A Midsummer Night’s Dream Opens in Greenbelt

It’s the time of year when "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" is frequently performed—especially at outdoor Shakespeare festivals—as this fantasy is seen as family-friendly and kid-appropriate.

But when an offstage voice alerted the audience that “what goes on in The Woods stays in The Woods,” followed by a tuxedoed whisky-voiced crooner singing “Viva Las Vegas,” you knew this was not going to be your typical Midsummer. 

But then none of the Laurel-based Rude Mechanicals’ productions are typical. Last Friday's show in the Greenbelt Arts Center was no exception.

This group of accomplished local actors and directors dares to reimagine the Bard and other classics in bold and inventive ways. Fresh from Jaki Demarest’s acclaimed second staging of The Trojan Women at the Capital Fringe Festival, the Rude Mechanicals return to their signature Shakespeare with a twist.

In the program, director Sean Butler credits his inspiration for recasting this classic in Rat Pack–era Las Vegas, to “one J. Peter Langsdorf.” But transplanting this tale of magic, mayhem, and a love triangle in the Nevada desert touches a universal longing to break free and run wild, yet have it all turn out okay in the end.

The multitalented cast seems inspired. Tom McGrath is the Jon Hamm lookalike who plays Oberon (Tom, when the run is over, consider getting a job at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce). The mousy seamstress Helena (Melissa Schick), unleashes her inner vixen at the first opportunity. Erica Smith plays the winsome, gender-bending Puck.

But what would Las Vegas be without Elvis? And Midsummer has quite the delightfully over-the-top Elvis impersonator Bottom (Donald Cook), who delivered bawdy, sexy, rollicking, and at times sweet, entertainment.

The production liberally employed Vegas iconography and archetypes: casinos, mob bosses, and even the Chapel of Love. Hermia (Madelyn Farris) is a showgirl in ostrich feathers and spangly dress, Lysander (Michael J. Dombroski) a croupier, and Demetrius (Eric Cline) a hipster mob errand boy. There's bordello madam Titania (Rebecca Proch), a naughty school girl (Christine Smith), French maid (Brett Hurt), and leather-clad dominatrix (Caitlin Williams) at the Wild Thymes Lounge.

But the Vegas theme went deeper: as the audience was treated to a Vegas nightclub floor show during set changes and the song titles and lyrics—cocktail lounge standards such as “Come Fly with Me,” “Sway,” “Back to Black” and “I Get a Kick Out of You”—provided witty commentary on the action.

In Midsummer, the “course of true love never did run smooth,” as Lysander confides to Hermia, but almost everyone ends up with whom they were meant to be with.

This production runs for two more weekends, until September 3, at GAC, and it would make the perfect date night, group gathering, or girls’ night out activity. You won’t be taking a gamble—this deck is already stacked with a royal flush!