Julie Taymor's Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dir. Julie Taymor. Perf. Kathryn Hunter, David Harewood, Tina Benko, Max Casella, Zach Appelman, Brendan Averett, Roger Clark, Lilly Englert, Hermia, Joe Grifasi, Jake Horowitz, Z Infante, Robert Langdon Lloyd, Mandi Masden, Helena, Jacob Ming-Trent, Okwui Okpokwasili, and William Youmans. 2014. Blu-ray. Kino Lorber, 2014.

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I put off watching Julie Taymor's Midsummer Night's Dream far too long. I knew that it would be visually interesting, but I did not realize it would be stellar in nearly every aspect—from its conception to its acting to its deep understanding of the play.

I don't think I could do better than to show you some representative scenes.  

In this scene, we meet the rude mechanicals and get some sense of the stage Taymor has at her disposal:

Here's where the lyricism of Shakespeare's poetry beautifully harmonizes with the visual effects Taymor uses:

And I showed you that first scene to show you this. You have a sense of Bottom; now see Bottom translated:

It's quite a remarkable transformation—and a great piece of stage technology.

I wish I could show you the rest of the show. Puck is wild and wonderful. The woods outside Athens is created with dozens of poles that are manipulated by the actors in a terrific choreography. Francis Flute's final speech as Thisbe is remarkably moving—delivered by an excellent actor who had been playing a terrible actor and who then becomes a very good actor.

Track it down—the show bears watching and re-watching.

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Links: The Film at IMDB.

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