Review: Dow Earns Her Bow As Puck In Wagon Wheel's 'Dream'
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
After doing an amazing job as Grandma Addams in the last Wagon Wheel show, the musical “The Addams Family,” Jennifer Dow debuted her performance as Puck Wednesday night in William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Not only is it evident throughout her full performance as Puck that she’s having fun in the role, but audiences will have a great time watching her on the stage. Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, is the fairy servant to Oberon, King of the Fairies (Danny Burgos). Puck is mischievous and hyper, and the way Dow plays him he’s a bit of a chaos-loving Peter Pan. He’s the reason you put two socks in a washer but only pull one out; or the reason you find an apple pie half eaten just minutes after putting it aside to cool. The last time I saw a performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was in 2003 at the University of Notre Dame. It was a brilliant production, led also by the portrayal of Puck. Though Robin Goodfellow then was played by a tall athletic male, Dow’s gender-bending performance is a testament of how fluid some roles can be. The play may not be about Puck, but he’s essential to the show just like Dow is essential to the Wagon Wheel Center for the Art’s production. She’s perfect in the part. There are several themes found in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” but a basic one I have found in the play is that love makes us do foolish things. Duke of Athens Theseus (Jordan Edwin André, who will be greatly missed next season as he heads to make a big splash in theater in New York) is planning to marry Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta (Elaine Cotter) as the play unfolds. Their discussion is interrupted by Egeus (Mike Yocum), who wants his daughter Hermia (Laura Plyler) to marry Demetrius (Alex Dorf), but she’s in love with Lysander (Angel Lozada). Under the law, Theseus can only give Hermia three options – obey her father, die or become a nun. To avoid all three, Hermia and Lysander make a plan to escape by running away to the woods, and make the mistake of telling their friend Helena (Kira Lace Hawkins). Hoping to gain Demetrius’ favor, Helena tells him of Hermia and Lysander’s plans. Demetrius goes after them, with Helena following him. Helena is a very needy person. In the meantime, a group of amateur actors – mechanicals – are trying to put together a play for the Duke’s wedding reception. The play is the tragedy of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” but Bottom the Weaver (Scott Fuss) keeps trying to get cast in all the parts. The mechanicals decide to meet up later in the forest. In a fourth story going on, Oberon and the Queen of the Fairies, Titania (the ever-captivating Ellen Jenders), are quarreling over a changeling boy. Oberon commands Puck to get a magic flower that will make Titania fall in love with the first being she sees upon waking – and eventually Puck uses the flower on both Lysander and Demetrius because of mistaken identity. It’s when Lysander and Demetrius are under the love spell, fighting for Helena’s attention, that Lozada and Dorf have their best scene. Helena just thinks the two men are playing some sort of cruel joke on her, but they go all out to prove their love to her. They talk about how much they love her, what they would do for her; they shower her with affection; they pose seductively and finally whip open their shirts (in today’s world that might be equivalent to sexting). All the while, Helena is going off on Hermia on their behavior. Until this play, the shows this season at the Wagon Wheel have been musicals and the company has certainly displayed their talent for belting out the showstoppers. Shakespeare gives the actors remaining in Warsaw an opportunity to focus on their acting abilities, and they certainly show they can do that. Just watch Hawkins’ performance as Helena as another great example. Any smart guy knows Hawkins is a stunner to the eyes in person, but her performance as the needy, Demetrius-obsessed, low-confidence Helena is so believeable that audiences understand why Demetrius doesn’t want her. People find confidence attractive and desirable, but Helena has none of that and Hawkins’ acting makes that clear. Helena’s neediness is in Hawkins’ facial expressions, her mannerisms and her tone. She doesn’t just rely on the words in the script, her acting gives the lines life. Then there’s Fuss as the egotistical, self-centered, glory-hog Bottom. (There are so many jokes with that name that I won’t begin to list them here.) Audiences who have been to the last three shows this summer at the Wagon Wheel know how entertaining Fuss was in “Bye Bye Birdie” and “The Addams Family,” and he does just as well with Shakespeare. We all know someone who always wants to be the center of attention – and Fuss plays that part to perfection. Of course, the entire group of mechanicals in the play are prime in this production – George O. Vickers V as Peter Quince, Sean Watkinson as Flute, Keaton Eckhoff as Snout, Asher Dubin as Starveling and Dylan Troost as Snug. They make the play within the play almost more entertaining than everything that came before it (especially the roles of Thisbe and the lion). They’re like the six Stooges and I’m confident audiences will love them. Co-directors Ben Dicke and Andy Robinson employ some “tricks” for this production that I thought added to the overall show. When Titania speaks in a commanding voice, her fairy servants speak with her and her words become darker and more foreboding. Oberon – who quickly reminded me of King Triton from “The Little Mermaid” with a dash of Aquaman – also has servants, Puck and Bloodroot (André again) that move as he moves. Then there’s the background music choices which I enjoyed – Queen, Aerosmith, Poison, Lynyrd Skyyrd. The song “Dream On” by Aerosmith was indeed clever, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen was just cool. The musical selection was like Dicke’s and Robinson’s personal stamp on Shakespeare. Overall, I think the Wagon Wheel could throw in some more Shakespeare in the future. After doing an amazing job on “West Side Story” this summer, why not try the actual “Romeo & Juliet”? It can get serious with a play like “Othello” or “Hamlet,” or keep it lighter with “Much Ado About Nothing.” As long as Wagon Wheel can attract strong, talented actors like André, Hawkins, Fuss and Dow to it, Shakespeare should always be a consideration. My rating (out of four): 3.5.Tickets for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” are on sale now at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts or may be purchased online at wagonwheelcenter.org The cost of admission is $32 for adults, $24 for seniors, $18 for students and $14 for children up to age 12. Call the box office at 574-267-8041. It runs through Aug. 8.
