Unless you’re already well-versed in Shakespearean language, it isn’t uncommon to find yourself appreciating the poetry at a Shakespeare production but not knowing exactly what’s going on in the story.
Will and Company will bring a 45-minute, adapted version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to the Geffen Playhouse Main Stage on Saturday that makes the classic story easily accessible to young and old alike.
One of Shakespeare’s most performed works, “Midsummer” follows the escape of two pairs of young lovers into the forest outside Athens, where Oberon, king of the fairies, plans to secure the obedience of his queen, Titania, by seeking a magic flower whose juice functions like a love potion. Accidents and chance play a hand in shaping the adventures that follow, with no shortage of love, romance and humor.
Puck, the fairy messenger, and Bottom, who is turned into a donkey by Puck for a trick, are also familiar characters even to those who have never seen the play.
“Midsummer” is presented as a part of the Geffen’s “Saturday Scene” family program, which puts on shows on select Saturdays for youth audiences.
However, Debra Pasquerette, education director at the Geffen, said she believes that it is definitely not just for children but is an intergenerational program geared towards adults to enjoy with their children as well.
Named after William Shakespeare, Will and Company is a local, Los Angeles-based theater ensemble that has adapted and produced more than 30 classic literary works for the stage, including non-Shakespearean works such as “Don Quixote” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
Because the adapted version cuts out certain scenes to achieve the shortened length, what happens in those scenes are summed up and told by a narrator in the language of contemporary, everyday speech, according to the show’s director and Will and Company managing director Sam Robinson.
The rest of the play, however, retains the original language of Shakespeare.
According to artistic director Colin Cox, who founded the ensemble more than 20 years ago, Will and Company wants to make theater and literature relevant to today’s audiences and to do so in an engaging way.
“Basically, what we are trying to do is to get to the heart of the story,” Cox said. “And by cutting them down, we work up the narration element in the story, so our object is for the audience to understand the heart of the story that Shakespeare wanted to tell. He tells such great stories and that’s what our adaptation focuses on.”
Just as Shakespeare infused his plays with contemporary references relevant to his time to keep his audiences entertained, the adapted version may also include modern references within the context of the show, according to the show’s director Robinson.
With a small cast of only five actors, each performs multiple roles in a production that Robinson describes as contemporary with a historic flair. Actors are dressed in black but will throw on capes, vests and other accessories to accentuate the characters they portray.
Since Will and Company has participated in “Saturday Scene” at the Geffen many times in the past, audiences may be familiar with the show’s interactive element.
If families arrive early, 10 kids will be picked out at random at about half an hour prior to the show. They will be given a costume, a small part and the opportunity to perform on stage.
Cox said he believes “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is particularly appropriate for young audiences because of the faraway worlds it contains.
“It’s a young world, young lovers trying to escape; it’s a fairy world they’re trying to explore … it’s just a magical world that can capture young people’s imagination,” Cox said. “It’s like “˜what more do you want,’ in a way.”
But it is not exclusive to the young. The Saturday performance will also bring in audiences from a local senior center, according to Robinson. So the production may call for a senior citizen to participate on stage as well.
“What we do is we take a text and make it engaging to people of all ages … we try to emphasize the comedic elements of it,” Robinson said.
Will and Company also strive to make their productions engaging to people from all different cultures and backgrounds, casting regardless of ethnicity to reflect its real-world audience, especially here in Los Angeles.
“We’re not trying to remake an English version of the play,” Cox said. “We’re trying to tell the play in a diverse, multicultural way for a diverse, multicultural audience.”
Also a screenwriter, Cox said what differentiates theater is its direct and immediate audience participation, and the energy created out of that makes theater unique.
“Four hundred years later, we still want to sit and listen to theses stories. That’s what theater to me is about,” Cox said. “It’s about storytelling … we bring the story to you.”