A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Clio Cast and Crew, Inc Theater

A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Clio Cast and Crew 

By: Marshall Summers

Step into the magic world of Athens in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Clio Cast and Crew.

Set in Athens, this classic William Shakespeare play has several subplots that revolve around relationships and how people relate to one another. 

Theseus, Duke of Athens (Nikolas Conrad) and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazon (Dawn Sabourin) are set to be married in just a few days. Theseus tells Philostrate (Jim Waner) to “stir up the youth to merriment” in honor of the wedding. However, that merriment is short lived because Theseus must sort out some love drama.

Hermia (Marley Anderson) loves Lysander (August Jones), but is being forced to marry Demetrius (Wesley Cook). Helena (Rochelle Dula) is in love with Demetrius, but cannot have him because he is supposed to marry Helena’s best friend, Hermia. Hermia must marry the person chosen for her by her mother (Tammy Beckett-Reese)  and if she refuses, she will die. Theseus presents a solution besides death: become a nun and never marry anyone. Hermia and Lysander run off to the woods to escape and carry out their plan. Unfortunately, Hermia tells Helena the plan and Helena tells Demetrius, who takes off after them. Helena follows Demetrius in hopes of winning his love.

Meanwhile, the Mechanicals (Snug - Emma Gagnon; Starveling - Kathy Wilhite; Snout - Harper Court; and Flute - Tim Maughtew), a theater company of sorts, are rehearsing the play they will perform at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Quince (Becky Wilhite) announces who will play what part. Bottom (Joseph Swords), the overenthusiastic member of the company, insists he must play the main role of Pyramus and the lion at the same time. Quince denies this, telling him he would scare the women so terribly, the whole group would be in danger of hanging. The group goes their separate ways with plans to meet in the forest to rehearse later. 

Then comes the relationship between Oberon (Nikolas Conrad), King of the Fairies, and Titania (Dawn Sabourin), Queen of the Fairies. This couple is estranged and Oberon calls on Puck (Ashleigh Kreiner) and Fairies (Raegan Wray, Gracelyn Burger, Alex Callender, Taylor Kennedy, and Emma Cook) to help him get back at Titania by making her fall in love with an animal. By brushing the flower Love-in-Idleness over the eyelids of a sleeping person, it will cause them to fall in love with whatever living thing the sleeping person’s eyes fall upon first when they wake up. Oberon also observes Helena and Demetrius enter the forest. Helena is desperately trying to win Demetrius’ affection, but he rebuffs her and so Oberon tells Puck to also run the flower over Demetrius’ eyelids. 

As one would expect, this goes awry and impacts more than just Titania. Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius. Lysander wakes up and falls in love with Helena, who thinks he is making fun of her. Titania falls in love with Bottom, one of the Mechanicals, who has had his head turned to a donkey’s head. Demetrius falls in love with Helena and now Lysander and Demetrius must compete for Helena’s attention. Since Puck and Oberon caused the mess, they must clean it up. However, you must attend the show to see how that happens. 

In the final act, we see the wedding and the Mechanicals perform their play. It is so terrible that the audience mistakes it for a comedy.  All is restored and it is suggested that all that just happened, was, perhaps, just a dream.

The set was simple, but beautiful (Adam Iaquinto, set builder). A large tree sits in the middle of the stage with two branches that characters interact with. The background is beautifully painted with trees to look like a forest. A few minor things move around the stage to indicate where the current action is taking place. For example, when in Athens, there are pillars and some benches around. They are removed when the story is taking place in the forest. The lighting (Patrick Hubbard) really helped set the mood for the entire play. It was one of the most beautifully lit plays that I have seen. 

The costuming was also very well done (Kim Norrington, Jennifer Kittell, Dennis Swedorski, Ramona Russell, Laura Friesen). Each of the Athenian Lovers coordinated with their romantic partner. Lysander had a colorful fabric cape-like piece attached to the back of his costume. The same fabric was also worn by Helena and Hermia. Hermia and Demetrius both wore similar blue tunics while Helena and Lysander had  cream/yellow colored tunics. Perhaps the show stopping costumes were those worn by Oberon and Titania.

Penelope Hoolihan did a wonderful job with choreography. At some points during the show, the fairies dance around the stage. They were so graceful and their movements so beautiful. They were absolutely charming.

Ashleigh Kreiner definitely stood out as Puck, which can be a tricky role to pull off. She did an amazing job bringing out the mischievous side of Puck. Nikolas Conrad and Dawn Sabourin both did a phenomenal job as Oberon/Theseus and Titania/Hippolyta respectively. Dawn Sabourin was not easily recognized as Titania. She manages to completely change characters. Nikolas sold the brooding, angry Oberon. The Mechanicals did a great job with the “play within a play” and were hilarious in the planning, practicing, and performance of their play. The Lovers were great as well. Wesley Cook and August Jones were particularly awesome in their struggles for the love of Helena. This was a well cast play. 

For an opening night, this show was pretty amazing. There were a few minor times of dead air where actors fumbled or forgot a line, but overall the play went beautifully. 

Overall is it worth seeing? Absolutely! It is a great production for those fans of Shakespeare. For those new to Shakespeare, it might be a little challenging to understand at first, but soon will be able to follow along. 

This show runs April 25-27 and May 2-4. Friday/Saturday shows are at 7:30 and Sunday shows are at 2:30. Run time is about 2 hours and 30 minutes with an intermission. Tickets are still available. Go to https://www.cliocastandcrew.com/buy-tickets to purchase tickets or call the box office at 810-687-2588. First responder, military, and student discounts available only through the box office.