Quintessence, in residence at the Sedgwick Theater in Mount Airy, is staging A Midsummer Night’s Dream and also Antony and Cleopatra. The versatile cast handles both plays in “Reckless Romance Repertory.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is from Shakespeare’s crazy side. Hard to imagine that the Bard who wrote this fun and foolish play also penned Hamlet, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet.
First published in a quarto in 1600, it’s a boisterous tale of romantic farce and antic mayhem. Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is to marry the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. Magic abounds in the absence of logic, and much madcap action overwhelms the stodgy posturing by the powers that be. It’s a lot of fun and a little bit naughty, with two sets of lovers, and male actors in bras and other female regalia. Clouds of fairy dust connive against conventional norms, and alter the minds of young Athenians, caught up in impossible love triangles.
The packed plot unwinds with songs, colorful costumes, interesting lighting, even moving dots. The cast, full of comic action is rowdy, over the top. The audience ate it up. Mack Sennett’s Keystone Cops have nothing on this gang. With rambunctious direction, I’m sure director Alex Burns had fun with this. It takes a village to make a play: composer, cast, designers, choreography and coaches. And Quintessence has them.
[Quintessence Theatre Group at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave] February 27–April 26, 2024; quintessencetheatre.org