Reviews of the the Utah shows Hamlet & Midsummer

Renaissance Now Theatre & Film 2023 Season

HAMLET & A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

(scroll down for info on each show)

 

 

 

Ren Now will perform two plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet produced in repertory.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is directed by Laurie Harrop Purser, and Assistant Directed, with Vocal/Text work by Steven Rimke.  This production/adaptation is set in Laurel Canyon in the early 1970’s, in the California Rock music culture scene, as Theseus and Hippolyta kick off the play, set at a music festival, with a battle of the bands style “sing off” competition.  The “mechanicals,” that eventually perform the play within the play, are a band that opens for the stars performing a few numbers 7 minutes before the show starts.

The pairs of lovers experience radically shifting love triangles that provide rollicking good fun, as they all chase off into the woods of the Canyons to face their demons and their dreams as fairies appear and play tricks on the mortals, eventually helping them all to come to their senses.  The play and this adaptation promise great fun, adventurous chase scenes, and accessible Shakespeare. Costume Design by Brooklyn Cordner, Music & Sound Design by Nate Lowry, Lighting, Projections/Set Design Rychard Curtiss. Cast list includes Rick Macy, Amanda Williams, Ryan Hopkins, Desmond Walker, Yulissa Torres, Joshua Johnson, Sydney Olsen, Seven Harrison, Sonja Hugo, Eden Bostrom, Caleb Voss, Joshua Munoz, Charli Purser, Austin Zimmerman, & Preston Ochsenhirt.

Hamlet, playing in repertory with Midsummer,  is an adaptation & shorter cut that includes, predominately, the original text, punctuated with contemporary monologues from Hamlet and Ophelia.  The text adaptation by Kathy Curtiss features contemporary writing designed to give a modern voice to issues and perspectives that relate the classic play, Hamlet, to our time.  While dress borrows from Renaissance costuming, it also provides a modern take with some of the characters, who’s recognizable detail from 21^st century, surprises the audience with the trendy dress of the young characters.  In the original text, these “college-age” youth, including Hamlet ( who is still at College at 30),  struggle with a search for an identity has been hi-jacked by the usurping Claudius.  Young Hamlet’s election to be King in Denmark is overridden by fear-mongering that the King’s brother, Claudius, has created to push the politics of the nation into rushing the election, where he can claim the throne. This atmosphere of panic and political confusion is all too familiar in our time, and the play, as it explores that phenomenon, should resonate for us today.  Directed by Kathy Curtiss, with fight choreography by Matt Carlin, and Adam Argyle, Rebecca Nibley as Costume Designer, and Nate Lowry Music & Sound Design and Technical Director.  Projections & lighting by Rychard Curtiss. The cast includes Austin Zimmerman in the title role, Rick Macy, Rebecca Nibley, Joel Applegate, Eden Bostrom, Joshua Johnson, Seven Harrison, Sonja Hugo, Joshua Munoz, Preston Ochsenhirt, Caleb Voss, Desmond Walker, & Yulissa Torres.

 

 

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