Fools for Love

originally published April 16, 2008

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Fickle Flights of Fancy: A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the most frequently staged Shakespearean comedy and for good reason. Shakespeare’s exploration of the inconstancy of love is an accessible, surefire crowd-pleaser that never fails to elicit laughs. UGA Theatre brings a fresh perspective to the classic comedy with the costume design of Ivan Ingermann. Ingermann went under the sea for inspiration for his fairy designs, and the costumes showcase a more mysterious version of the “shadows” than is traditionally conjured. The pieces produce abstract resemblances to oceanic creatures with vibrant colors, interesting materials and eye-catching silhouettes. The production, directed by Kristin Kundert-Gibbs, opens with dramatic sound effects that immediately set the stage for a dream with a slightly nightmarish overtone, as Puck (Jacqueline Carey) delivers a somewhat spooky invitation to the audience to enter into a state of reverie after bounding across the stage with sprightly zest. Norman Ferguson as fairy king Oberon is particularly effective at evoking an ominous air as he delivers his orders to his bouncy sidekick, and Amy Roeder offers up her queenly pronouncements as Titania with fitting nobility. Caught up in the maneuverings of the forest netherworld, the quartet of lovesick Athenians are played with spirited aplomb by Harry Valentine, Jeff Morris, Eleanor Carter and Kelli Harrington, and they seem to relish the opportunity to unleash a healthy dose of physical humor during the show’s comedic climax. Though performances are consistent top-to-bottom in the cast, Bottom and his band of “rude mechanicals” threaten to steal the show with their play-within-a-play performance of Pyramus and Thisbe. One of Shakespeare’s most memorable comic characters, Bottom is a precursor to modern-day buffoons like David Brent in his mix of earnestness and ineptitude, and Brandon Wentz skillfully performs every pratfall and malapropism. Nick Abelein, Jake Young, Jake Cooper and Adam Bloodworth all give noteworthy turns as Bottom’s hapless cohorts. Witness the effects of the frantic imagination that unites lunatics, lovers and poets Apr. 16-19 at 8 p.m. and Apr. 20 at 2:30 in the Fine Arts Theatre in the UGA Fine Arts Building. Admission is $12 for students and $15 for others.

You Could Drive a Person Crazy: Producing Christopher Durang’s plays can be a dicey proposition. His plays’ absurd situations and over-the-top characters can easily veer into cartoonish territory without a deft guiding hand that recognizes the serious concerns that underlie the silliness and understands how to approach his signature style. Steven Carroll gets the balance right as the director for Town and Gown’s production of Durang’s Beyond Therapy. The show involves two Manhattanites, Bruce (Derek Adams) and Prudence (Joanna Eldredge), who meet for a blind date through a personal ad. Right away we can see they’re hopelessly mismatched. He’s a bisexual with a live-in boyfriend, a self-confessed “partial crackpot,” and wears his emotions on his sleeve. She prefers uncomplicated, “strong” men who subscribe to traditional gender roles. The incompatible couple desperately attempts to forge a connection, with Bruce trying to bond over a mutual affection for bran cereal, but the date ends with the pair throwing water on each other’s faces. Further complicating the duo’s search for love are their therapists. Charlotte (Marisa Castengera) counsels Bruce with a unique brand of psychobabble light on psychology and chock full of babble. Afflicted with an extreme short-term memory and always at a loss for words, Charlotte infantilizes her patients, or “porpoises,” in her toy-strewn office and uses a Snoopy doll to channel barks of encouragement to them. Prudence, meanwhile, sees Stuart (John Ginn), a hyper-macho sleaze who hits on Prudence instead of helping her. The densely packed farce rotates (quite literally via a revolving stage) from date night to the therapists’ offices and back again, and campy interludes intersperse the action in a series of lip-synched drag performances. In a play with an abundance of outrageous characters and situations, it would be easy for the actors to fall into the trap of hamming it up. Here, however, the cast shows considerable restraint. The naturalistic performances ground the farce and in so doing make it all the more effective. The production has a strong ensemble that works well together, and they shine the most during the various combinations of one-on-one interplay. Eldredge as Prudence, the straight man in a group of stooges, centers the production. Amongst all the mayhem, she communicates genuine emotion. When the audience sees her begin to unravel, it’s easy to feel her frustration and desperation. Rounding out the cast is Eric Kumsomboone, who brings flamboyant flair when he pops up as Bruce’s boyfriend. Beyond Therapy finishes up its run at Athens Community Theatre Apr. 17-19 at 8 p.m. and Apr. 20 at 2 p.m. Student tickets are $15 and regular admission is $18, though tickets to the Thursday show are $5 for everyone.

Clique-Crossed Lovers: The central characters in the third show lighting up the Athens stage this week, High School Musical, aren’t outrageously silly or lovesick fools in the vein of those that populate A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Beyond Therapy. Instead, they’d be more accurately characterized as dopey cheeseballs. Nothing demonstrates the marketing might of the Disney machine like the phenomenal success of High School Musical. Despite taking the tween nation by storm, as a simple story filled with two-dimensional characters and modestly melodic, lyrically simple pop confections, High School Musical will never join the pantheon of musical theatre masterpieces. It does, however, have the potential to join the ranks of another stable of musicals that though perhaps not as esteemed are cherished nonetheless. Like Xanadu and Grease 2 before it, High School Musical has the makings of a camp classic. It can be oddly engrossing even for those outside of the Disney demographic in a peculiar way. If you don’t think Zac Efron is dreamy and rock out to Hannah Montana, you can still enjoy the show if you approach it with the right sensibility. Though it’s cavity-inducing, could rot your brain, and perhaps make you a little queasy, you might sort of like it. After brushing up on your Shakespeare with Midsummer, you can indulge in some cotton candy. Take along your favorite tween and discover your inner 12-year-old in the process. Oconee Youth Playhouse will undoubtedly bring solid performances and stagecraft to the material. See the squeaky-clean, feel-good fun at the Oconee Civic Center Apr. 18 & 20 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 for kids, $15 for students and seniors, and $18 for everyone else.

Familial Affection: Town and Gown will tackle another kind of love with their Second Stage production of Jack Heifner’s Patio/Porch, a pair of one-act plays set in small-town Texas, directed by and starring Patsy Benson and Kathleen Phipps. Patio deals with the dreams and disappointments of two sisters as one prepares to leave for the city, while a mother and daughter come to terms with a different type of departure in Porch. Performances will be April 25 and 26 at 8 p.m. and April 27 at 2 p.m. at Athens Community Theatre. Tickets are only $5 at the door.

Jennifer Bryant