Critical Blog Post_5 A MidSummer Night’s Dream

Last week I went to a reading of a MidSummer Night’s Dream at the Bama Theater that was performed by Improbable Fictions, a staged reading series at the University of Alabama that is organized by Nic Helms and Alaina Jobe Pangburn (graduate students at the University of Alabama). The aim of Improbable Fictions is to reproduce and reinterpret Shakespeare’s plays by giving them a more contemporary vibe so that anyone can enjoy them.

A MidSummer Night’s Dream is a comedy that includes love, magic, mischief, and adventure. The play centers around preparation for the wedding of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, the Queen of Amazon. While this is going on, two lovers, Hermia and Lysander wish to be married, but Hermia’s father, Egeus, has another man in mind to marry his daughter-Demetrius. Egeus goes to the Duke of Athens to ask him to uphold the law that requires his daughter marrythe man of his choosing or else be put to death. The Duke gives Hermia another option, to worship the goddess Diana as a nun for the rest of his life. He gives her until sundown the next day to make her decision. As a result, Hermia and Lysander decide to run away to be able to get married and live their lives elsewhere. Before they leave, Hermia tells her bestfriend, Helena, of her plan. Helena, who is in love with Demetrius, informs him of Hermia’s plan. Demetrius chases after Hermia and Helena chases after Demetrius.

While all this is going on, Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, and Oberon, the King of the Fairies, get into an argument in the middle of the forest because Titania refuses to give Oberon the baby that is in her charge so he can use him as a henchman. Oberon wants to punish Titania for her disobedience, and so he requests that Puck, the court jester, to apply a magic potion that is obtained from a flower to Titania’s eyelids while she is sleeping. The potion would make her fall in love with the first thing she sees upon opening her eyes. Puck causes a lot of mischief because he stumbles upon Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena who are all sleeping in the forest, and he applies the juice to the eyelids of Lysander and Demetrius as well. Demetrius and Lysander both see Helena when they first wake up and proceed to chase after her. Hermia chases after Lysander, confused as to why he is suddenly rejecting her. When Oberon sees what happened, he becomes angry with Puck because he has ruined the true love that existed between Lysander and Hermia, and requires that Puck give Lysander the antidote. This resolves the issue. Lysander and Hermia are in love again, and Demetrius now returns Helena’s love for him. The four lovers return to the Duke, who informs Egeus that since Lysander and Hermia both want to marry one another, and Helena and Demetrius wish to marry, then he shall allow it. The play ends with the four lovers getting married and joining the Duke and Dutchess of Athens for their wedding celebration.

The reading I attended at the Bama Theater was quite different from a play. All the performers held their scripts in their hands, and there was no scenery, just a bare stage. I never thought that I could enjoy a reading as much as I did. The reading was raw and powerful. The performers made mistakes, making the reading all the more comical. The performers were brilliant, and they owned their mistakes. I actually thought that their mistakes were intentional.

There are two performances worth mentioning as well as some notable moments. First was Joey Gamble, a University of Alabama student who played Lysander. You could feel his passion while reading, and when he came out on stage using a pink laser as a prop for a sword, my day was made. Another person whose performance was just brilliant was the guy who played Puck (his name escapes me at the moment). The way he was able to bounce around and tumble on stage, while speaking at 90 miles per hour was pretty amazing. It was true talent.  Another notable moment was when Joel Ingram, another UA student who played Francis Flute, walked on stage in a dress. The entire reading was hysterical.

The cast of A MidSummer Night’s Dream took the words from the pages of Shakespeare’s play and brought it to life. I never felt so involved with a story. They even added live music to the show. I could not stop laughing the entire time, and I did not want it to end. I felt inspired to join Improbable Fictions so that I can have a chance to be apart of what I witnessed that night. I honestly wish that the rest of you guys in FA200 could have seen this reading.I was a bit apprehensive about attending a reading, I honestly thought I would be bored, but after attending the reading of A Mid Summer Night’s Dream, I am glad that this course pushed me into attending a reading. It would have been a shame if I had missed it.