Theater Review: 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' by Time's Fool Company

Review by Nancy Sasso Janis

Time’s Fool Company presents William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for a limited engagement that closes on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. Free performances of the magical comedy take place on the Keeney Center Lawn on Main Street in Old Wethersfield.

In their printed program, Time’s Fool includes a comprehensive list of their mission, values and policies regarding diversity, justice, equity and inclusion. I was especially interested to read the paragraph regarding the artists that they pay equitably for their time. Actors are encouraged to work within their idiolects, unless a role is dialect-specific. It notes that practices are incorporated into the rehearsal process “to create a space of play, safety, and boundless imagination. We believe that the rehearsal room should be filled with love, kindness, generosity and insatiable curiosity.” Words to live by.

Time’s Fool Producing Artistic Director Wesley Broulik directs this gifted cast, with the help of C.S. Dunn as choreographer, Elizabeth Finn as fight captain and Amanda Forker in charge of the music arrangements. Associate Artistic Director Breauna Jurkowski worked as assistant director, understudy and ADA and DEI compliance officer.

I appreciated the fanciful details in this performance. Costumes designed by Samantha Garwood put the Athenians into what I took as the fifties, with the colorful strips of fabric that made up the fairy costumes placed atop them. The Mechanicals covered their costumes in aprons and added headgear. I loved the idea of the professional actors carefully ushering about the stage the young audience member who covered the role of the changeling boy.

Most of the performers in the cast seamlessly cover two or more roles and the audience is able to see them layering the costume for their upcoming entrance behind the open stage area. Costume Assistant Stephanie Fish could be seen helping with the quick changes while wearing fairy wings herself. The prop table, holding Oberon’s light up flower, a plumber’s helper, and (improbable) handcuffs, could also be seen next behind the wooden chairs available for the “offstage” actors.

The printed program includes a three-page synopsis (courtesy of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.) I have used the spelling of Shakespeare’s character names that appeared in the printed program.

Finn, a UConn graduate, plays the role of Duke Theseus and Oberon, who reigns over the fairy world. Ignoring the traditional gender of the characters works perfectly as Finn embodies the strength of both roles in her Time’s Fool debut.

Forker, who calls Wethersfield her hometown, is Finn’s frequent scene partner in the roles of Hippolita and Tyttania, the fairy queen. The talented performer is a WCSU graduate and has danced with stop/time at Playhouse on Park in West Hartford. Forker leads the a cappella performances of “Fly Me to the Moon” (by Bart Howard, 1954) in lovely harmony. Puck helped the two women pull off an onstage costume quick-change that I loved.

Malena Gordo, who is originally from Argentina, brings liveliness and a lilting Spanish accent to the role of Oberon’s fairy, Puck and the aged Egeus, the parent of Hermia. I loved watching Puck interact with the audience as she moved through (and over) the lawn chairs and blankets. Gordo also portrays the Philistrate role.

Paris Imar begins her professional journey as she portrays the young lover Hermia, as well as Snug the Joyner and the fairy PeaseBlossom. She does very well as all of them.

What a treat to see Quinnipiac grad Nick Featherston, who I usually see at Legacy Theater, in his Time’s Fool debut. The talented actor takes on the roles of the lover Lysander and the fairy Moth, but his most delightful performance is as Tom Snowt the Tinker of the Mechanicals.

NYC-based actor Quinn Spivey returns to this stage to portray the young lover Demitrius, the fairy Mustardseed, and very funny Francis Flute the Bellows Mender, where the actor has fun interacting with Featherston (“Red leather, yellow leather.”)

Julia Weston, a recent high school graduate, gets to play the characters of young Helena, the fairy Cobweb, and Robin Starveling the Tailer, and does well with all. Weston will head to Yale University in the fall.

Katrina Guzman stands out in the role of “Rita” Quince the Carpenter, the director of the Mechanicals in coveralls and a wrapped head. I loved everything about her performance, especially as she follows along in her script as the group of actors perform for the two royals (because the four other newlyweds are playing their other roles.)

Kudos to Dunn (they/them) for returning to Time’s Fool to tackle the hysterical role of Bottom the Weaver, who is transformed into a donkey. An adorable young girl was chosen from the audience to portray the changeling boy. She got to wear a set of wings and sit in Tytania’s pink bed as the fairy royals fought over her.

I loved the modern touches, like “tall-ish,” and finding a calendar on a patron’s cell phone and then taking a cast selfie with it. The body mics worked well throughout. There are some well-placed sound effects (a “boing” when a character wakes up) and the lanterns in around the lawn go on towards the end of the performance. And can I just say that I appreciate the 6 p.m. start time, allowing the performance to end just before 8 p.m. Bring along a picnic as I did to enjoy before (or during) the show.

Time’s Fool will present a one-actor “A Christmas Carol” in the Keeney Center Ballroom Dec. 13-22, with two additional performances in Wethersfield’s Hurlbut-Dunham House. Next summer, the company is launching a daytime teen acting conservatory “Upstart Crows.”

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theater reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, and she posts well over 100 reviews each year. She became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle in 2016. Her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted in the Naugatuck Patch as well as the Patch sites closest to the venue. She is also a feature writer and theater reviewer for the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Her weekly column IN THE WINGS and theater reviews appear in the Thursday Weekend section of the newspaper.

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