The Globe

Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: News

Media Credit: photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Public Theater The four main characters from Pittsburgh Public Theater's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," currently playing at the O'Reilly Theater, fight over each other's love interests.

Shakespeare, for many people, evokes memories of high school English class, studying strands of complicated sentences with no obvious meaning. Even the most avid fans of Shakespearean plays do not always consider them particularly funny, but daunting to decipher.

Those who study his large body of work regard Shakespeare's wit as best actualized by the interactions between characters, such as in the twisted plot of enchanted lovers in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which opened at the O'Reilly Theater on Thursday, Jan. 21 and runs through Feb. 21.

"Midsummer" revolves around the romantic entanglements of four main characters: Hermia (Lindsey Kyler), Helena (Beth Wittig), Lysander (Lucas Near-Verbrugghe) and Demetrius (J.T. Arbogast). Lysander and Hermia are in love, but Hermia's father wants her to marry Demetrius, who Hermia loathes but Helena loves. Unfortunately, Demetrius does not share these feelings for Helena and treats her poorly, which only seems to intensify Helena's affection. Because of Egeus' disapproval of their love and the forced marriage of Hermia and Demetrius, Hermia and Lysander plan to run away from Athens and marry in secret, during which they stumble upon a mysterious wood inhabited by fairies and other magical folk. The keeper of the wood, Oberon (David Whalen), has his servant, Puck (Harris Doran), play a trick using a love potion on the travelers. Puck's trick backfires as both Lysander and Demetrius ironically end up falling in love with Helena, much to her disbelief.

Pittsburgh Public Theater's production of "Midsummer," directed by Ted Pappas, is Shakespeare as it was meant to be seen. The O'Reilly's set-up resembles that of a coliseum in Greece, where the story takes place, with the stage positioned on the floor and cathedral seating surrounding it on three sides. Audience members in the front row were inches away from the action as actors used the whole floor and stairways as their stage. Entrances and exits were made from all sides, which engaged the audience in the head-turning action - such as Helena and Demetrius' entrance from the rear and Puck's ascent on a side ladder.

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