Gareth Finnigan, Ari Crooks, Kimberly Van Vo (front row) Tom Beattie, Fabiana Mercurio, Daytoni Raye, Josh Welsh (back row) in 1920’s Walking Around In A Dream | Photo by Declan Meagher
Presented by Unspoken Theatre
I have a deep history with and am inordinately fond A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s my favourite Shakespeare comedy, ever since adolescence—where it was my introduction to the Bard! I will pretty much always want to see it or adjacent theatre works. And I’ll likely be in a generous mood! As luck would have it, a jazz-age musical adaptation is at this summer’s Fringe. 1920’s Walking Around in a Dream has a good many flaws, but it’s also clever and charming enough to win me over despite some weak execution.
Set in Prohibition era Chicago, the story unfolds in a world of flappers, gangsters and prize fighters. One of the strengths of this production is Nina Kaye’s period costumes, which have a consistently evocative monotone palette with some well-placed splashes of bright red. Adhering to the main storyline, a father attempts to force his daughter into a marriage of his choice, but she and her preferred lover (and two others) steal off to the woods to make their own fate elsewhere. With a love potion thrown into the works, romantic confusion abounds and hilarity ensues as our foursome flirt, chastise and duke it out.
And there are plenty of very stagey, very satisfying punches in this version!
Natalie Kaye’s script has lovely style. Though not in verse, there is surprising lyricism in the 1920s’ slang that she milks for all its worth—to great effect. Without overdoing it, she’s also worked some phrases from the source into the dialogue. There are a handful of musical numbers from the likes of Cole Porter and Fats Waller. The primary issue with these songs is that the lyrics are often hard to make out because the actors, I’m pretty sure, are not mic’d.
Director Declan Meagher has blocked this out nicely enough to be stylish and energetic. Without being too demanding, his choreography evoke the period while feeling lively and engaging. The execution, though, can be a bit awkward and the numbers don’t quite reach their full potential.
The acting ranges from clumsy to serviceable yet the overall impression is endearing. If you know Dream, it’s pretty obvious who these characters counterparts are. Gareth Finnigan as Andy delivers great goofball persona for this screwball scenario. Ari Crooks’ Helen has some fine comedic moments. I was especially won over by Daytoni Raye’s Dimitry, with his rich and textured charisma. Kimberly Van Vo’s Hermie is, I think, my favourite overall. She’s fierce and funny here and hits pretty much every breezy, low-stakes emotive note head on. Tom Beattie (Eggs), Fabiana Mercurio (Hips) and Josh Welsh (Thomas Theseus) round this ensemble out.
Though I generally like this adaptation, some muddled narrative elements weaken the revised story Kaye is trying to tell. There are no faeries, so the love potion here is just really strong hooch, which is fine I guess, but how it wound up in their flasks is unclear. Some of the motivational dynamics between the lovers are switched up a bit, which is refreshing, but it did make the resolution from their big quarrel a bit confusing.
For those who love Dream as much as I do, there are no mechanicals here and they are missed, but I understand it just wouldn’t have made sense to include them in this hour long scenario.
