bardolatry

Northwest Classical Theater Company

Directed by Glenn Scofield Williams

It’s hard not to like this company. Like the troupe of amateur players that perform the “woeful” tale of Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Northwest Classical Theater Company (NWCTC) has a “let’s put on a show!” energy and enthusiasm that is beguiling. Fortunately, their brand of comedy is also intentional, which cannot be said of dear Bottom the Weaver and his workaday costars.

NWCTC champions “Content over Concept.” Apropos, their version of the much-beloved and oft-performed Midsummer is conventional in the best sense. You won’t find any unnecessary weirdness here (a friend of mine, who played Mustardseed in the University of Oregon production of Midsummer, wore a Madonna-style cone bra while the magical forest was interpreted as a disco rave party—only in Eugene). Those familiar with the play won’t hit any speed bumps as we follow the “course of true love” among the characters. (Though I did wonder why Mote wore a leather jacket and wielded a baseball bat, and why Peaseblossom wore a string of those tree-shaped air fresheners. Perhaps because Peaseblossom represented “Forest,” much as Snout later represented “Wall”?)

The actors perform in the Shoebox Theatre in SE Portland on a stage roughly the size of Hagrid’s bed—“Shoebox” seems generous when “Matchbox” might suit better. The imagination strains as a tree stump and a few stray twigs and branches have to stand in for the fairy-infested forest. Yet the undeterred cast make the most of it, clearly having fun and unabashedly playing to the audience (hard not to, we’re only about a foot-and-half away!). I was pleased-as-punch to see Chris Porter—so reliably excellent at Tygre’s Heart—appear in duel roles as Theseus and Oberon, a nice bit of double-casting. Much of the cast of the company’s imaginative Macbeth carry-over into this production: Brian Allard and Tom Walton as the macho-posturing Lysander and Demetrius; Allison Anderson as a too-sexy-by-half Hermia, and Racheal Erickson as the scene-stealing Helena. Kudos to Erickson for a fierce and funny performance.

Ultimately, Shakespeare is about the words and the deeply human, multifaceted characters who speak them. Many productions of Midsummer try to overwhelm the audience with Cirque-de-Soleil type silliness and the characters get lost in the spectacle. Good luck trying to do “spectacle” in the Shoebox theatre. The NWCTC experience is refreshing because the company knows what it’s about and sticks to it: energetic interpretations of perennial plays. Puck needn’t worry: these shadows did not offend, and I will happily join the ticket queue come October 26^th when they begin a run of that grim shockfest, Titus Andronicus.

Visit the company’s website at www.nwctc.org.