It’s “…in the Park” season again.
The most anticipated show of the grass-sitting season doesn’t open
until mid-July—that’d be (Star) Trek in the Park, with
Atomic Arts’ production of the classic episode “Amok Time.” In the
meantime, the venerable Portland Actors Ensemble, now in their 40th
season, is currently running what is no doubt an earnest and upright
King Lear (see portlandactors.com for locations). And
the newcomers at the Original Practice Shakespeare Fest (Ops Fest)
tackle A Midsommer Nights Dreame, with an approach inspired by
the ways that plays were produced in Shakespeare’s time.
An actor explains the deal before Ops Fest’s performance: Back in
the good old days when theater was a legitimate means of popular
entertainment, new shows ran constantly, leaving little time for
rehearsal; actors didn’t memorize their roles, nor did they receive
copies of the script, but they performed using scrolls on which were
written only their lines and their cues. Ops Fest does their best to
keep alive this seat-of-the-pants spirit—actors don’t find out
until immediately before the show which role they’ll be playing, and
each actor reads their lines from a scroll. A prompter in a referee
costumes sits on the sidelines with a copy of the script, providing
lines when necessary and generally keeping the actors on track.
The result is an unabashedly silly take on A Midsummer Night’s
Dream. The company in effect makes a deal with the audience at the
show’s beginning: The cast, trained actors all, will abandon the scant
dignity their profession permits, as well as the comforts of rehearsal,
memorization, and any modicum of predictability. The audience, in
exchange, will adjust the bar on their expectations of Shakespeare. Ops
Fest’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is meant to be,
first and foremost, entertaining—a fun, silly way of whiling away
a sunny afternoon. One assumes that a reverence for Shakespeare’s
language is somewhere on the list of reasons why Ops Fest is performing
the show in the first place, but coherence is the first thing to go,
cheerfully shoved under the freewheeling bus that is this production.
What remains? Slapstick humor, improvised dance numbers, comedically
flubbed lines, and a good-spirited production that does its best to
keep its audience thoroughly entertained. Approach it in the spirit in
which it’s intended—and pack drinks, snacks, and something comfy
to sit on—and you’re in for a goofily charming afternoon.