Midsummer Night's Dream at the Boulevard

After being a tourist in my own town and spending the week in the absolutely-stunningly- gorgeously re-furbished art-deco Ambassador Hotel, (2308 W. Wisconsin Ave.) Stuart and I caught their complementary shuttle to Bay View for The Boulevard Ensemble’s  (2250 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream – “A battle of the sexes in Texas,” as the program described.  The shuttle was late, unfortunately, so we got there just as the first act was opening and had to wander through the actors in the lobby, which also serves as their backstage area, and director Mark Bucher showed us up to what he terms, “the loge” seats – i.e. a couple high-backed stools in front of the lighting/sound booth.  Well, THAT’S why heavy emphasis is placed on asking patrons to arrive at LEAST 15 minutes early for the performance - due to the extremely limited seating space.  But again, that’s fine, because once we settled in and adjusted our ears to the actors’ twangy Southern accents, we really felt like we were part of the stage action ourselves.  That’s probably because, like most Boulevard shows, audience members are fair game and often get serenaded, directly addressed, end up holding props or even receive a complementary lap dance.  And Midsummer Night’s Dream was no exception.  Bottom, played by Al Dobyns of the Boulevard's production of Louisiana Purchase earlier this season, made no bones about crying his eyes out on some poor woman’s lap.  Snug, who was hilariously performed by Craig Halstead, sat in an elevated window-like opening on the side of the stage and dangled his bare feet dangerously close to a few audience members’ faces – yikes!  My friend and former co-actor from a MILLION years ago, Kate Nowicki, did a fab job painting the set, which featured a couple panels that depicted The Red River Valley Restaurant in Athens, TX on one side, and then opened up to simulate a nearby forest.  Another highlight of the production was the interlude music, sung and played by the actors themselves – I always give actors so much credit when they can play their own instruments - wow.  In fact, they even sang throughout the intermissions – how cool is that?!  An interesting choice was casting Robin Goodfellow, or Puck, as a woman – played by Kathryn Ambler.  And it worked somehow – didn’t seem too odd and it was kind of nice to see a woman in control of the hijinx that prevailed instead of the usual Shakespearean female object of affection or pining for her unrequited lover . . . I LOVED Carol Hirschi’s portrayal of Titania, Queen of the Fairies – she was fabulous – like a drunken Demi Moore with a HUGE chip on her shoulder – great.  And her boots were works of art in themselves – yee haw!  So yeah, it was a fun night – didn’t drag on like many Shakespeare comedies seem to – and I really enjoyed watching SOMETHING DIFFERENT – edgy – being done with the old stand-by’s.  What a breath of fresh air in this town – a welcome alternative to the stuffy, same-ol-you-know-what productions that somehow seem to me to have become the standard in the Milwaukee theater scene.  I am definitely looking forward to their upcoming production of Harold Pinter’s “The Birthday Party,” coming upWednesday, April 26, 2006 - Sunday, May 07, 2006.  I love Pinter's work and the play’s starring my long-time Milwaukee Irish Arts co-actor, Kevin Callaghan – yay!  More later.