By William Cowser
Tooele Valley Theatre makes a charming and bold entrance with their first-ever production, William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, presented outdoors in the beautiful Tooele mountains. The 400-year-old comedy is a perfect choice as an opening statement for a theatre company that plans to stay. Written early in his career, Midsummer is one of the Bard’s most bright, youthful, and imaginative works. The fairies, actors, and quarreling lovers central to the play’s plot find a perfect home in the theatre company’s equally fantastic forest stage.
In Midsummer, two sets of young lovers fight for each other’s attention and affection. Everyone seems to be working against them however, including a disapproving parent, competing suitors, and a group of mischievous fairies. Though it is one of Shakespeare’s (and therefore the world’s) most well-known and oft produced plays, I found director Chad Henwood’ssimple and honest presentation of the text to be quite refreshing. Henwood, together with scenic designer Collin Ray and costume designer Brianna Lyman, creates a world that is both modern and timeless. Ray’s set is dominated by two stone tablets painted with Celtic runes and a massive stone platform in the center. The runes work well to take you to a different time and place. The stone set matches the stone seating of the amphitheater which connects the world of the audience to the world of the play. Lyman’s costumes are modern, with the cast sporting shirts, ties, jackets, and contemporary dresses. These design elements perfectly match Henwood’s direction to the actors, who present a light, fun, and understandable version of Shakespeare’s sometimes unapproachable language.
Leading the actors with a booming voice and a dominating presence is actor Henry Ballesteros. Playing the double role of Theseus, Duke of Athens, and Oberon, King of Fairies, Ballesteros carries the double burden of being the backbone of the play’s dramatic tension as well as earning many of the production’s biggest laughs. Oberon finds himself enticed by a love charm into a romance with the donkey-headed actor Nick Bottom, played by Christopher James. The temporary but passionate love between Oberon and Bottom is played by Ballesteros and James with so much honesty, care, and trust in the comedy of the text that you find yourself genuinely rooting for them (and laughing your head off). The pair shares a showstopping pre-intermission dance number that will honestly change your life. James delivers big laughs throughout, going outside the text with welcome quips and ad libs, and busting up the audience with a massive and appropriately overdramatic death-by-lightsaber during the play-within-a-play finale.
Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius—the play’s four lovers—are the beating heart of this production. Lucille Johnson (Hermia) plays the full range of a woman desperately in love turned desperately confused by Lysander’s and Demetrius’s magic-induced antics. Devin Sheridan (Helena) is refreshingly approachable, portraying the typically frantic Helena as motivated by love despite the circumstances. Michael Moya (Lysander) uses his comfort with the language and his expressive physicality to carry the action from the dream-like insanity of love to the dream-induced insanity of the love charm. Nick Ellsworth (Demetrius) goes right with him. Ellsworth is full of energy—a joy to watch. The outdoor space is like a playground for Ellsworth, who truly embodies the youthful vigor of the play.
Henwood thrives in the direction of an ensemble. The stage is often full of actors, and there is always something fun to watch. The fairy ensemble injects the production with pure Shakespearean fantasy. Flower-clad, the fairies sing and dance (with enchanting choreography from Emily Henwood). Song and dance are present in nearly all of Shakespeare’s comedies but are often cut from performance. The ensemble treats both with great respect and levity, allowing for clear, engaging, and deliberate storytelling. The fairy ensemble are led by Cassidy Ellenberger as a poised and graceful Queen Titania and Julianne Ferguson as a speedy, graceful Puck with all the fourth-wall breaks you could ask for. Midsummer also features a troupe of bumbling traveling performers. The actors lean into the meta-comedy of plays-about-plays with self-aware jokes and self-deprecating stereotypes. Maryn Ray sets the cast up to succeed with an equally engaging prop design, using hand lights, lightsabers, and painted signs that the actors pull a lot of energy from.
Yes, I sure did laugh a lot during the two-hour run of this classic comedy. I also, however, found myself shocked at the poignancy of many of the show’s more dramatic moments. There are many jokes in this play, but this production refuses to make light any situation that denies the sacredness of love. Henwood opens on a somber beat, with the court forcing Hermia to marry a man she doesn’t love. Although a comedic highlight, the brief romance shared by Bottom and Oberon is given a level of respect that I found breathtaking. The feeling of the performance is that, however funny the situation, all love is something to be celebrated and admired (even if the affects wear off shortly thereafter).
Tooele Valley Theatre is off to a great start with their run of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The infant theatre company has proven mature enough that even the revered works of the Bard can be presented with ease. I couldn’t help but leave the outdoors space feeling like I was given a great gift. The long drought is over, theatre is back, and Tooele Valley Theatre is ready to give in abundance. I highly recommend you come enjoy an evening of Shakespeare, outdoors and full of joy (as Shakespeare almost certainly intended).
Tooele Valley Theatre presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare.
4 Hood Road, Tooele, UT 84074
June 17–26, 2021, 7:00 PM
Get Tickets: $12.00 adults, $10.00 children (8–12).
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