Shakespeare at the New Wyly Theater

By Laura Noble
lnoble@smu.edu

Old English meets Billboard’s Top 20 in the Dallas Theater Center’s neon, new-age production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by the company’s visionary Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty.

This playful, romantic-comedy-classic marks the inaugural production at the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s shiny new Dee and Charles Wyly Theater.

Renown architects Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus designed the innovative double inverted cube theater whose halls can transform into various configurations, adapting to the artists.

Taking place in the Potter Rose Performance Hall, this show maintains a very intimate feeling despite the theater’s larger than life hype.

No section of the 550-seat performance hall is off limits to the actors who weave in and out of the audience as the witty banter and modern music interjections propel the production forward.

From stage to costume, a post-80’s pop rock motif lights up both the minimalistic set and bright, spandex costumes.

During intermission, the audience is even invited to scribble on the moveable chalkboard walls, creating a graffiti backdrop for the second half.

Not since Baz Luhrman’s cinematic interpretation of Romeo + Juliet has Shakespeare been so cool.

The manic bursts into chart topping songs like Owl City’s “Fireflies” and Keri Hilson’s “Knock You Down” alongside the modern costume and set designs are not the only pop culture references making the performance hip and current.

The acting and mostly comedic delivery of dialogue also works to create an amazing sense of relevance and proves that themes like love and sayings like “the thrill of the chase” were as significant in Shakespeare’s day as they are today.

Five SMU Meadows School of the Arts students help to compose the twenty-member cast.

Three of those five even hold top billing roles as the tormented young lovers Hermia (Rukhmani Desai), Demetrius (Matt Tallman) and Helena (Abbey Siegworth).

The most show stealing performance though is tied between veteran company actors Cedric Neal for his loveable portrayal of the elf Puck and Chablee Ferguson for his slapstick, comedic interpretation of the daft amateur actor Nick Bottom.

By the end, all of the characters do an exceptional job translating Shakepeare’s prose to what begins to sound like a normal dialect of today through their physical expressions and spot on timing.

As the show comes to a triumphant bubble-machine close, the stage walls open and the larger permutation of the theater is opened for a cast and audience dance party.

The floor to ceiling windows encasing the hall are also revealed as the blackout shades lift to unveil a 360-degree view of Dallas as the cast congo-lines in and out of doors trailing invigorated audience members behind them.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is at the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s Wyly Theater. Tickets begin at $15. For more information call 214.522.8499 or dallastheatercenter.org.