Word: egeus
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...play opens, the Athenian courtiers strut about the stage like so many automatons, suggestive of "a timeless urban environment," as the embarassingly pretentious program notes put it. Hermia and her lover Lysander wish to be married, against the will of Egeus, her father, who wants Hermia to marry Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander decide to leave Athens and be married in the woods outside the city. Helena, a friend of Hermia, learns of her plans and tells Demetrius, knowing he will follow Hermia into the woods where Helena hopes to seduce him. The four flee restrictive-but-orderly Athens...
...Helena are very much the respectively sought-after and frustrated lovers, and vice-versa. Anne B. Clarke as Titania fairly wafts across the stage. Tim Reuben is an appropriately ponderous Theseus, and Jeffrey Rothstein, struggling valiantly with a wrinkled, Bozo-esque bald-cap, nevertheless succeeds as the crabby, meddling Egeus. All five of the Athenian workmen-turned-actors give good performances, but David Anderson as the bellowing, overeager Bottom deserves special notice. It is easy to play this role as pure slapstick. Anderson goes beyond mere egotism and develops Bottom as a buffoon--grabby and self-centered, but well-meaning...