What I liked
As a whole, the ensemble was strong. There were stand-out performances from a few of the actors. The actors playing Helena, Puck, Oberon, Egeus, & Nick Bottom all had perfect comedic timing, and it was obvious they knew and had studied the meaning behind all of their lines. I found myself laughing out loud at all of their lines that Shakespeare intended a laugh from.
What I didn't like
There were some actors that seemed to be rushing through their lines, whether this was because they hadn’t taken the time to study the meaning behind them, or because they were trying to rush to keep the show at 60 minutes (it ran 65 minutes). This also gave the impression that the actors had just memorized the lines and didn’t understand what was happening in their scene, and came off as sort of robotic at times. The cast was very large. For such a short show, this was distracting at times, especially when new characters are being introduced, it seemed like a lot for the audience to keep track of for a show that was only running one act in one hour.
My overall impression
A fast-paced, fever-dream telling of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” this production was able to hit all of the story in just over an hour. Using the original language, the show was clear and the story flowed very nicely even though most of the show had to be clipped to get it down to an hour.
