Theater review: A touch of magic in 'Midsummer Night's Dream' Theater review: A touch of magic in 'Midsummer Night's Dream' (June 05, 2002)

By Bryan Wiggin

Almanac Theater Critic

Led by Artistic Director Bruce W. De Les Dernier, the Burgess Shakespeare Festival continues to thrive. Forced into temporary residence under the stars at Mid-Peninsula High School in east Menlo Park, the players have put together a winning production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

This enchanting tale of star-crossed and criss-crossed lovers, of aristocrats, yokels, and spirits, calls for the management of a large cast and the creation of a magical atmosphere, both of which Dernier does well.

Those aristocratic maidens Hermia and Helena, both done with great spirit by Carolin Haydee Lopez and Kimberly Dawn Wood, are loved, and then not loved, by Demtrius and Lysander, also well done by Fernando J. Paiz and Erik S. Varellmann.

The confusion of their amorous intent is due to the application of magic liquor to the wrong eyes by that mischievous sprite Puck, given an exotic beauty by Edward Taranto Jr. His master, Oberon, King of the Fairies (viriley done by Todd Wright), has his own amorous battles with his Queen, Titania (the elegant Rebecca Stroth-Pickens).

Then there are the "rude mechanicals" who present a little play for the nobility of Athens -- Troy Johnson, James Asea, and Leslie Newport. Director Dernier has this clumsy bunch -- Mark Drumm, James Mantell, Amr Mourad, Allan Loebs, Dean Burgi, and Jann Fratis -- squeeze their story of Pyramus and Thisbe for all it's worth, if not a bit more. But the scene unfailingly brings laughter.

Contributing much to the moods of the play are costumes by Pati Bristow, which range from the earthy to the fabulous. Dernier makes good use of the wide, multi-level stage, and the final tableau, in which Puck bids us goodnight with all the actors assembled around him, is quite beautiful and touching.

Seeing Shakespeare out of doors is the kind of experience his own audiences had. So dress warmly and have the experience yourself.