S. Chang as Hermia, Christian Frost as Demetrius, Isaac Hickox-Young as Lysander, and Fiona Robberson as Helena. Photo by Avery Brunkus.
The idea to transform summer into winter started in December of 2001 when the Shakespeare Theatre was trying to reshape William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream into a winter story.
The director of that production (Joe Discher) wanted to give it a wintry look. The result, sub-freezing and all, pleased directors, actors and audiences alike. Here now, all these years later, and a lot of work later, the play is a brand-new winter wonderland. It seemed so difficult, the theater’s artistic director Bonnie Monte said, and yet in many ways it was so easy.
The plot is pretty simple. We have four sets of lovers. Some are in love with their mates, and some are in love with the mates of the other couples. They spend a lot of time trying to figure out for whom they truly care.
Are you following this?
It gets a bit confusing, especially when a troupe of actors arrives and tries to rehearse plays in the thick and snowy forest as the four couples chase each other through the woods. Who is pursuing who?
Emily S. Chang as Hermia, Christian Frost as Demetrius, Isaac Hickox-Young as Lysander, and Fiona Robberson as Helena. Photo by Avery Brunkus.
In the second act, after much chasing and wooing things get sorted out - in a way.
The show’s actors include Jeffrey Marc Alkins, Emily S. Chang, Darin Earl II, James Egbert, David Foubert, Christian Frost, Keith Hale, Isaac Hickox Young, Eric Hoffmann, Jessica Morris, Fiona Robberson Renee Thornton Jr, and Billie Wyatt as Philostrate (Puck in the Summer version).
The lovers all get their signals mixed up and, in winter, things get a bit, well, “hairy.” Where is a good sled when you need one? Some hot chocolate? Where oh where are the chestnuts roasting on an open fire?
Don’t need any of them.
I hope the theater brings it back winter after winter. It will become a treasure.
The strength of the play is the acting. It is not only superb, but everyone in the cast is supremely gifted. They play to each other and, every moment, play to the audience, too. The actors are not only good with their lines, but their facial contortions. They are an ensemble of extraordinary performers.
The cast of A Midwinter Night’s Dream. Photo by Avery Brunkus
Overall, this is a very funny play, a big dose of very hearty, deep good cheer for the holidays.
Director Brian B. Crowe does a wonderful job with the cast. He understands the complexity of the work and keeps the actors racing about, but racing in a good, understandable way. You can follow the plot as it soars through the sky (full of snow clouds, of course), and in this play with its complications, that is hard to do. He does it as a directorial champion.
I hope this play helps spread cheer in these holidays.
Did I have any criticisms of the show? Oh, yes. Two. It’s a winter story and nobody wore galoshes! And 2 – there is a ferocious ass in the story and I hope he does not charge into the audience and bite anybody, especially me.
Jessica Ires Morris as Titania with the cast of A Midwinter Night’s Dream. Photo by Avery Brunkus.
A Midwinter Night's Dream is presented at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (36 Madison Avenue in Madison, NJ) until December 31, 2023. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.
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