A magical Dream Midsummer Night’s enchanting spell By Johnette Rodriguez

Many of Shakespeare’s comedies are wonderful summer fare, but none more so than A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as foretold in its title. Though ol’ Will manages to sneak in a few bits of well-measured advice to the lovelorn, it remains a dreamy play. It is, after all, a conspiracy of fairies, who mix up lovers and true love, turn a workman into a donkey, and even enchant the Queen of the Fairies because of a spat with her husband.

For the third year, Ricardo Pitts-Wiley has assembled a cast of performers and crew to present "the Bard on the Beach" at North Kingstown’s Town Beach, and this year the troupe travels to Portsmouth Abbey School for another seaside setting. Last weekend’s show had magic all around it, with gentle waves shushing against the shore behind the stage and heavy-laden clouds thinning and parting to show the full moon.

Each section of the triptych-like stage had two wing-like metal structures looming behind it, with cross-sections like the veins in a leaf, suggestive of the forest in which much of Midsummer’s action takes place. It is here that the four lovers lose themselves, awake to new infatuations (helped along with a powerful herb sprinkled in their eyes) and eventually come round to the proper link-ups . . . er, love relationships.

It is a father’s decree — that fair Hermia (Kathleen Wood) marry Demetrius (Marc Berry) rather than her true love, Lysander (Mauro Canepa in North Kingstown; Jonathan Pitts-Wiley in Portsmouth) — that kicks the play into gear. Lysander and Hermia flee to his aunt’s house, with an unfortunate shortcut through the woods, and the jealous Helena (Heidi Edsall) tells Demetrius of the lovers’ plans, so he pursues them, with Helena close behind.

When the fairy king, Oberon (Tom Oakes as an aging rock star incarnation of Oberon), instructs Puck (Jonathan Jacobs, in a terrific portrayal) to spill love potion into a sleeping Athenian’s eyes and he chooses the wrong one, we end up with a perplexed and irate Hermia, whom both of her former suitors scorn, and an equally perplexed and skeptical Helena, whom both men now adore.

Wood and Edsall are captivating, delivering their lines in such a genuine and natural way that they clearly define their characters: Wood with Hermia’s sniffling, whining desperation; Edsall with Helena’s haughty disdain for both of her new-found lovers. The scene where the two women trade barbs, including Helena’s repeated slap at Hermia about being "small," is hilarious. The male lovers are less successful in taking Shakespeare’s words and making them their own, so that we may see the differences in Lysander’s and Demetrius’s personalities.

The group of six workmen who have their play selected to be performed at the wedding of the Duke is always a humorous sideline of Midsummer, and in this production each of the six hits the mark. F. William Oakes is Bottom the weaver, the best-known of the bunch, because it is he who is transformed into an ass. Their rehearsals and eventual presentation are, as perhaps even Shakespeare intended, the show-stealers.

The six fairies who surround the fairy queen, Titania (Nicole Blakemore), are played by pre-teen and teenaged girls, whose high-pitched titters as they skitter and scurry seem particularly right for the fairies. The musical talents of these fairies, including cornet, flute, and voice, are also well-utilized in their scenes.

Indeed, the music that opens and closes the play, especially the Pitts-Wiley/Robert Schleeter composition, "Sing Me a Night Song," is appropriate to the Shakespearean intent of threading music through his text. The lilting, round-like melody of the latter tune is well-suited to the light and airy summeriness of the play.

However, one suggestion about using a mix of trained and untrained actors, which is part of Pitts-Wiley’s mission with his new Mixed Magic company. The performers must speak slowly and clearly enough that their lines are not lost to the audience. It also feels particularly important to get Shakespeare’s cadences right. It’s fine (and fun) to give the Bard a contemporary flavor, with gestures, mannerisms, costumes, settings, etc. But if the language falls into conversational inflection, which in American English often involves a downhill slide at the end of sentences, audiences simply cannot hear or comprehend what is said. And that doesn’t take into account the poetic feel of the lines.

Overall, the earnest effort of all involved in A Midsummer Night’s Dream wins our hearts, as it certainly did in Shakespeare’s time. And it’s likely that those early productions might have incorporated the same mix of novice and veteran players — though they would have had less trouble with the language.

Please take note: In addition to all-weather gear for outdoor productions, grab some mosquito repellent as well. The bugs are fierce this year.