The dance ensemble of Classical Theatre of Harlem’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream executing Dell Howlett’s choreography, with scenic design by Christopher and Justin Swader and projections by Brittany Bland.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, streamlined to 90 minutes and staged outdoors by Classical Theatre of Harlem, is as light and fizzy as a glass of Prosecco. Judging by the wild guffaws and applause on opening night, the zanies who populate this most fanciful of Shakespeare’s comedies (embodied by a top-flight cast of youthful New York actors) kept a steady hold on playgoers’ attention, despite the distraction of sirens punctuating the Bard’s iambic pentameter, helicopters overhead, and heat only slightly below the day’s high of 90 degrees Fahrenheit. At a dramatic moment, an explosion of amateur fireworks just outside the amphitheater added a fortuitous burst of red and orange to the twilit sky, eliciting a gasp of audience amusement.
The story opens with Duke Theseus (Victor Williams), autocrat of Athens, pausing the celebration of his engagement to preside as judge over a domestic dispute. With his bride Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons (Jesmille Darbouze) at his side, Theseus hears the complaint of Egeus (Allen Gilmore) against his daughter Hermia (Ra’mya Latiah Aikens), who is rejecting the groom her father has chosen for her. Hermia declares she won’t “give sovereignty” to the “unwished yoke” of Demetrius (Brandon Carter) because she loves Lysander (Hiram Delgado).
The play-within-the-play: Jaylen D. Eashmond as Bottom the weaver (playing Pyramus), Carson Elrod as Snout the tinker (The Wall), and León Tak as Flute the bellows-maker (Thisbe). Photographs by Richard Termine.
Director Carl Cofield stresses Shakespeare’s humor and underplays what’s brutal in the play. And there’s a lot that’s dark here. Theseus upholds Egeus’s right to determine whom his daughter weds, ruling that, if Hermia persists in resisting Demetrius, she’ll die at the hands of the state or spend the rest of her life as a cloistered nun. Faced with that sentence, Hermia flees the city with Lysander. Stalking them is Demetrius, who aims to bend Hermia to his will. Behind Demetrius comes lovesick Helena (Noah Michal), whom Demetrius previously wooed, won, and then peremptorily rejected.
In a nearby forest, the unwitting fugitives become ensnared in a farcical web concocted by a community of supernatural beings living under the reign of Oberon (also played by Williams). This fairy kingdom is in turmoil because Oberon and his queen, Titania (Darbouze again), are vying for control of a changeling child (Langston Cofield), “stol’n from an Indian king.” As the impish sprite Puck (Mykal Kilgore) explains: although the youngster is Titania’s treasured attendant, “jealous Oberon would have the child / Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild; / But [Titania] withholds the loved boy, / Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy.” The quarrel between the fairy husband and wife is so stormy that “all their elves, for fear, / Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains some of the Bard’s most quoted verse—notably, Lysander’s “Ay me! for aught that ever I could read, / Could ever hear by tale or history, / The course of true love never did run smooth … ”; and Puck’s “Lord, what fools these mortals be.” The narrative is a multi-level depiction of how bumpy the road of romance can be. The Athenian lovers, the fairy royals, and even Pyramus and Thisbe in Shakespeare’s play-within-the-play are plagued with varying degrees of romantic trauma. What’s more, the troubles of the mortals (including a band of workmen preparing that skit about Pyramus and Thisbe for presentation at Theseus’s wedding) are aggravated by the mischief-making of Puck and his fellow sprites.
Happily ever after for the fairy kingdom’s royal family (in bubble): Victor Williams as Oberon, Jesmille Darbouze as Titania, and Langston Cofield as their changeling child.
Director Cofield has moved the action of the play from ancient Greece to New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. The script, condensed to abbreviate the running time, has not been altered to accommodate the Jazz Age setting (a wise decision). Christopher and Justin Swader (scenic design), Mika Eubanks (costumes), Alan C. Edwards (lighting), Brittany Bland (projections), and Dell Howlett (choreography) have created a sensual evocation of Harlem from the 1920s to World War II, with fairies reminiscent of Cotton Club entertainers and members of the Athenian court resembling portraits in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s current Harlem Renaissance exhibition. Frederick Kennedy’s sound/music design features gems of the American songbook, including the Gershwins’ “Fascinating Rhythm,” Nacio Herb Brown’s “You Stepped Out of a Dream,” and Ellington’s “I’m Beginning to See the Light.”
Comedian Russell Peters has been widely advertised as playing Bottom the weaver but, until July 21, the superb actor Jaylen D. Eashmond is bringing inspired hilarity to that role, especially in the scenes when his blowhard character has been transformed to a donkey (at least from the neck up). With free admission, this production is the greatest entertainment bargain of the summer and a generous gift from Classical Theatre of Harlem to canny New Yorkers.
Classical Theatre of Harlem’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs through July 28 at Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Marcus Garvey Park (6316 Mount Morris Park West). Performances are at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and at 9 p.m. on Friday. Admission is free. For reservations and information, visit cthnyc.org.
Playwright: William Shakespeare
Direction: Carl Cofield
Choreography: Dell Howlett
Scenic Design: Christopher and Justin Swader
Costume Design: Mika Eubanks
Lighting Design: Alan C. Edwards
Projection Design: Brittany Bland
Sound Design & Music: Frederick Kennedy
