No Fear Shakespeare is a Spark Notes series that everyone recognizes as the savior that translates the alien Shakespearean tongue into modern English. Better than the study aid, the Big Red Shakespeare Troupe proved to the audience in their ’60s rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Sunday that Shakespeare plays can be both accessible and enjoyable. The troupe’s energy and innovation filled the Shakespeare plays with freshness and channeled the humor of the comedy to the audience without changing any of Shakespeare’s words. 

While the modern re-interpretation Romeo and Juliet last fall crippled the performance, the ’60s rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream provided a setting that enriched the scenes as well as the characters by infusing them with qualities of different groups in the ’60s. The troupe went beyond the surface level of rock n’ roll and hippies. They took advantage of and expressed the diversity particular to the period through costumes, choreography, and music. 

The proliferation of new activities and the spirit of experimentation that permeated the ’60s mirrored the fantastical and surreal world in A Midsummer Night’s Dream where the characters confuse reality and dreams. “By coming to watch our production, the audience come and throw themselves into this wild abandon, these things unreal,” Laura Zarougian ’12, one of the directors of the troupe along with Ilana Gilovich ’12, said. “People loved the ’60s. In the same way, we hope that using the ’60s theme in our play would make the audience be accepting of all things bizarre.”   

The characters’ representations enhanced the audience’s understanding of the plot. In the original text of the play, Lysander (Bob Hackett ’12) is as rich as Demetrius (William Rollow ’12) and Hermia is in love with Lysander. Yet, Egeus (Anya Gibian ’12) prefers Demetrius over Lysander as his son-in-law. To flash out their interpretations of the reasons behind Egeus’ preference, the troupe dressed Egeus in a Vietnam soldier uniform to bring across his rigid adherence to rules. Lysander appeared in a tie-dyed t-shirt and washed-out jeans bringing across the hippie image. Demetrius wore thick-rimmed glasses, a suit jacket and a cabled sweater, portraying the straight-edge, compliant guy that Egeus would look for as his daughter’s suitor. Egeus’ exaggerated gestures warded off the potential heavy association with war. 

The elements of the ’60s added on to the sparkles that the actors brought with themselves to the stage. The actors radiated their energy throughout the play and bombarded the audience with surprises. Tim Fasano ’10, taking on the signature blue suit with white ruffled collars of Austin Powers, conveyed the lewd and licentious character of Nick Bottom. He made his entrance with the Austin Powers dance and immediately set the light-hearted mood of the scene where The Mechanicals deliberate on which play to perform at the wedding. 

Another moment that struck a note with the audience was when Oberon (Isaac Taitz ’11) entered the stage pretending to smoke pot and lip-synched along controversial children’s song “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Save a few potted plants, mushrooms, two stools, some flowers hung on the curtain and a few arrows indicating the places in the play, they didn’t have much on the stage in Barnes. Instead, they used music and the differences in the characters’ costume (the fairies wore Indian-flavored clothing) to transport the audience back and forth from Fairyland to Athens to the forest. 

The directors adorned the stage with few props for the audience to use their imagination to engage with the play, trying hard to make the performance appealing to college students. To avoid giving their production the air of classical theater and intimidating the audience, the directors chose Barnes over Schwartz as the venue and took a minimalist approach in terms of stage design. “We wanted the cast to be more interactive with the audience. At the stage at Barnes, we have more space to work with,” the directors explained. “The stage in Schwartz might be too grand.” Regardless of the time period, this play will transport you to a land filled with magic, love and drugs in the best possible way.