A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the least lamentable comedy
By Chris Exantus
If there’s ever a constant to be relied upon, it’s that someone somewhere is adapting a William Shakespeare play. Rider University’s Westminster College of the Arts will be continuing the cycle by performing the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night’s Dream from Feb. 16 through 19 in the Bart Leudeke Center Theater on Rider’s campus in Lawrenceville.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, fairies, royalty and a couple of bumbling actors make up a quirky cast as comic misunderstandings and adventure combine. The show is a composition of three different plotlines that all incorporate multiple themes, such as love and romance, violence, sexuality and feminism. The story has been adapted into multiple films, the earliest dating back to 1935 and the most recent in 1999. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is widely regarded as one of the most popular Shakespearian works of literature.
Performed by students of Rider University, the production will be directed by Trent Blanton, a veteran of the acting community and the director of the recent Rider University production of “The Laramie Project.”
Performances will be Friday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. A preview performance will be presented on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.
Tickets for the Feb. 17 – 19 performances are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. For tickets, call the box office at 609-896-5303 or e-mail ticketbooth@rider.edu. Tickets for the preview performance on Feb. 16 are $9 and available at the door.
