Prior to this performance, it was safe to assume that the only venue for lip-synching was tacky teen pop concerts. However, the Folger Theatre's rendition of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" proves that boy bands and adolescent groupies are not the only ones using choreographed moves and an obvious song track.
Thanks to director Joe Banno's creative rendition of this classic comedy, lip-synching to Shakespeare is now both acceptable and hysterical.
Not that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is without groupies. Throughout the first two acts, Helena (Stephanie Burden) is basically attached to Demetrius (Tim Getman) while pleading with him to love her. This display of affection culminates in a cry of "I am your spaniel!" accompanied by copious barking, clearly a sure way to get any guy.
For those who have never seen this Shakespeare classic, the play opens in Athens with Hermia (Briel Banks) engaged to Demetrius but in love with Lysander (Marcus Kyd). Meanwhile, Helena is in love with Demetrius, who loves Hermia, and their collective romantic drama is set against the upcoming nuptials of the Duke Theseus (John Lescault) and Amazon queen Hippolyta (Deborah Hazlett). So Hermia and Lysander decide to run away together, Helena tells Demetrius about their plan to win his favor, Demetrius chases them into the forest and Theseus, who has mandated Hermia's death if she doesn't marry Demetrius, receives glares or outrage from formidable Hippolyta. Yes, it is complicated, but the comedy delivered though this confusion makes it worth it.
This production is set in America in the 1930s, a highly appropriate context for the play because of its new-fangled technologies such as talking movies and emerging sexual openness. Moreover, it is an era that modern, college-aged audiences can relate to with its relationship problems, concerns about personal reputation and even just falling asleep during late-night movies. As the reel projector clicks on during the performance and the characters' eyes shut, the midsummer night's dream begins.
The movie portion of the performance is set to include the second story line of King Oberon and Queen Titania (also Lescault and Hazlett), complete with a flurry of scandalous late-night lingerie, alluring fairies, sexual innuendos and mischievous uses of love potions.
The strongest acts of the play occur within this dream-sequence when the fairy jokester Puck (Kate Eastwood Norris) is placed front and center. She tries to manipulate almost everyone and fails at her assignment, getting a little too close to Oberon and ungracefully tripping her way into the audience's heart. Her talents range from prop airplane sound effects - to accompany her Red Baron goggles - and awkward dancing while wearing her leopard-print magic wrap and matching black negligee set.
The lip-synching musical numbers during the dream sequence are also strong. They range in style from bebop and ragtime to ballroom dance and WWF-style smack-downs. One highlight is accompanied by a group of servants-turned-theatrical troupe when they perform a dramatic ode to the laundress that is complimented by the shocking antics of the ever-proper butler as he breaks into a Chaplin-inspired tap sequence.
When the film winds down and reality re-starts, romantic troubles are eventually resolved and the happy couples enjoy some post-wedding entertainment. However, the servant troupe's rendition of "Pyramis and Thisbe" is overshadowed by the unique actors involved in it, who arrive prepared for Halloween wearing basket-turbans, feather duster headpieces and lamp shades.
This rendition of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is another example of the Folger Theatre's willingness to deliver not only traditional Shakespeare but also their courage to perform modernized renditions of his most famous plays that don't take themselves too seriously and continue to enchant today's audiences. Folger continues to lead the charge to make the Bard accessible and amusing for generations to come.
