A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Ten Thousand Things Theater Company, and: Othello by Guthrie Theater (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: A Midsummer Night’s Dreamby Ten Thousand Things Theater Company, and: Othelloby Guthrie Theater Douglas E. Green A Midsummer Night’s DreamPresented by Ten Thousand Things Theater Companyat Open Bookand other venues, Minneapolis, Minnesota. October 10–November 3, 2013. Directed by Michelle Hensley. Music by Peter Vitale. Costumes by Sonya Berlovitz. Sets by Stephen Mohring. Puppets by Irve Dell. Visual Art by Harriet Bart. Production managed by Nancy Waldoch. With Brittany Bradford (Hermia/Snug/Moth), Sun Mee Chomet (Hippolyta/Oberon), Kurt Kwan (Demetrius/Flute/Mustardseed), Elise Langer (Philostrate/Bottom), Gavin Lawrence (Theseus/Titania), Mo Perry (Helena/Snout/Cobweb), Anna Sundberg (Lysander/Quince/Peaseblossom), and Karen Wiese-Thompson (Egeus/Puck). OthelloPresented by the Guthrie Theater on the Wurtele Thrust Stage of the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota. March 8–April 20, 2014. Directed by Marion McClinton. Set by Marjorie Bradley Kellogg. Costumes by Esosa. Lighting by Michael Wangen. Sound by Scott W. Edwards. Dramaturgy by Carla Steen. Voice and Language Consulting by Evamarii Johnson. Movement by Marcela Lorca. Fight direction by Heidi Batz Rogers. Stage managed by Chris A. Code. With Raye Birk (Brabantio), David Anthony Brinkley (Duke), John Catron (Cassio), Sun Mee Chomet (Bianca), Bob Davis (First Senator/ First Gentleman), Nathaniel Fuller (Lodovico), Hugh Kennedy (Messenger), Kurt Kwan (Clown), Peter Macon (Othello), Tracey Maloney (Desdemona), Kris L. Nelson (Roderigo), Peter Thomson (Gratiano/Second Gentleman), Regina Marie Williams (Emilia), and Stephen Yoakam (Iago). Twin Cities Shakespeare runs the gamut from high-style to populist. In the 2013–14 season, two productions exemplified this range: the Guthrie’s Winter 2014 production of Othelloand last fall’s A Midsummer Night’s Dreamby Ten Thousand Things. The Guthrie Othellowas solid and effective: accessible and lively enough to engage the audience emotionally, but sufficiently traditional to meet its middle- and upper-class patrons’ expectations of Shakespeare. By contrast, Ten Thousand Things, which develops free on-site performances for prisons and various community organizations as well as ticketed performances to raise money from paying patrons, played up Dream’s topsy-turvy world by cross-dressing actors and, as always, cutting the play down to two hours (including the intermission) to meet the needs of its primarily non-theatergoing, often first-time audiences. In their different ways, both companies tailored their work for their distinct constituencies. Lest I seem to suggest that the Othellowas stodgy, I should note that the Guthrie called in Marion McClinton, the innovative director of Penumbra Theater who first staged August Wilson’s early plays. Though the mode was basically high-style and traditional, McClinton took some bold and effective steps in casting. His production used the Guthrie’s Wurtele Thrust Stage in a manner reminiscent of the single set used in Stuart Burge’s 1965 Othello, the filmed version of John Dexter’s National Theatre production with Olivier in the title role. Imagine that set’s spaciousness and evocation of Gothic architecture coupled with a monumental stone backdrop into which arched windows and doorways have been cut (Fig. 4). Then, add a slightly lower platform downstage, with a low stone wall between the higher and the lower, which served as the bedroom in the final scene. Perhaps the parallels were coincidental, but if Olivier’s production represented the final throes of the blackface tradition, McClinton’s 21 st-century Othellooffered its own reconsideration of race in the play. Indeed, this was for me the rare production in which Iago did not steal the show. Stephen Yoakam’s hyperactive villain—his hands shook whenever he was machinating—was engaging but traditional. Tracey Maloney’s Desdemona and John Catron’s Cassio, too, were affecting but not particularly memorable—unfortunate in the former case, where a stronger presence might have made this a superior rather than merely a well-crafted production. But Peter Macon’s Othello and Regina Marie Williams’s Emilia were striking creations, both played by forceful African-American actors. It is hard to imagine, especially given that Bianca was played by the Asian-American Sun Mee Chomet, who had earlier [End Page 498]doubled as Oberon and Hippolyta at Ten Thousand Things, that Mc-Clinton was not conscious of the...