On Saturday, Sept. 15 at 6 PM, Bare Naked Theatre presented an excellent adaptation of William Shakespeare’s

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

in the Kennedy Center for Theater and the Studio Arts’s emerald amphitheater. In the soft warmth of the pleasant fall evening, the audience congregated in a cluster of picnic blankets and a cacophony of laughter as the comedy unfolded in front of them.

The play began with a sleeping Robin Goodfellow, aka Puck (Maddie Cavalino ’21), in the center of the stage; later the respected Egeus (Jacob Hane ’22) consults with Theseus (William Benthem de Grave ’20) and his bride-to be, Hippolyta (Angelique Archer ’20), on the complicated love affairs between the characters, setting up a series of conflicts that soon unravel. The cast came together to provide a delightfully engaging and humorous production.

The directors — Archer and Laura Boyman ’20 — and cast made the decision to change aspects of the play in order to avoid some of the problematic moments of Shakespeare’s original work. Historically speaking,

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

has some disagreeable features in an otherwise hilarious story about the four lovers, their interchangeability, and Puck’s delights. Moving away from the original play’s instances of racism, themes of rape, and sexist dialogue, the cast came together to present a lovable story with added humor and humanity.

Cavallino commented that the cast wanted to focus on developing the interplay between characters, saying, “We made it [instead] more about the relationship, or the current lack thereof, between Theseus and Oberon and [between] Hippolyta and Titania and how that affects Puck, which I think is a much more realistic plot for today’s audience.”

Throughout the play, themes of romance, meddling, and mayhem ran across the stage and into the audience, creating a unique experience of interactive theater. Rebekah Fowler ’21, playing Helena, offered a remarkable performance that solidified the relationship between actor and audience; at one point, she stormed after Demetrius (Boyman), pausing in her pursuit to make an exasperated remark to the woman sitting next to her in the crowd. Similarly, Benthem de Grave, Cavallino, and other actors maintained this connection throughout their scenes, making this staging of Shakespeare a decidedly interactive experience.

The directors and cast also did a phenomenal job at making the entire audience’s experience resemble that of a dream, which reflects a core theme of the play. Cavallino, as an adorable and devious Puck in blue striped pajamas, took on a child-like and playful persona as Robin Goodfellow. Though Puck often makes mistakes in the story, Cavallino’s portrayal maintained Puck’s characteristic faithfulness and loyalty to King Oberon and his endeavors, furthering the youthful image of the trickster. Blurring the lines between fiction and reality, Cavallino also had engaging scenes with Theseus, Hippolyta, and the fairy royalty.

Benthem De Grave, playing a stern-yet-loving King Oberon, also brought forth some deviousness as a jealous husband playing a prank on his unsuspecting queen. Archer’s Queen Titania was not only magnificent and fierce, but she also acted as a link between fairies and humans with her pursuit of Nick Bottom (Luis Colli ’22), who was one of the most hilarious characters in the entire show. Colli and others portraying the acting troupe did an impeccable job at bringing a much-appreciated humorous aspect into the play.

Shakespeare was renowned for creating plays within his plays, but the cast took this feature to a new comedic level with the play’s energetic atmosphere; for example, Hane’s performance as Snug was lively and hilarious thanks to his various jumps, screams, and facial expressions.

Overall, the cast highlighted and expanded upon the most enjoyable parts of

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

and highlighted their performative strengths in doing so. Fowler and Tina Naston ’20’s portrayals of the desperate and distressed Athenian women complemented the combined forces of the other actors to create an adorable, funny, and well-executed performance.

The cast will perform

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

once more over the upcoming Fallcoming and Family Weekend. The performance date and time will be announced in the near future.