It is certainly a play that lends itself to creativity among directors. Robert Lepage's 1992 National Theatre production called for the actors to squirm around in the mud, for instance. A Robin Phillips production in Edmonton presented fairies in leather and chains. In another more successful Phillips production at the Stratford Festival, Maggie Smith played both the fairy queen , Titania, and Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. A 1989 John Caird production in Britain had fairies galloping around in Doc Martens.
Apparently, anything goes. After all, the fairy world opens the door to fantasy and imagination. So when director Peter Cochrane pushes the envelope to bring some variety to the appearance of the woodland spirits in the Ottawa Little Theatre season opener, it is comprehensible, if not always successful. (A fairy wearing earthly, modern eyeglasses is somewhat jarring, for example.)
On the other hand, his concentration on bringing clarity to this Dream of one night of enchantment is a winner. From the first view of Robin Riddihough's bright and open sunlight court, to a quick change to a verdant forest glade, lucidity is the order of the day.
This is a celebration of the complications of love, with assorted threads presented by romantics, immortals and workmen. One way or another, they demonstrate that "the course of true love never did run smooth" - particularly when the fairies feud, upsetting the balance of nature.
Love story No. 1 features Duke Theseus (Sandy Dale) bemoaning the slow passage of time until his marriage to Hippolyta (delivered with dignity and pleasurably crisp diction by Ruth Norfolk). No. 2 centres around a battle of wills between Egeus (Robin Carter) and his daughter Hermia (Robin Guy), who refuses to marry Demetrius (Michael Caspi), the groom her father favours for her.
The tale becomes even more tangled when the Fairy King, Oberon, (Michael Pukay) tries to boost Helena's fortunes and his henchman, Puck, (Terry Duncan) botches the job by sprinkling fairy dust in all the wrong places.
Love may be presented as blind and foolish, but Cochrane and his actors are crystal clear about the meaning of their words and actions. Among the generally effective cast, three stand-outs are Duncan's gleefully mischievous and highly athletic Puck, Michael Kennedy's very effective vocal and physical comedy as Bottom the weaver and Guy's extremely intelligent and feeling portrayal of Hermia.
Occasionally, some of the actors fall short of Cochrane's vision, mumbling or shrieking lines, moving awkwardly or flapping fairy wings/arms to the point of diverting the focus, but most of the time this is a midsummer's night that is just dreamy.