Steve Alloway, Coralie Bastiaens, Laura Fodera, Rosalie Alspach and Mike Targus in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre. (Photo by Brendan Slezak)
Steve Alloway, Coralie Bastiaens, Laura Fodera, Rosalie Alspach and Mike Targus in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre. (Photo by Brendan Slezak)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream 

Reviewed by Emily Hawkins
Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group
Through September 28 

A nondescript, unassuming storefront in North Hollywood, advertising an upcoming production of Urban Death Tour of Terror seems a suspicious venue for the Shakespearean classic, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s a tale that encapsulates fairies, a company of actors and misbegotten love triangles — so you’d think an extravagant set would be employed to aid in the storytelling.

At Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre, however, the play is set in an empty black box theater, with the ensemble effectively using their bodies to frame the scenes. The choreographed movements, while somewhat interesting, pull focus away from the text and plot. Although condensed into a tight 60-minute performance, some moments nonetheless seem to drag on as the actors busily weave under and around each other’s limbs while simultaneously trying to deliver important bits of dialogue. This complex ensemble work does not aid in the storytelling. And the distracting sound — drumbeats and elevator-esque piano music playing at random intervals, along with sporadic light changes — also misses the mark.

The predominantly female cast is, overall, charming, with Rosalie Alspach easily transforming from a mischievous Puck to the enthusiastic Snug. Other standouts are Laura Fodera as the bigheaded Nick Bottom and Samantha Gordon as a passionately defiant Hermia. Incorporating a puppet into the ensemble of players seems out of place from the start; when the puppet pulls out its own puppet, the device becomes stylistically incoherent.

In keeping with the company’s classic aesthetic of a minimalist set and costume design, this Zombie Joe production leaves much to the imagination, allowing audiences to be swept up in the storytelling. A non–theater goer might be put-off by their simple designs and complex choreography, but if audiences enter with open minds, the floral face painted company can be engaging.

 

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre, 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; through Sep. 28. (818) 202-4120 or ZombieJoes.Tix.com. Running time: one hour with no intermission.