{"id":37773,"date":"2026-08-01T19:10:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T02:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/?p=37773"},"modified":"2026-08-03T15:50:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T22:50:05","slug":"a-midsummer-nights-dream-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/2026\/08\/a-midsummer-nights-dream-4\/","title":{"rendered":"A Midsummer Night’s Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

Play (1596)
\nby William Shakespeare
\nDirected by Steven Maler
\nCommonwealth Shakespeare Company<\/a>
\nBoston Common
\nJuly 22 – August 9, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scenic Designer: Amy Rubin; Sound Designer: Ted Kearnan; Associate Director: Victoria Townsend; Choreographer: John Lam; Co-Costume Designer: Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Co-Costume Designer: Brooke Stanton; Lighting Designer: Maximo Grano De Oro; Composer and Music Director: David Reiffel; Properties Designer: Lauren Corcuera; Intimacy Choreographer: Lauren A. Cook; Fight Consultant: Jesse Hinson; Text Coach: Bryn Boice; Production Stage Manager: Elizabeth Yvette Ramirez<\/strong><\/p>\n

With De\u2019Lon Grant (Theseus\/Oberon), Nora Eschenheimer (Hippolyta\/Titania), Nick Cearley (Philostrate\/Puck), Paul Melendy (Nick Bottom), Karen MacDonald (Petra Quince), John Kuntz (Tom Snout), Michael Broadhurst (Francis Flute), Meghan Carey (Hermia), Annika Burley (Helena), Jaime Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez (Lysander), Jack Greenberg (Demetrius), Alex Leondedis (Snug), Brooks Reeves (Egeus\/Starveling), Bella Grace Harris (Fairy), Dani Grace Nissen (Peaseblossom), Nicolas Bolton (Mustardseed), Evan Danilyw (Moth), Alexandra White (Cobweb)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/a>
Jack Greenberg as Demetrius
Annika Burley as Helena
Jaime Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez as Lysander
in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Photo: Nile Scott Studios
Courtesy of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A colorful, exuberant and nicely acted production of the great Shakespeare comedy about lovers who get their wires crossed by some tricky fairies but eventually land in the right place.<\/div>\n

It is fictional ancient Athens and Lysander (Jaime Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez) and Hermia (Meghan Carey) are in love, but Hermia’s father, Egeus (Brooks Reeves), will have none of it. He wants Hermia to wed Demetrius (Jack Greenberg), who is not particularly one way or the other about Hermia but willing to go along. But, Helena (Annika Burley) has a strong thing for Demetrius, and won’t give up even though he doesn’t pay her any attention. Theseus (De’Lon Grant), the king, issues an edict that either Hermia wed Demetrius or suffer the consequence of banishment, confinement in a nunnery (an interesting option for ancient Athens) or death. None of those options seem appealing enough to Hermia, so she proposes to Lysander that they elope into the forest. <\/p>\n

Once there, they are happened upon by Oberon (De’Lon Grant) and his assistant Puck (Nick Cearley) and a bunch of fairies who do all sorts of mischief. Demetrius and Helena have followed along, so they become part of the action, in which Oberon gets Puck to administer a love potion that makes a sleeping person fall in love with the first person they see after waking. So, given to Lysander who then sees Helena, obviously starts a new gambit, and then Demetrius gets one and sees Helena, both young men are off to the races besotted with Helena, who is stupefied by the turn of events, but who suffers no fools nonetheless. <\/p>\n

While all of this is going on, the band of players, more or less led by Nick Bottom the Weaver (Paul Melendy), winds up under the influence of Oberon and Puck and not only is Bottom’s head turned into a donkey’s one by Puck, but Titania (Nora Eschenheimer), Oberon’s betrothed with whom he is having some squabbles over a young attendant, gets the potion and falls in love with the donkey-enhanced Bottom. <\/p>\n

Many antics follow, but sanity is eventually restored, Lysander and Hermia get back together, Demetrius sees that he loves Helena truly, and Bottom and his gang prepare a performance of a classical love story between Pyramus and Thisbe which they perform for Theseus and his betrothed Hippolyta (Nora Eschenheimer). Somehow, Theseus overrides Egeus and give Hermia and Lysander permission to stay together and peace is restored as love prevails.<\/p>\n

In this thirtieth anniversary season of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and its annual Shakespeare in the Park productions on the Boston Common, the CSC reconceives its first produced play given in that first season thirty years ago with a wild, colorful, out-there, and engaging production.<\/p>\n

