Description

In this one-act adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream—winner of the Texas UIL state championship and a featured play at the Houston Shakespeare Festival—Cecil Pickett shows his knack for knowing what to include and what to leave out of the original Shakespeare text without jarring transitions, awkward changes of character, or disrupting blackouts.

We see and clearly understand the family spat between Oberon and Titania and the manner in which this conjugal disagreement affects the efforts of a group of tradesmen rehearsing a play. We delight in the antics of the mischievous Puck. We laugh at the ineptness of the Rustics in trying to stage their play. We chuckle at Bottom’s desire to play every role—and we howl with delight at Bottom’s ass’s head and Titania’s infatuation with the monster.

Pickett’s adaptations are arranged with the play script on the right-hand page and corresponding detailed stage directions and suggestions on the left-hand page. Audiences fortunate enough to see a Pickett-directed play are always enthralled by the style, the grace, the charm and the choreographed movement. A sense of charm and grace are key in certain scenes: when Puck wafts glitter through the air to the tinkling accompaniment of bells, when Titania’s fairies carry her in on a palanquin with choreographed style and when Oberon stops action with flowing gestures. This graceful style is especially effective when it is rudely interrupted by the boorish, earthy, plodding Rustics.