Courtesy of Lord Denney's Players
Lord Denney's Players Shakespeare
If you are a fan of the performing arts – or more specifically, Shakespeare – you owe it to yourself to check out one of Lord Denney’s Players’ (LDP) six performances taking place over the next two weeks.
LDP is named after Denney Hall on campus at The Ohio State University. The group is run by associate professor Sarah Neville, who carries with her an increasingly unique perspective on English Renaissance drama. She is unafraid of the comedic aspects of Shakespeare’s work, which is seemingly less common each year as his works are consistently seen through a more pretentious “high art” lens.
Her perspective, along with the cast and crew’s enthusiasm, allows LDP’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to burst with energy.
If you have concerns about interpreting the famously complex language of a 400-year-old play, have faith that the performances are expressive and physical enough to keep you laughing and involved, even if you miss some things.
Comprised largely of students who have been in a class dedicated to preparing the show, this troupe never allows a dull moment. For those who don’t know, anyone choosing to study Early Modern English these days is deeply committed to uncovering the writer's intentions and unlocking the magic that was written into these iconic works.
Each performer in this production runs with this opportunity, and every word of the text has informed their expressions, movements, jeers and jests. The cast is packed with scene-stealers, and their ability to play off each other and their palpable chemistry makes this production endlessly fun and engaging.
The supernaturally influenced love quadrangle between Helena, Lysander, Hermia and Demetrius is fun, gripping, and provides a dramatic, quasi-relatable human touch amid the fantastical antics of the fairies and powers that be. The authentically stripped-back set design allows more boisterous characters – the indefatigable Bottom especially – to explode off the stage and keep the audience laughing throughout the full two-hour show.
The play-within-a-play climax of the show had the audience laughing along non-stop to animated antics. Whether or not you can keep up with Shakespeare’s witty wordplay, you can still thoroughly enjoy the folly-filled performance that wraps up the narrative.
Neville and LDP have so carefully studied Shakespeare’s stage directions and works that this performance feels as close as possible to seeing A Midsummer Night’s Dream as it was intended. This performance succeeds as a proper celebration of the 400-year anniversary of Shakespeare’s first folio being published.
You can catch A Midsummer Night’s Dream Oct. 26-28 at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, and Nov. 2-4 at the Multi-Purpose Theater Lab on OSU’s campus. Even the venue selection is authentic to the source material, as the intimate second setting is intended to mimic a royal performance of the period.
Tyler Kirkendall is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at tkirkendall@cityscenemediagroup.com.
