{"id":8094,"date":"2019-07-30T06:39:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T10:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=8094"},"modified":"2019-08-05T15:46:24","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T19:46:24","slug":"a-midsummer-nights-dream-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=8094","title":{"rendered":"A Midsummer Night’s Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If ever a play lent itself to\ncreative interpretation, Shakespeare\u2019s lighthearted classic, A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>, is that play.\nThe Princeton Summer Theater<\/a>\nproduction, which opened July 25 and plays Thursday to Sunday through August 4,\ntakes full advantage of that opportunity to innovate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plot of confused lovers, a\nnight in the forest, and mischievous fairies is so familiar director Maeli\nGoren safely pared it down to run in 75 minutes without intermission. She\u2019s\nadded seats to the sides and rear of the stage so that every member of the\n200-person audience feels they have ringside seats. This compresses the time\nand space available to the cast and magnifies the production\u2019s intensity. You\naren\u2019t watching the performance; you are in<\/em>\nit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the action takes place\nwithin the skeleton of what might be a greenhouse. I especially liked Oberon\nand Titania\u2019s crowns made of twigs, the feather capelets, and a jacket made of\nhundreds of translucent white vinyl gloves that mimicked feathers. Small\nlanterns filled with, naturally, fairy lights looked like they held captured\nfireflies. There\u2019s a little cast-created music, a bit of singing\u2014and this may\nbe a theatrical first\u2014Puck occasionally plays an accordion. There are even\npuppets, which refract the shifting relationships among the lovers in new ways.\nIn other words, there is no shortage of things to watch and delight in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cast comprises current Princeton\nstudents and recent graduates, and their lack of experience with Shakespeare\nand his rhythms is apparent, with the result that some of the speeches are hard\nto follow. But every actor enters the fray with enthusiasm, and the familiarity\nof the story backstops them. Standouts in the eight-member cast include Michael\nRosas as Theseus and Oberon, Maeve Brady as Hyppolyta and Titania, Justin Ramos\nas Lysander, and Allison Spann as Puck. Rosas is notable for his range of\ngestures and Brady for her ability to convey a sense of wonder. Ramos and Spann\ndisplay remarkably entertaining athleticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a tribute to the dedication of\nthe participants that so much effort and attention to detail goes into a show\nthat will run for so few performances. Though \u201cThe course of true love never\ndid run smooth,\u201d this production gets great joy out of the lovers\u2019 journey! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Princeton Summer Theater\nproductions are staged in Hamilton Murray Theater on the university campus,\neasily reached from New York by car or train. Take New Jersey Transit to the\nPrinceton Junction station, then the shuttle train into Princeton. The shuttle\nends a short walk from the theater, which is also walking distance from\nnumerous restaurants.\n\nFor tickets, call the box office at 732-997-0205\nor visit the ticket\noffice online<\/a>.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If ever a play lent itself to creative interpretation, Shakespeare\u2019s lighthearted classic, A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, is that play. The Princeton Summer Theater production, which opened July 25 and plays Thursday to Sunday through August 4, takes full advantage of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A Midsummer Night's Dream - inventive production at Princeton Summer Theater\n","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[272,5,359,394,104,147],"tags":[1587,197],"class_list":["post-8094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedy","category-imagination","category-review","category-romance","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-princeton-summer-theater","tag-shakespeare"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/A-Midsummer-Nights-Dream.jpg?fit=1280%2C690&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-26y","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8096,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8094\/revisions\/8096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}