Shakespeare is the bane of most high school student’s existence. He haunts them in English classes, essays, and annoying assignments. Alexis Manalis, a freshman in the fall play said, “Shakespeare is kind of boring and it’s very confusing too. I’m reading it [Romeo and Juliet] right now in ELA.” Lana Waights, senior at Harrison High School and assistant director of A Midsummer Night’s Dream explained, “Shakespeare doesn’t know grammar. He doesn’t know punctuation. He doesn’t know English, so he’ll write stuff that doesn’t make sense.”
While sometimes Shakespeare can be incredibly dull, uninteresting, and confusing, the comedy, drama, and action in The HHS Playhouse’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream may shock you. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s more comedic shows. It is a very silly and lighthearted play. The basic plot is this: In Athens, a duke is planning his wedding, and in preparation for this wedding, a group of craftsmen or mechanicals are putting on a (not very well performed) play. At the same time as these preparations, lovers are lost in the woods and fall in love with the wrong people due to magic spells cast on them by fairies, and the fairy queen and her husband fight, which causes further chaos and confusion. The whole show is a jumble of love, fights, magic, and misunderstandings.
Lana Waights explains, “There’s never one scene where I’m sitting there bored out of my mind, and I’m someone who gets bored very easily so if I’m not bored yet, you probably won’t be bored. Even if you are, we have Aary (Aaralyn Gravagna) screaming about wanting to be used as a dog. We have me turning into a donkey. We have people falling asleep for long periods of time. We have a fight scene and fight scenes are always fun. We have glow in the dark stuff. We have fairies looking creepy. We have a lot. We have a lot that you don’t normally see and it’s awesome.”
In addition to the actual content of the play, the actors in a show can completely change the experience of an audience member. Reading a play on paper in a classroom setting can be boring. However, seeing it acted out on stage with hand and body movements, facial expressions, and keen vocal inflections can completely change a person’s understanding of the text, making the experience of watching the show quite interesting. Luckily, the actors in the HHS Playhouse are talented and experienced and help to make the text come alive. The show’s director, Ms. Haberli said, “ I think we have a really great cast this year…We have really great actors in it.” Lana Waights agreed with her, saying, “ we genuinely have good actors that know what they’re doing and can change a scene from being mediocre to being absolutely fantastic.”
A Midsummer’s Nights Dream is an exciting comedy, combining that exciting plot with talented actors and special effects, the HHS Playhouse’s show promises to be an interesting and brilliant one. If you are interested in attending, the play will be performed Friday, Nov. 3rd at 6:30 and Saturday, Nov. 4th at 7pm. Additionally, there is a third show Sunday, Nov. 5th at 2pm. Hope to see you there!
