Monte Vista High School’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was met with enthusiastic applause on Saturday night, thanks to its captivating performances, imaginative set design, and comedy gold.
The production’s set and costumes were essential in bringing the whimsical world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to life. The enchanted forest, where much of the play takes place, was beautifully crafted with vines, mushrooms, and a tree doubling as a bed. The setting created a whimsical ambiance that perfectly captured the essence of the play. With the costumes complementing the background, it felt like the audience was truly taken back to ancient Athens.
Additionally, The hair and makeup department deserve special recognition for their work because the little things did not go unnoticed.. For example when three characters Lysander (Nika Wilczkowiak), Demetrius (Vikram Bhandari), and Titania (Courtney Ayres), fall under a spell from the juice of a flower struck by the arrow of Cupid, they each were given blue markings on their faces, signifying that they were enchanted. This detail helped the audience follow the increasingly absurd love dynamics as Lysander, Demetrius and Titania suddenly began falling in love with the first person they’d see. This caused Demetrius and Lysander to fall for Helena (Jo Campbell) after both being in love with a different woman, Hermia (Megan Zhang), creating tension between Lysander and Demetrius.
“I enjoyed the platonic chemistry on stage between Demetrius and Lysander a lot,” junior Inara Pulliam said. “It felt very real, since I know them in real life, and they’re comfortability with being mean to each other was entertaining to watch.”
It’d be hard for one to disagree with Pulliam’s statement. The two characters fighting over Helena, especially after Lysander’s indifference towards her and Demetrius’s blatant dislike, added to the comedic aspect of the show, lightening the mood of the conflict and producing positive reactions from the audience.
If we’re talking about comedics, it would be inappropriate not to talk about the Mechanicals, a group of actors consisting of characters Quince (Gracie Donnelly), Snug (Ryder Cartago), Flute (Bella Arechaederra), Bottom (Shivam Saxena), Snout (Ames O’Keeffe), and Starvelling (Thea Moran).
Saxena’s performance as the overdramatic Bottom, whose head is magically transformed into that of a donkey by the mischievous Puck(Audi Hylen) was a standout, entertaining from start to finish. Now, with the head of a donkey, Bottom is seen by Titania, married to King of the Fairies, Oberon(Jianna Chang). After being seen by her, Bottom is pampered by the fairies and taken care of in Titania’s home. The scenes in which this takes place always elicited laughter from the audience because of how over the top the acting was which added many much needed dramatics.
The hilarious performance of the Mechanicals during the play-within-a-play at the wedding of Theseus(Clay Montalvo) and Hippolyta(Ella Hamilton) was also a highlight. Cartago’s portrayal of the “frightening” lion Snug was comedic gold, while O’Keeffe’s performance as Snout playing the Wall was a crowd favorite. Saxena’s comedic timing as Bottom, along with Arechaederra’s playful portrayal of Flute, ended the play with a cleverly amusing flair. “Shivam [Saxena] and Bella [Arechaederra] are really good actors,” Junior, Hailey Noll said, “They were super funny to watch and the entire crowd was laughing.”
Overall, everyone in the cast was terrific. You could tell how much work was put into it and how truly professional these actors are from their acting to their enunciation. In the modern day, making Shakespeare exciting can be difficult, but the hard work and passion of this cast and crew made this an unforgettable evening of theater.
