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Courtesy of Shakespeare Festival-St. Louis
Gabriela Diaz and Raina Houston, fairies in the production, in rehearsal.
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Courtesy of Shakespeare Festival-St. Louis
Austin Jacobs as Puck making mischief for some of the characters lost in the woods.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream might be the closest that Shakespeare ever got to a madcap comedy. The play is about Hermia and Lysander, two lovers who wish to marry but don’t have approval, so they decide to elope. They meet in the forest where fairy king, Oberon, and his wife, Titania, happen to be feuding. Oberon decides to send his sprite, Puck, to get a flower that will make Titania fall in love with the first person she lays eyes on. It also just so happens that a group of actors are rehearsing a play in that same woods.
All of the story lines meet in unexpected ways throughout the show, which is also littered with sex puns (Shakespearean, so they’ll go right over your kids’ heads), screwball antics, and plenty of music.
Overseeing it all is Rick Dildine, artistic and executive director for Shakespeare Festival St. Louis and director of the play. Capitalizing on the dream aspect of Midsummer, Dildine hasn’t focused on putting the play in a specific time period or place. “What was most important to me was to create an environment where the dynamics of these relationships could play out,” he says.
That involved creating a set that extends out into the audience and is made entirely of doors, which will be used both to charm and confound.
“This isn’t going to be a boring Shakespeare play,” says Dildine. “From the moment we start, it is unexpected.”
One surprise is that two people are playing Puck—identical twins Austin and Ryan Jacobs. When asked how that works, Austin and Ryan demur, not wanting to give anything away. They’re much more forthcoming about how they plan to portray Puck.
“He takes pleasure in causing mischief,” says Austin. “But he’s not malicious. He’s boyish. He’s boisterous. He’s quick and energetic.”
This is the first time the two had the same role in a production, but they’re veterans of the Park. Austin performed at The Muny last summer, and Ryan performed at the Shakespeare Festival.
“What’s really cool about doing Shakespeare outdoors is that it’s much more how I imagine Shakespeare was done originally,” says Ryan. “It’s a communal experience. The audience will have the freedom to react and talk back to us.”
There’s a lot about this production that reminds the actors of how Shakespeare must have originally staged his show.
“Rick [Dildine] embodies the spirit of Shakespeare,” says actress Nancy Anderson, who plays Titania. “He doesn’t make [the play] some lofty, intellectual pursuit. He deeply understands that this is meant for entertainment.”
Midsummer’s script includes song lyrics. Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra and Peter Mark Kendall wrote the original score and original songs for the play. To round out the production, the soundtrack includes music from Bon Iver, Bobby McPherson, and Milk Carton Kids.
“When I set out to do this, I wanted an Americana, folksy, pop sound to the show,” says Dildine. The actors themselves will provide the accompaniment on ukulele, violins, accordion, and guitars.
Anderson, who is a veteran of musical theater (and will be appearing in The Muny’s The Music Man this summer), sees similarities between the Broadway songs that have become a part of the American Songbook and the Shakespeare’s writings. “The text is so musical,” she says. “It has endless layers of interest. Every few years, I come back to songs that I think I know so well, and understand them completely differently. I think Shakespeare has that same magic to it.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be at Forest Park’s Shakespeare’s Glen (6604 Fine Arts Drive, East Side of Art Hill, between the Art Museum and the Zoo) from June 3–June 26, (previews June 1 & 2) daily except Tuesdays. Show starts at are 8 p.m. Green show with family-friendly pre-show entertainment starts at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit sfstl.org or call 314-531-9800.
