Filmed on a relatively small rectangular stage in the center of the audience, Julie Taymor's (The Lion King on Broadway) 2014 mounting of Shakespeare's classic play about mismatched lovers who spend an enchanted evening in the forest—aided by well-meaning but often bumbling fairies and sprites—uses a fairly minimalistic palette to conjure the magic, including a small shed (from which actors emerge), a large mobile white sheet of fabric (that serves as land, sky, and more with projected images), and poles (that child fairies wave to represent a dense forest). Kathryn Hunter shines as the impish Puck—who famously declaims “what fools these mortals be”—in a performance that is both impressively physical (she's a contortionist) and masterfully comic. David Harewood also stands out (and stands tall) as the magnificent Oberon, king of the fairies. And Max Casella milks the laughs with a Brooklyn-tinged turn as Nick Bottom, one of a troupe of laborers who are putting on a play for Duke Theseus (a production in which an errant punch to one player's testicles leads to the non-Shakespearean spontaneous exclamation: “son of a bitch!”). While the long bouts of banter between the four young lovers at the center of the tale has always proved a bit of a pacing challenge, Taymor deftly meets it by adding some modern touches, as well as a funny sequence in which the quartet gradually strip to their undies and engage in a pillow fight. Also featuring behind-the-scenes featurettes, this delightful adaptation of one of Shakespeare's most whimsical comedies is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)
A Midsummer Night's Dream
(2014) 145 min. DVD: $29.95. Kino Lorber (avail. from most distributors). SDH captioned. Volume 32, Issue 5
A Midsummer Night's Dream
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