Kwaku Okyere and Annie Tuma in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh
Theatre Rusticle’s Midsummer Night’s Dream! Oh, readers… this has been a difficult review to write, though not for any of the usual reasons. I want my reviews to be balanced and considered. I try to avoid sensationalistic rhetoric, y’know; yet in this case, folks, it has taken as much restraint as I can muster to not just gush my heart out in all CAPS—so intensely do I love this production!
My deep affection for the play itself goes back some thirty years. I was an adolescent when I first encountered this lyrical text—my first experience of Shakespeare! And my pubescent psyche was quite affected by its lustful, fever dream antics: a moonlit forest overrun with duelling lovers, goofy oddballs rehearsing a ridiculous play full of sexual innuendo, magical fairies stirring up confusion with love potions and bodily transformations. I know it by heart and it never fails to thrill me. Continue Reading