Julie Taymor's Midsummer Night's Dream

Hanging out with actors, talking about Julie Taymor

Last night we went to see Julie Taymor's Midsummer Night's Dream in Brooklyn.

We went to see a friend Roger Clark, who I'm pretty sure was born to play regal characters, and will for the rest of his thick-beard having life. Good work Roger. 

I expected a lot from the production, since it was so well reviewed, and it is Julie Taymor. 

This is now the 3rd Midsummer performance I've seen out of the 5 Shakespeare shows in 2 months. 

That's a lot of Shakespeare.



https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=RVmCka_DsfE

Although I found a number of enjoyable things about this production, the one from The Titan Theatre Company I saw and wrote about (and saw TWICE) has probably ruined this play for me.

It was that wonderful.

The Julie Taymor production had some cool harnesses and projections, but where was the story?

Sure it was cool to see a puppet donkey head on Bottom, but then any jokes made by him were impossible to appreciate.

Yes, the forest of sticks made me understand that the characters were in the woods, but I wanted to feel the fun of it, not the dread. 

It felt like someone forgot that the show was a comedy. 

Titan Theatre Company's production never let my smile leave my face.

So my question is, what kind of impression do you want to leave your audience with?