distressedI'm not saying it was a BAD production. The major stylistic choice was to use actors, music and costumes from Vietnam, and a fair percentage of the dialog was in Vietnamese (frequently translated on a reader-board above the stage). This is no worse an artistic concept than "King Lear in Space" or "Rollerdisco Hamlet", really. I rarely get through a Shakespearean play without getting restless, though, usually approaching the 2 ½-hour mark when there's still a bunch of talking to be done, and this was no exception.
I was working up a whole rant about this in my head, but I just don't have the strength. I will say to future directors of "Midsummer," if you're going to have Puck prance, cast a trained prancer! He's got to be so gleefully wound up that he can't HELP but prance about, otherwise it looks like he's thinking "Right, here's the bit where I prance!" and we, The Audience, are thinking "My god, Man, what are you doing? Is that prancing? Ewww!"