There is a lot of very good acting, and the whole endeavor is lively, animated, full of lovely choreography (by John Lam), costumes, great sound (by Ted Kearnan), lighting (by Maximo Grano De Oro) and production design, with original music (by David Reiffel) enveloping the entire maelstrom of vivid effects. The set (by Amy Rubin), built around concentric hearts, presses in, full of dimension, and is lit beautifully with all kinds of accessories to make a vivid support for the fine actors. (A curious theatrical design synchronicity – Moulin Rouge<\/em><\/a>, which just visited town briefly through Broadway in Boston, also has a set framed by concentric hearts, pure cardio-theatric coincidence.)<\/p>\n

\"Nora<\/a>
Nora Eschenheimer as Titania
Paul Melendy as Nick Bottom
in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Photo: Nile Scott Studios
Courtesy of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

De’Lon Grant does majestic very well, and here, as both Theseus and Oberon, he gives it his basso all. He has a wonderfully rich singing voice and with some of the beautiful music composed for the ditties in the play, he gets to resonate in memorable ways. Nora Eschenheimer’s Hippolyta and Titania are respectively austere and stately, and goofy and spirited, and Eschenheimer does a nice supporting role portraying that duality with dignity and abandon. As Hermia, Meghan Carey has a down-to-earth cuteness that carries that side of that romantic pairing with Jaime Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez’s Lysander who offers an earnest and warm appeal. As Demetrius, Jack Greenberg provides, initially, a half-gallant, half-aloof presence which he devolves well into his drug-induced, then natural, passion for Helena.<\/p>\n

Special mention must be made of Annika Burley as Helena, who gives her role a special forcefulness, clarity and eloquence. Helena is, in many ways, the most complex and interesting character in the play, and Burley does a terrific job of carrying it off. Her performance evokes passion, pain, emotional confusion, and a noble grace in dealing with it all, and she carries it off with subtlety and craft.<\/p>\n

As Bottom, Paul Melendy, an actor with an amazing array of extreme comic gestures and movements, gives a broad and wonderful set of dimensions to the character. Whether he is just an animated leader of his acting troupe or an assified lover of a fairy queen, Melendy finds a way to put his character right out there and squeeze the extreme silliness out of every inch of it, and he does it with virtuosity.<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/a>
Nick Cearley as Puck
De’Lon Grant as Oberon
in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Photo: Nile Scott Studios
Courtesy of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also very good in the band of players is Karen Macdonald who gives a wonderful Italian accent to her role as Petra (sic) Quince, and who with demonstrativeness and a great deal of fun, makes the character memorable. Adding to that fun is the great comic actor John Kuntz who has a wonderful turn as a door in the play within the play, which he plays for all it’s worth.<\/p>\n

In a small role, but one that echoes with greater significance because of very good acting, is Egeus; played by Brooks Reeves. He gives it such earnestness and verve that it really stands out, an episodic but wonderfully punctuated performance that makes that controlling and difficult father of Hermia a character really worth listening to.<\/p>\n

And as Puck, dressed up in amazing Goth body garb, Nick Cearley delivers a wild, athletic, boisterous fun performance. He’s full of energy and spirit and his sprightliness and kineticism is a good complement to De’Lon Grant’s natural grace and elevation. They make a good pair.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Players:
Alex Leondedis as Snug
Michael Broadhurst as Francis Flute
John Kuntz as Snout
Paul Melendy as Nick Bottom
Brooks Reeves as Robin Starveling
Karen MacDonald as Petra Quince
in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Photo: Nile Scott Studios
Courtesy of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All in all, this is an animated, wonderfully acted and produced rendition of the Shakespeare favorite, a worthy anniversary tribute to Boston’s treasured Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, which, over its thirty years of Shakespeare on the Common performances has dished the Bard to over a million and a half lucky souls. Steven Maler and his band of wonderfully merry pranksters have done it again.<\/p>\n

– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Play (1596)
\nby William Shakespeare
\nDirected by Steven Maler
\nCommonwealth Shakespeare Company<\/a>
\nBoston Common
\nJuly 22 – August 9, 2026<\/strong>
\nA colorful, exuberant and nicely acted production of the great Shakespeare comedy about lovers who get their wires crossed by some tricky fairies but eventually land in the right place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plays","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37773"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37859,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37773\/revisions\/37859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}