Dazzling Dream at WCC
Shawn does Shakespeare
by Christopher Key
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a big fan of both Shawn Fuller and the Whatcom Community College theatre program. The sly Ms. Fuller knows how to milk every last drop of humor from any show she directs and her current production of William (Bill to his friends) Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream demonstrates that she is, indeed, a good friend of Bill’s.
Bill’s plays tend to be categorized as either comedies or tragedies, but Midsummer, along with The Tempest deserve a separate category: fantasy. As a fantasist, The Bard has inspired everyone from Tolkein to Lovecraft and who better to steal from than the master thief himself. Midsummer is the lighter of Bill’s fantasies and offers the determined milkmaid some udderly magnificent opportunities for sheer silliness.
Fuller has an instinctive genius for casting the right people in the right roles and this show is no exception. Most of her actors play dual roles in this production, which is an enormous challenge. The actors rise to the occasion, without exception.
Todd Gibbs, who has a gift for understated performances, manages to bring that same subtlety to this generally over-the-top production as Theseus and Oberon. His paramour, in both his incarnations, is played by the delightful Ned Olmstead, who also knows a thing or two about subtlety.
Midsummer features two of Shakespeare’s consummate fools, Bottom and Puck. John Gonzales gives a definitive performance as Bottom and my assessment is based on having seen quite a few actors in this role. Trevor Van Houten brings his superb gifts for physicality and sheer lunacy to the role of Puck. It’s not easy being green.
Trevor Van Houten as Puck and Todd Gibbs as Oberon plot mischief in the Whatcom Community College production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The enchanting Alyssa Flaherty is blessed with extraordinary eyes and uses them to great effect in the roles of Helena and Snug. Riley Penaluna can channel Pythonesque characters better than anyone I know and uses that gift to great effect as Lysander and Flute.
The multi-talented Nathan Dodge not only plays Egeus and Mustardseed to perfection, but also designed the set, the lighting and composed the music. Ash Henning, whom I have not had the privilege of seeing before, gives an amazing performance as Hermia and Quince and displays a gift for vocalization that is dead-on.
As Demetrius and Snout, Mark Haan is the ultimate dweeb/dork/geek and that is no small achievement in a production wherein all the other participants get to overact. Christina Oldaker demonstrates her innate understanding of faerie in her dual roles of Peaseblossom and Philostrate as does Sarah Summit as Cobweb/Starveling.
Costumes and makeup play a vital role in this production and Lacey Oleson, the Energizer Bunny® of local theatre, deserves enormous credit for both. It’s not often that you hear an audience convulsed by laughter throughout a Shakespeare production, but there are no respites in this one. It is wonderfully comic from start to finish and what better way to forget the troublous economic times than an evening at the theatre.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream plays May 21 – 29 at the Whatcom Community College Black Box Theatre. Curtain time is 7:30. Tickets are $10, $5 for those with a student ID.
Would that all our dreams should be so amusing.
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