THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610290132
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: THEATER REVIEW
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: 93 lines
There is spectacle a plenty on the stage of the Magnet School Theatre, and hard working, talented actors attired in costumes that are pretty close to spectacular themselves.
There is broadly funny comedy, and graceful dance. There are goblins and fairies and nobles and laborers and lovers, damsels in distress, funny faced comedians and a handsome, muscular heart throb.
All this production lacks is faith in the author's words. Since the author of ``A Midsummer Night's Dream'' has generally been regarded as a wordsmith of some ability, the lapse is unfortunate.
Visiting director Heidi Rose Robbins has her performers fly through their speeches at lightning speed, as if voicing Shakespeare's lines were some task to get out of the way as soon as possible so that audience would be untroubled by the complexities of the poetry.
Robbins also insists on suiting actions to words with almost obsessive consistency. As soon as a character speaks the word ``run,'' for example, one knows he is about to illustrate the term by running in a circle on the stage. One wishes that someone had done enough research to learn that ``cry you mercy'' means ``thank you'' - ``mercy'' being derived from the French word ``merci'' - and that ``Hold or cut bowstrings'' is not a bit of meaningless, spirit building gibberish but is rather the equivalent of the exhortation ``Fish or cut bait.''
If it weren't for some exemplary performances, and some inspired comic passages, one would suspect that Robbins took a simplistic approach because she didn't realize just how able these students are.
Julie Baber especially distinguishes herself in the role of Helena, one of the four young lovers lost in enchanted woods where amateur actors rehearse and the Fairy King Oberon feuds with his consort, the Fairy Queen Titania.
From her first utterance Baber's performance shows a minutely detailed, thorough understanding of her character. Helena can be sorrowful, loving, pathetic or humorous, but she is always a compellingly interesting and very real person.
Matt Caplan plays Demetius, the youth whom Helena loves but who has turned his affections to another. Caplan brings to his role a repertoire of wry glances and an air of self-assurance. For the most part his performance depends upon his familiar knack for quietly ironic comedy, but his final speech, in which he talks about his renewed love for Helena, is charged with a calm, unshakable sincerity.
Demetrius initially is betrothed to Hermia, who loves and is loved by Lysander. In that latter role Nicholas X. Persons is often a straightman to the others, but his performance is strong throughout and his ``pose down'' scene with Caplan, in which they imitate bodybuilders vying for feminine attention, is just priceless.
Laley R. Lippard has the role of Hermia. Like Lysander, the character is written to be something of a generic young infatuate. Lippard projects charm, grace, innocence and ardor quite believably.
Visiting artist Andrew Heffernan, a professional actor, plays the double role of Oberon and of the mortal King Theseus. Only in his final scenes, as Theseus, are his acting talents really put to use. Then he gets to play someone who is wise, compassionate, good humored and moderately witty.
As Oberon, he has been directed to strut through a limited range of poses. These do show off his physique and visage quite admirably, but the character Shakespeare created is diminished. When Oberon enters waving his arms in a weird combination of magical incantation, Kung Fu, and mosquito shooing, the effect is inadvertently funny.
The family ``rude mechanicals,'' the working men whose amateur production of a mythological skit is one of the subplots, also come into their own later in the play. Again, they are not responsible for lazy research - the ``lime and roughcast'' prop to which the author repeatedly and specifically referred is conspicuous by its absence - but the actors can be credited with briskly drawn, funny characterizations.
The famous Bottom, the weaver who takes over direction of their play and who has earlier turned into a donkey, dominates their scenes, but all of them deserve mention. Bottom is played by Sean Twomey, and the much beleaguered amateur director Quince by Wesley Knight, who also served as assistant director to the whole production. Micah Leamer had the role of young Flute, the simple but willing Snug was played by Mandy R. Stallings, and Starveling the Tailor and Snout the Tinker by Brent Smith and Amy Hall respectively.
Next to the writing, the richly detailed, lovely costumes designed by Jorga Jean may have been the best part of the show. This is no slight to the interesting, multi-leveled set or the lighting, both by Christopher Spiel, nor to the energetic, careful acting by 22 high school students from all over the Tidewater area. Actually, both the strengths and the weaknesses of this production demonstrate the worth of local talent. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: ``A Midsummer Night's Dream,'' by William
WHAT: ``A Midsummer Night's Dream,'' by William Shakespeare
WHO: The Theatre Department of the Governor's School for the Arts
WHEN: 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat. and 2 p.m. Sun. .
WHERE: Magnet School Theatre, 254 Granby St.
TICKETS: 441-2905 by CNB