The
curtain pulls back as Johnny Cash's Ghost
Riders in the Sky welcomes us to Athens.
Front and centre two walking frame-bound Athenians duel with rapiers,
while others dance (slowly), and a crude blue moon is painted on to the back
wall. It becomes apparent very quickly that this Athens' high white walls do
not contain a kingdom. It's a nursing home. At this point you may think you
have it wrong, then a familiar speech pattern crackles through the nursing
home's intercom: ""Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour/ Draws on
apace.." Our lovers are older than Theseus and Hippolyta, Egeus is
Hermia's son rather than father, and the fairies in the forest are no more than
the vivid dream of nursing home residents; this is Gavin Quinn's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The
inversion of characters roles, may seem like a gimmicky, superficial change at
first, but it becomes apparent that this change adds a different texture to the
play. The lovers chasing after each other is no longer the obnoxious folly of
horny teenagers, but is instead a meaningful attempt to rekindle this folly, a
goal only achievable in the absence of authority, controlling children, and
with the liberation that only dreams can bring. This effect is aided by the
interspersed, dreamy deliveries of Shakespeare's sonnets throughout the play, most aptly by Sonnet 27 delivered as the Athenians are on their way to bed and
fairy time is coming: "Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,/The
dear repose for limbs with travel tired;/ But
then begins a journey in my head.." The journey here is a journey to
rejuvenated youth. The lovers are the highlight of the play and this is due in
no small part to the performances of John Kavanagh (Lysander), Barry McGovern
(Demetrius), Gina Moxley (Helena), and Áine Ní Mhuirí (Hermia) whose
transformations from sluggish retirees to warring youths is endlessly
entertaining.
Entertaining is a key descriptor of this production as it's full of
playful cues, such as the painted on moon and sun in the background to simulate
day and night. The lighting is similarly toyed with: Puck taunting the
hand-torch wielding lovers, projectors casting shadows to simulate the woods,
and in one of the play's funniest moments: Peter Quince (played by David
Pearse) stepping out of a spotlight during the delivery of Pyramus &
Thisbe's prologue to whimper. It is in the Rude Mechanics performance that the production truly expresses its
intent: to be irreverently fun. Despite the presence of the solemn sonnets and
more serious moments like Oberyn and Titania's initial confrontation, as well
as the influence of age inversion on the play's themes: It's a lot of fun. This
energetic fun is presented from the opening cacophony to the Mechanics "Burgomask" dance finale,
or in this instance: awkward dancing to
Darude's Sandstorm.
Puck may ask forgiveness if "we shadows have
offended", but the play doesn't care if you are. More power to it.
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