"A Midsummer Night's Dream" delightfully playful

A Review by Willow Belden
Queens Chronical


With pajama-clad actors, a cloud-like white set and whimsical sound cues, the Queens Players’ production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” definitely emphasizes the night and the dream aspects of the play.

Their rendition of Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, running at the Secret Theatre through Jan. 3, is crisp, playful and wonderfully imaginative. The acting is sharp, the punch lines are delivered perfectly and the production moves along at an energetic clip.

You’re sure to leave the theater smiling after taking in the tale of frustrated lovers, mischievous fairies, amateur actors and love potions wrongly administered.

Each set of characters — the Athenian elite, the forest fairies and the lay people rehearsing a production of “Pyramus and Thisbe” — wears a distinct style of pajamas, making it easy to distinguish the groups and adding delightful comic effect.
The four principal lovers — Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius — are clad in bright pink and green garb. Oberon and Titania, the fairy king and queen, along with their entourage, shimmer in sleek satin.

The prize for best fashion goes to the troupe of half-witted laypeople, though, or “mechanicals” as they’re called. The amateur thespians sport bright red “onesies” throughout the show, the kind of pajamas you wore when you were 2. Brilliant costume choice.

The mechanicals also put forward some of the best acting in the production. Chris Kateff steals the show as Bottom, the verbose, self-important weaver who plays Pyramus in the play within the play and famously ends up with a donkey’s head. Kateff’s transformation to asshood is a delight to watch.

Andrew Ash, who chews innocently on the sleeve of his onesie as Flute the bellows mender, and Timothy Williams, who gingerly steps into the role of the lion while glumly clutching a teddy bear, are also particularly entertaining.

Three of the four Athenian lovers are aptly portrayed. Angelica Duncan is an adorably pixie-like Hermia. Katie Braden captures the desperately jealous Helena with fitting intensity. And Joe Mullen is a charmer as Lysander.
James Parenti is the weak link, beaming through scenes in which a look of outrage would be more fitting.

Jeni Ahlfeld deserves mention for her portrayal of Puck, the fairy messenger, a role she plays with nymph-like agility and appropriately devious grins.

If the acting and costumes aren’t enough to draw you to “Midsummer,” know that the production also includes a ukulele and armor made of a cardboard apple crate.

All told, it’s an excellent feel-good production and the perfect way to warm up a cold winter evening.

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
When: Select dates through Jan. 3.
Where: The Secret Theatre 44-02 23rd St., L.I.C.
(718) 392-0304
Ticket price: $15