A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes center stage
April 29, 2019
Reciting lines, applying makeup, fixing the lights, testing the sound and running around in a frenzy to make sure everything is in the right place. This will be the scene from May 1-4 as Chantilly drama presents, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the famous Shakespearean comedy published in 1600.
The main storyline revolves around the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and Hippolyta, the Queen of Athens. Another storyline is the conflicting love story focusing on Hermia, a young Athenian woman whose father wishes for her to marry Demetrius, even though her heart is set on another.
“[Hermia] doesn’t like Demetrius, her best friend Helena does,” junior Elise McCue said. “It’s a whole web; it’s not confusing, but just a lot of things going on at once.”
Another plotline is between the fairies, who at times create complications between characters and help situations at others. This includes Titania, a fairy queen, who is married to Oberon, the fairy king. Titania adopts an Indian boy whose mother died while giving birth and raises the boy as her own, but Oberon wants him to become one of his henchmen.
“[Titania] is fighting with Oberon, the king fairy, who wants her Indian boy, and so Oberon puts a spell on [Titania] so when she wakes up, she will fall in love with the first thing she sees, [which is a] guy who turns into a donkey,” junior Molly Marsh said. “You see [Titania] switch from this really powerful, womanly queen to a really ditsy [person] in love with [a] donkey.”
As usual for school plays, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will have two casts that will alternate performances every evening. Both casts have been working for over two months and are excited for the community to see the production. The crew has been rehearsing every day after school from 3 to 6 p.m. and has devoted a significant amount of effort to ensure that the production is the best it can be. Actors have bonded together over the numerous innuendos woven into the script.
“It’s a lot of fun figuring out the physicality and learning the meaning behind the script and being a cast together,” Marsh said.
An interesting feature that makes the play unique is the setting.
“We are setting it in [a] dystopian future, like post-apocalyptic, which hasn’t really been done a lot,” junior Jordan Hundley said. “We are excited for people to see that different side of Shakespeare.”
Those who are part of the play are eager for audience members to see the variety of aspects to it. A significant amount of work goes behind the scenes, like helping with backstage, sound, makeup and costume design.
“I designed the set and it’s post-apocalyptic, so there’s going to be a train car, an actual car and this broken-down building,” Marsh said.
Teenagers read Shakespeare throughout high school, but his plays were intended to be performed on stage.
“Shakespeare can be daunting,” McCue said. “I think people will find that it’s super easy to comprehend; it is going to be one our best shows yet.”
