SUEÑO DE UNA NOCHE DE VERANO / A Midsummer Night's Dream

Review/Theater; Shakespeare, Surreal and in Spanish

By RICHARD F. SHEPARD

Published: August 16, 1989

When it is set in a Caribbean city William Shakespeare may never have heard of, in a future not even this age has reached and in a language that is not English, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' runs considerable risk of turning into a nightmare. Well, the National Theater of the Dominican Republic has done all this with the Bard's comedy and, far from rudely awakening, the company has created an adaptation that sails amusingly along in its own Spanish dreamboat.

This ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' (''Sueno de una Noche de Verano'') has a surrealistic quality about it, something that carries the imagination a level or two beyond the simplicity of the original, which has all the elements of straightaway street comedy that is elevated by a magnificence of language.

In his Spanish adaptation for the Festival Latino at the Public Theater, Manuel Rueda has kept the main body of the play, and even the lines generally seem to be literal translations of the Shakespearean words. But he has tacked on a prologue, eliminated the delightful final performance of ''Pyramus and Thisby'' and tinkered mildly with the ending.

 

The changes involve the setting, a Santo Domingo of the future, with a spiritless population living in a graveyard of rusting automobiles. A boy is washed ashore from the sea, clutching papers that a leading citizen reads - and repeats and repeats - in English as ''A Midsummer Night's Dream.''

The play takes off immediately, with the people of this dead city changing character and costume but not the setting to indulge in this optimistic adventure that may set a new note for the despairing. As a device, this approach may be more meaningful to an audience not brought up on Shakespeare than it may be to one reared in the tradition. But this presentation has its dramatic rewards for almost any theatergoer.

For one thing, there is the wondrous set that is the handiwork of Soucy de Pellerano, a well-established Dominican artist. She has fashioned a three-level setting for the dexterous performers. It is ingenious scenery, a seemingly random pile of automotive junk that quite cunningly is a warren of stage entrances and exits.

Ramon Pareja, the director, has carried through the surreal concept of the story of misdirected spells and intentions good and evil. His interpretation involves loud noises punctuating the prose, a good deal of tumbling and a rather dreamy musical score by Dante Cucurullo that emphasizes the unreality of what is going on. It establishes, within the 90 minutes of the show, which is done in one act, the essential quality of fun that Shakespeare achieved.

Reynaldo Disla, as Puck, is a nimble chap, with rough beard, motorcycle helmet, glasses and a devilish sense of humor as he sows confusion. Angel Mejia, as Bottom (Lanzadera), one of the workers rehearsing a play for the king, catches the comic naivete of a fellow who is given an ass's head to wear by Puck and who attracts the attentions of the passionate fairy queen, Titania.

Pepito Guerra gives his Theseus the dignity and forcefulness worthy of a kind and just king who is about to be married and who finds himself having to make a severe decision. As Oberon, the king of the fairies, Juan Maria Almonte is wise and, at the same time, a wiseacre.

For an Anglophone who checked the goings-on by listening to the English translation on headphones, there was a loss of effect in the delivery of the lines, as though one were hearing a familiar friend over a static-studded long-distance line. That is perhaps inevitable, as any Spanish speaker might say to one who is trying to fully savor Don Quixote in English. A visitor to the visiting company's production should find that what may be missed by the ear is compensated for by what meets the eye. Another Time, Another Dream SUENO DE UNA NOCHE DE VERANO (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM), by William Shakespeare, directed by Ramon Pareja; adapted by Manuel Rueda; translated by Melia Bensussen; music by Dante Cucurullo; setting by Soucy De Pellerano; costumes by Ramon Pareja. Presented by Theater of Fine Arts of the Dominican Republic and New York Shakespeare Festival, Joseph Papp, president. At the Public/Newman, 425 Lafayette Street. LunaMatilde... Capitan Teseo...Pepito Guerra Hipolita...Monina Sola Egeo...Miguel Angel Martinez Hermia... Oleka Fernandez Demetrio... Osvaldo Anez Lisandro... Kenny Grullon Elena ...Elvira Taveras Cartabon... Rosemary Echevarria Lanzadera...Angel Mejia Flauta...Micky Montilla Barbiqui...Victor Lopez Hada...Lourdes Ozuna Puck...Reynaldo Disla Oberon...Juan Maria Almonte Titania...Miriam Bello WITH: Garibaldi Reyes, Francisco Manzueta, Genaro Ozuna, Jackson Delgado, Jenny De La Rosa, Thana Olmos, Lina Lorenzo, Jorge Bello-Joa, Ricardo Bella-Joa.