Brown Turns a New Hand onto a Classic...

... and the myth, magic and language were all pleasurably retained.

Instead of becoming cultural wallpaper, William Brown tweaked A Midsummer Night's Dream in just the right places while leaving intact Shakespeare's words, which I just want to revel in as long as possible. Like old sages and bards whose wise, snippy wisdom has faded into dust, your ear senses something intuitively divine and enchanting-- it's timeless and invigorating.

There was a time when words carried much more strength and power, and still made sense-- even the proclaimed difficulty in Shakespeare's texts continues to transcend.

Puck-Robin Goodfellow is punked-out, Lysander's horrendous perm and retro 60's attire suit his charming ways; Demetrius is an ultimate uber-nerd chasing love while Bottom's hammish self is transformed into an ass.

Brown took some chances, and I'll let others grumble their complaints, but much to his credit they were timely for a modern audience and nearly everyone was out of their seats at the end when Athens comes strong at the end with a celebratory traditional Greek dance.

An amazing evening performance in such a great setting.