Students have been hard at work practicing for the spring play, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We have assembled a cast of 22 students from grades 7-12, plus our student co-director, Alexandra Mihaly.
A brief plot summary follows (with select cast members mentioned).
Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is getting married, but not everyone is as happy in love as he is. In order that they themselves might be able to marry against the wishes of her father, Hermia and Lysander (Addy Kenyon and Alex Kalpakgian) flee through the forest, pursued by the other members of their love-quadrangle, Helena and Demetrius (Miriam Nelson and David Stark). The forest, however, is a dangerous place, thanks to the quarrels of the Fairy King Oberon and Queen Titania (Matthew Caveney and Ashna Lal).
Oberon, with the help of his henchman Puck (Hannah Brigham), decides to use a magic love-flower to get back at Titania and to help Helena with her unrequited affections on Demetrius. Puck gets confused, however, and accidentally causes both Lysander and Demetrius to fall in love with Helena, leaving poor Hermia alone.
Meanwhile, a group of uncultured craftsmen meet in the forest to practice a most dramatic and ‘tragical’ play which they want to perform at Theseus’s wedding. Puck finds them and turns the head of Nick Bottom (David Kuefler), the most enthusiastic and dramatic of them all, into that of a donkey. Bottom’s friends flee the scene, but he is not entirely deserted, for Queen Titania, with the magic of the love-potion, falls desperately in love with the asinine interloper. Will Oberon and Puck be able to fix the lives of the humans they have meddled with – or do they even want to? After all, as Puck comments, ‘Lord what fools these mortals be!’
Shakespeare’s version of a ‘romantic comedy’, A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains swordfights and catfights, devious plots and mischievous pranks, much comedy and a poorly-acted tragedy, all in five acts. Performances are planned for May 24th and 25th.
If any parents would like to be involved with costumes or materials (or in any other way!), we would love the help. Please contact Taylor FitzGerald at tfitzgerald@mountroyalacademy.com