Bare Bones Shakespeare has escaped my radar, but last Friday night I remedied that and took my buddy to see A Midwinter Night’s Dream. What hits you first is the utter absence of scenery. Not a chair. Not a table. Not a ladder. Not a painted wooden cube. The actors all wear black. It’s baffling, yet intriguing. And then the curtain speech,a kind of backstory/manifesto. Simplicity is their calling card.Perfection their aspiration. Preparation their mandate.
And then the enchantment begins. Shakespeare’s A Midwinter Night’s Dream (seasonal title change) intersects three different plots: 1. two women + two men = muddled and misguided romance. 2. The Fairy King’s moonstruck by Fairy Queen, but she won’t give him the time of Day. 3. Jilted Fairy King sends mischievous Puck to wreak havoc. Among Shakespeare’s comedies,Night’s Dream might be the most charismatic, fanciful and playful. Crowded with capricious sprites, nymphs, minor deities of air, mountain, water and woods, it dallies and meddles in the affairs of the privileged, blue collar and supernatural.
A group of merchants(think Chamber of Commerce) stage a humble yet spirited production of Pyramus and Thisbe. Puck (ever the reckless prankster) turns Bottom the Weaver into a donkey. Then, he casts a spell, infatuating the Fairy Queen with Bottom the Donkey. [Call Dr. Ruth!] The rest(and there is much, much more) considers the role of destiny,happenstance and intensity in that miraculous insanity “…we talk about, when we talk about love.” Obsession gives way to whimsical, other-worldly interference, resentment yields to cherishing, authority is defeated by youthful defiance, and the sanctity of true romance is turned on its head. Consistent with the light, freewheeling premise suggested by its name, Night’s Dream juxtaposes the supposedly serious nature of sexual attachment with the chaos of actual experience. There may be a healthy dose of skepticism behind Shakespeare’s take on the nature of adoration, but also (let’s be fair) a reality check on a feeling that’s often 90 % intoxication.
The delightful secret of Bare Bones is their dedicated, intuitive approach to the script. They do not recite, but speak their lines (to quote the legendary Pauline Kael)as if they’ve “…spoken that way, all their lives.” What they may “lack” in production values, is eclipsed by their energy,showmanship, ingenuity and panache. Their performance style is relaxed, focused, good-natured and wildly entertaining. Imagine if the most gifted actors decided to make a play happen, with a few props,plainclothes and gobs of moxie? What a joy to feel the essential core of Shakespeare’s vision come through by sheer force of will and theatrical mastery. Bare Bones delivers and slyly puts the bounce back in our weary steps.
Bare Bones Shakespeare and Rover DramaWerks presents A Midwinter’s Night Dream playing December6th-22nd, 2018. 221 West Parker Road, Suite 580, Plano, Texas 75023.(972) 849-0358. (469)701-3228. barebonesshakespeare.com.