In the heart of Bixby Knolls, live theatre is back. The Long Beach Shakespeare Company (LBSC) is the first Long Beach venue to offer a live staged show since the pandemic darkened theatres more than a year ago. With vibrant costumes and a vivacious cast, LBSC’s production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”—continuing through this Sunday, Aug. 29—is the perfect way to experience live local theatre again.
Though shorter than some Shakespeare plays, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” can pack a rollicking punch. The LBSC cast—directed by Brando Cutts and arrayed in colorful costumes—hold nothing back in delivering the fun tale of magical fairies orchestrating love for their own amusement.
Most notable among these magical beings is Puck, played by the talented Maroon Stranger. Though Stranger has performed with equal verve in previous LBSC productions, here she seems to channel her entire being into the mischievous sprite—bouncing around the stage, giggling with glee, delighting in observing the romantic antics of humans who can’t see her.
Stranger’s strong acapella singing, seated on the edge of the stage as the audience comes in, sets the lyrical mood of the play. She also sings a couple of other mood-altering pieces during the performance, including a more modern Irish number on love and heartbreak.
Olivia Ostlund, who plays the fairy Peaseblossom, also vocalizes delightfully and acts playfully in her role attending to Titania, queen of the fairies. As performed by Summer Blake, Titania is regally delicate yet sensual. Her counterpart, King Oberon is similarly well-played by Cort Huckabone—blustery but sprinkled with just the right amount of fairy dust.
On the human side of the story, Amy Paloma Welch is warmly natural as Hermia, who adores Lysander (Capone Xavier Walker) though she is pursued by Demetrius (Garret Martinez). And Emma Geleynse is adorably relatable as Helena, who pines for Demetrius though he doesn’t even notice her. Watch what happens when the fairies have a little fun mixing up the romantic dynamics among the four lovers.
Added to the mix is a troupe of four actors who want to perform a tragicomic play, “Pyramus and Thisbe,” at the royal wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta (also played by Huckabone and Blake). Kevin McGrath as Peter Quince and Ken Knight as Bottom are excellent as two of the actors, especially Knight when he is magically given the head of a donkey and doted on by a bewitched Titania.
At one point, you may notice that both you and the actors are the audience of a play within a play, which may make your head spin about the nature of theatre and how playwrights are like fairies puppeteering the hearts and minds of their characters. The fairies’ psychedelic costumes (Dana Leach, Chris Campbell-Jay and Cathy Crane) and iridescent makeup—not to mention their fabulous singing—only add to the mind-bending moment.
But then, of course, you snap out of it and revel in the experience of being back in a theatre, even LBSC’s cozy Helen Borgers Theatre, in front of an exuberant cast and crew seemingly as happy to be back as you are.
With pandemic concerns still lingering, LBSC has taken pains to disinfect surfaces, circulate air with fans and air-conditioning, enforce audience mask-wearing, and disallow congregation in the lobby. But if you are still understandably squeamish about entering a theatre, you can view the play as a streaming production beginning Sept. 3. If you are ready to return to live theatre, though, you can do no better than LBSC’s engaging “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”—but only through this weekend.
LBSC’s live performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” continues at the Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic Ave., through Aug. 29, with shows Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $23 for adults and $13 for students and can be purchased at LBShakespeare.org. A recording of the show will be available to stream from Sept. 3 to 26 with tickets available for purchase beginning Friday, Sept. 3 at LBShakespeare.org.
