September 2014: A Midsummer Night's Dream at CalShakes

Post date: Sep 27, 2014 10:16:12 PM

Sadly, several people who had planned to come were not able to make it, but a nice group of us met on Sunday afternoon the 21st of September at the lovely California Shakespeare Theater venue. Most of the group came early to share a delicious picnic before heading to our seats for the play. It was especially nice to see Susan and Mimi who traveled over from their new digs in SF to join us (and brought killer peanut butter pie!). Jane joined us for the picnic, but had already seen the play so left us after the picnic. She said she had enjoyed herself when she attended, but had not loved the production. I did not actually chat with others after the show, so what follows is my reaction only. As is typical of CalShakes, the staging was interesting and effective. The wind picked up a bit, and made the set billow about, but we were pretty comfortable up in the seating area. There was quite a bit of interesting dancing/body movement, for the fairies, which I thought was quite effective. They were also rather grubby and a bit scary, which I thought rang true to woodland fae. I felt the acting was a bit uneven, but Puck was especially nicely played. Really, it's a perfect play for an outdoor theater, so for myself, I had a very nice time. Click here to check out a few pictures on the East Bay Smith Club Facebook page.