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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Reviewed by Jessica Salans

The Loft Ensemble

Through March 8

In the Loft Ensemble’s Midsummer, you enter from the dark alleyway of a downtown LA corridor into a warm, spacious lobby; techno beats thump feet away from the ticket desk. Young people (20s-30s) hold space in the doorway, in the lobby, and on the stage where a group is grinding and jumping to the music in bright, loud clothing- where clothing is found.

You have to give a hand to anyone who is this enthusiastic to throw on a Bard party; there’s no valid critique of the Ensemble’s energetic escapades. But there is an issue with the execution of the work, with the way the focus on modern-day tapestries and interpretations overwhelms and neglects the story’s heart.

Shakespeare’s Midsummer is broken into three separate groups of players (the Lovers, the Mechanicals and the Fairies) who cross between two worlds. Both the Lovers and the Mechanicals (an itinerant amateur theater company) belong to the opening play’s “ordinary” world (in which the Duke endorses the desire of patriarch Egeus (here, a matriarch) to see his own daughter dead if she’s spurns the suitor he prefers), while the Fairies live in the “special world” of the forest (where there are frequent breakouts into choreographed dances). All three groups end up in the forest, where mischief and mayhem run amuck.

In Loft Ensemble’s production, both worlds look similar. The forest lacks the danger, the excitement of the unknown, and urgency from its trickster, fairy inhabitants. What could/should be a fast-paced comedy here feels as if all the characters have copious amounts of time to amble.

With Shakespeare, the storytelling lies within the language. But here, the Lovers’ take on “hipster” tropes which trump the heart-beat, iambic rhythms. Meanwhile, Fairies’ limber bodies stand in for actual relationships. There is also so much use of seduction as a tactic in all scenes that most of the actions become salacious, so that the cast can’t reach the depth and humanity that the story deserves, and desperately needs.

We live in a culture where news is deemed worthy based on how many “clicks” it receives, its value determined in Twitter talking points. I fear young theater producers will opt for a Shakespeare show that promotes quick jokes, emotional Cliff Notes and languid stakes in place of a more authentic investigation and comprehension. Please, just trust the text and sift through the delicious syntax in order to find the greatest urgency, the most ardent needs of the characters, and the highest stakes possible for these very complex characters.

A saving grace is the Mechanicals: Sarah Claspell, Anthony Lofaso, Kristian Maxwell McGeever and Victor Kamwendoand (Bottom, Flute, Snug, and Quince, respectively) give grounded, entertaining performances, laced with innovation and honesty.

The Loft Ensemble, 929 East Second Street, #105; Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; through March 8. https://www.loftensemble.org/home.html