Midsummer Night's Dream

Last Tuesday the kids and I attended another APT play with some homeschooling friends. Midsummer Night's Dream was a play I never understood, could never follow, and didn't particularly want to attend. But I learned my lesson when, in a previous year, I attended APT's Romeo and Juliet (which I had never liked) and found it absolutely enchanting. So we ordered tickets with our school group and trucked ourselves off to the woods to see the play which was just MADE for a geographical location like APT.

It was wonderful. I kept track of who was who, and what was going on, and where they were. (This is no small thing for someone who used to be an avowed Shakespeare-hater.) The jokes were hilarious. The plot was pure silliness. Unlike many of the plays which have deep messages hiding here and there behind the drama or the humor or the tragedy, Midsummer was just plain FUN. There was virtually no redeeming educational value, nothing thoughtful to analyze and ponder, just plenty to laugh at!

Gary and I were hoping to be able to get over to Spring Green together so that he could see it before the season closed -- and so that I could see the play at night, with all the cool lighting effects that fell flat during the matinee. Ah, it is sad: between work interfering with playtime and with all the remaining evening shows sold out, we cannot go. We'll have to plan ahead for next year so that he doesn't have to miss any of the plays "up the hill."