A Midsummer Night's Dream - Reflection

This semester I got to perform in my second mainstage show here at SDSU, A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Peter Larlham. The entire production was set in the 60’s, with the mortals representing more conservative dress, and the fairies with a more of a hippie influence. In addition, much of the production was set to music composed by Thomas Hodges. I found this to be a very appropriate choice, since the play is written in verse anyway, and it really brought out the poetry of the show.

Working on this show was such an experience within itself. I have to say that I truly learned a lot about working in a larger-scale production. All of us were expected to have our lines memorized by the first rehearsal, and we immediately started blocking. Every single rehearsal was very “no-nonsense” in the respect that once it was time for rehearsal to start, it started and didn’t stop until we weren’t called anymore. There wasn’t any time for being late or goofing off, which I really liked. A lot of the time, the blocking changed from rehearsal to rehearsal, but it all came together in the final weeks. This was by far one of my favorite productions I’ve worked on in my theatre career, and I’m really sad to see it end.

In the production, I played Peaseblossom, one of Titania’s fairies. I had a small amount of lines, but I still had to work really hard during rehearsals. I find that sometimes it’s harder to be a character with few lines, because you still have to stay in the scene and pay attention even though you’re not speaking. Sometimes it can be hard to continue to pay attention to what’s going on, especially with Shakespeare, but this production really taught me how to stay within a scene. In addition, I got the opportunity to sing in various numbers and perform dances, which I really enjoyed. I haven’t done a lot of song and dance in a production as of late, and it really helped me remember how to project while doing a lot of movement.

Two actors that I believe went above and beyond were Anthony Simone as Oberon and Gracie Lee Brown as Titania. I had the pleasure of being in rehearsals with these two from the get-go, and they really impressed me. They had nearly all their lines down verbatim for the first rehearsal, and I was really amazed with all the hard work they had already put into this production. In addition, they managed to have very “larger than life” personas that complimented their colorful costumes, rather than letting themselves get lost in them. They took control of their voices and really projected and commanded attention as soon as they walked on stage. They created great characters for themselves, and I really enjoyed their performances.

In addition, I found that Alyson Shepard as Peter Quince was a very noticeable performance. When I first saw the cast list, I was a bit confused at Peter’s choice to cast Alyson as Quince, since I had only seen Quince performed by a man, but when I saw their first rehearsal, I instantly knew why. Alyson was utterly hilarious as Quince, and took on the role of a woman who’s trying to command a bunch of men who aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. She perfectly portrayed her objectives and made it clear that she was trying to take charge, and her performance at the end in the “play within a play” was very comical.

Altogether I found that Midsummer was a very rewarding performance, not only for me as an actor, but also as an observer/ audience member. I was very impressed with all the hard work my piers did, and we all came together to create a beautiful show.