Bottom (Olivia Long) tries to convince Peter Quince (Andie Kelly) to let him play all the roles as the rustics gather to rehearse their play. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Puck (Elise Ovaska) lets the audience in on the joke. Photo by Lynn Ovaska
By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bjgordon@ladailypost.com
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a play a lot of people have seen. It’s the best known of Shakespeare’s comedies and has been produced many hundred times. The story of two pairs of star-crossed lovers, lost in the woods where fairies hold their revels, is timeless.
One of the great things about the play is that it can be reimagined by every director. The play has been set in different countries and different eras hundreds of times.
The Los Alamos High School Olions chose the 1990s for their version, resulting in clever costumes and truly stunning sets. The woods are a black-light wonderland, half magical and half scary. A big shout out to Sasha Carr, Head of Tech and Lighting. Let’s make that a shout out to all the crew members who make this theater magic possible.
Lovers Hermia (Marina Archuleta) and Lysander (Henry Tholen) are being separated by Hermia’s father who prefers another suitor, Demetrius (Peter Finch), who has jilted his former love, Helena (Annie Xie) to pursue Hermia.
All four lovers end up wandering around the woods at night, prompting Oberon (Zachary Sestric) the fairy king, to mix into what’s already a mess. Oberon sends his henchman, Puck, to accomplish this intervention and even more chaos ensues.
Puck’s pranks and jokes make him everyone’s favorite character. Elise Ovaska is a great Puck. She captures the carefree jokester to a T.
All actors do a great job with the difficult language of 1600 England. They manage to make each of the characters unique and funny. From Duke Theseus/Oberon (Sestric) and his queen Hippolyta/fairy queen Titania (Haven Kuykendall) to the lovers, to the fairies, to the rustic would-be actors, everyone adds to the hilarity. Henry Tholen is especially effective as Lysander.
Also roaming around the woods are a band of villagers who plan to put on a play for the king. They are led by the bombastic Nick Bottom (Olivia Long). The rustics provide many of the laughs in the play and get to have fun with the physical comedy of their roles. Long swaggers as Bottom, but she also makes him seem oddly vulnerable. He’s clearly over his head with Titania who is under a spell that makes the queen dote on the hapless Bottom, who now sports the head of an ass, thanks to Puck. It’s great to see Long’s talent blossom since her role as Fantine in “Les Miserables”.
Of course there’s a happy ending to look forward to.
Director Patrick Webb, assisted by Student Director Rile Rheinheimer, has woven this enterprise into a whole lot of fun.
Even the littlest kid will enjoy the gags and high jinks even if they don’t understand the script. The cast and crew deserve a big audience. Well done.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” continues 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 4 and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 5. All performances are in Duane Smith Auditorium. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults and available now at LAHSOlions.org.
