Move over, Tom Stoppard (and also Disney-Marvel-verse). You no longer hold the market on “origin backstory/alternate POV” when it comes to Shakespeare. That’s right, there’s a new— okay, not new, per say— but there’s another option when it comes to doing weird stuff with Shakespeare that isn’t Shakespeare but still is totally Shakespeare. And Artistic Synergy of Baltimore’s children’s performance group has got it. The Rude Mechanicals, by Ed Graczyk, is now appearing on the ASoB stage, as directed by Melissa Broy Fortson.
It’s the middle of the summer, so of course everybody and their brother, mother, sister, and strange cousin that only seems to remember to show up at family events where free food is involved, are producing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (Because why not.) Artistic Synergy of Baltimore stumbled across the alternate POV-version, which takes some liberal leaps in creative licensing with just how “The Players” came to be a part of that faerie-fueled-fever dream. The audience is introduced to ‘five friends forever’ (wait…that’s another musical…) and one babbling donkey as the ‘core characters’ in this story. (Those versed with Midsummer will recognize Quince, Flute, Snug, Starveling, Snout, and of course, Bottom, from the play-within-a-play segment.) Add in Robin Goodfellow, more commonly recognized as Puck, and the Duke Theseus, subtract all the nonsense with the whiny lovers chasing each other all over the forest, and you’ve got? The Rude Mechanicals.
Melissa Broy Fortson, who does a stellar job not only at wrangling these young performers onto the stage and getting them through some of these heavier Shakespearean lines, which can certainly be a lot even for adult performers! But she also cleverly gets all of the costumes and set pieces together for this production. Robin Goodfellow looks like your typical single-digit-aged fairy princess, complete with tiara, magic wand, and tutu (and the lights and sound effects go bonkers and bananas every time she waves that wand, giving us some real theatrical magic! Shoutout to Maribel Hernandez and Sophia Kaskel on Sound Tech, and Kris Marx on Light Tech.) There’s a nice woodsy backdrop, and a sign that lets you know we’re dealing with “The Rude Mechanicals.” The aprons and britches all seem to track with the historic time period; the duke gets regal purple, the soon-to-be-duchess gets royal blue in her gown, but the best costume in the show, bar none, is the rain-poncho-printed in WALL. (Worn by Snout during the play-withing-a-play-within-a-play) bit.
Riley Phillips is the show’s “Prop Person”, an actual credited character who shows up on stage with a couple of useful props all throughout the production and is simply too cute for words. The Duke (Abel Browne) is moody and slightly petulant, as one might expect a Duke pining for yet-undiscovered-but-also-unrequited-love might be. Princess Hippolyta (Eva Beau Marx) is equally petulant and has quite a bombastic streak, which makes for a lot of entertaining moments, especially when opining the situation she’s found herself in with the Duke, and later with Bottom.
The story’s framework involves the worrisome Petra Quince (Sabrina Cosden) fretting over a lack of business in being able to keep her carpentry shop open. This sets in motion the notion of need…and the ultimate response to the Duke’s proclamation of, “I need a play to show up at my wedding to the princess. Reward is offered.” (This is Graczyk’s take on how this backwoods bunch of workshop bumpkins ended up rehearsing in the woods and bringing this crackpot play of lovers, and lions, and walls— oh my! to the wedding festival in Midsummer.) Cosden is fraught with turmoil and worry and does a great job delivering her lines.
Pam Snout (Meghan Chrzanowski), Snug the Joiner (Saraí Isabela Drost), Robin Starveling (Addison Stump), and Francis Flute (Makayla Gard) make up the “five friends forever” alongside Cosden’s Petra Quince. Each have their part in the shenanigans and antics of ‘getting this play together.’ Makayla Gard is of particular note as she is the one female actress playing a strictly male character (for the dated humor of forcing the male-tinkerer to play the dainty ingenue in the play) and she knocks that challenge out of the park. All five of the young ladies in this production do a resplendent job at delivering their tricky lines and showing true bonds of friendship to help Petra Quince in her hour of need.
Nick Bottom (Andrew Heisler) is that babbling donkey of which we spoke earlier. (And the donkey mask is the stuff of adult-nightmare fuel. I think that donkey mask sat in this Baltimore heat in the back of somebody’s car and melted. So it serves its purpose of description.) Heisler is a hambone of excellent caliber, really delivering that campy over-the-top entitlement that comes along with the character’s self-ascribed importance. Heisler has an epic campy ‘death’ scene as well arguably the funniest moment in the show— where he gets attacked by WALL (as played by Meghan Chrzanowski, who is Snout for all other intents and purposes.) That scene alone is hysterical and well done.
Of course, it wouldn’t be mischief and true mayhem without our Robin Goodfellow (Oyin Omojola.) Fleet of rhyming couplet and sharp with her delivery, you get a real sense that Omojola understands exactly what she’s talking about and she even brings a hint of fabulous fairy sass to her portrayal. In this play, it is Robin Goodfellow who is the orchestrator of all the nonsense and chicanery happening in the woods late at night, rather than Titania and Oberon having a war and mixing the humans up in the middle of it. (One faerie princess to rule them all and you cut out all that hefty Shakespearean treacle!) Omojola is adorable in her fairy outfit and that magic wand is absolutely something else.
They do a really good job, considering the dense text and meanings that come along with this performance. It’s a cute little summer offering that give you the essence of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream without all the excessive romance and nonsense that tends to weigh that story down in the humid and mirey bog of summertime. Though they be but little, they be fierce!
Running Time: Approximately 90 minutes with one intermission
The Rude Mechanicals, an Artistic Synergy of Baltimore children’s performance, plays through July 31, 2022 at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church— 8212 Philadelphia Road in Rosedale, MD. Tickets are available at the door or in advance online.
