THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608090196
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: 64 lines
A cast whose members range from student actors to grizzled veterans is turning out a respectable production of ``A Midsummer Night's Dream'' as this year's Summer Shakes offering.
After a few awkward moments in the introductory material that brackets the beginning of the play, the performances become enjoyably competent. Then, when Bottom the Weaver and his fellow amateur players enter, Jonathan Marten promptly steals the show. It stays in his pocket for most of the evening.
All the young lovers who find themselves lost in a fairy-haunted wood outside Athens have good moments. Aimee Koller, as Hermia, is at her sharpest when she charmingly but chastely rebuffs Lysander in his purportedly innocent attempts to cuddle up for the night.
David Kidd plays Lysander with an understated ardor, and Jim Pitchford gives a clear performance as the somewhat inconstant lover Demetrius.
Anne Morton brings strength and range to her part of Helena, the woman whose now unrequited love for Demetrius leads her to betray the elopement of her friends Lysander and Hermia.
As the Fairy Queen Titania, Lee Ann Douglas also displays quiet competence, but her character seems overshadowed by her King Oberon.
Brad Breckenridge, in that latter role, gives an eye-catchingly strong, well-toned and vibrant performance.
Oberon's mischievious errand boy Puck is played with winsome energy and an appropriately bouyant approach by Kent Collins.
Marten's work as the outrageous ham Bottom finds an interesting dimension for this familiar character. He interprets the ``hard handed'' laborer and would-be star as someone who really is a reasonably talented actor but just doesn't have any taste or restraint.
Bottom becomes a character easily recognizable to anyone who's ever done avocational theater, he's the performer who knows just enough to be dangerous. He's too good to be left out of a cast, too arrogant to be sufferable and too energetic to ignore.
Marten gets as close to a definitive understanding of the character as anyone is apt to see, but he does have some good company.
When Marten and Joe George, as Francis Flute, enact the deaths of Pyramus and Thisby they come close to some inspired slapstick. Al Aymer, Ben Hebner, Michael Buchanan and Jim Edwards form the company of well-meaning tradesman who try, too gamely, to entertain their Duke Theseus and his bride, Hippolyta, at their wedding feast.
Bentley Anderson directed the show and designed the simple earth-toned set.
Credit should be given to some unseen, indispensable stars of ``Midsummer Night's Dream.'' Those are the corporate, municipal, individual and collegiate sponsors, who have enabled this annual Shakespeare Festival to enter its third year of free performances. They deserve a special round of metaphorical applause for their support of the arts in Hampton Roads. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
WHAT'S HAPPENING
What: ``A Midsummer Night's Dream'' by William Shakespeare
Who: Summer Shakes, Shakespeare Festival '96
When and where: 8 p.m. today and Tuesday on the lawn at the
Francis Land House, 3131 Virginia Beach Blvd.; and 8 p.m. Wednesdays
through Fridays through Aug. 23 at Virginia Beach Center for the
Arts, 2200 Parks Ave. In case of rain, all shows will be at the arts
center. For updates, call 425-1154.
Tickets: Free by CNB