I kicked off my theater season with CalShakes first play of the season, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This was the first run of this year’s solo configuration for CSF for me. It was an enjoyable evening and nice to be getting back to the theater.
The production was very slapsticky. The reviewers and audience seemed to enjoy it more than I did. The staging was interesting as the main feature was a giant storage box which evolved as the play went on to have doors and have the front and sides morph to open things up. But it was fairly plain. The acting was solid. I felt the tone was very uneven. The choice to have the black guy periodically break character and do ’80s angry black man’ shtick seemed uninspired and tired. The mechanicals, which I always find a bit tedious, was even more so — although some of the reviewers loved this part. I enjoyed the evening, and it was a good way to start my season, but I wasn’t thrilled with this play.
165