Maybe, given the very-happy-at-all-times nature of the news, you might not feel the need to break out laughing at a bunch of silly fairies romping through West Philly’s Clark Park in “A Bottom’s Dream,” a pop, punk, disco musical version of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
“We planned this season before the election and executive orders and forms of hate emerged,” said Shamus McCarty, producing art director of Shakespeare in Clark Park.
“It feels like a great response to the government, but it wasn’t,” McCarty said. Strictly happenstance.
“It’s cool. We have a drag queen (Lili St. Queer) playing a fairy queen. It’s a joyful, rock and roll, disco in the park moment,” he said.
Shakespeare abounds in July, including this year’s offering from Shakespeare in Clark Park, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary season.
To recap, Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” follows a myriad of mix-ups and gender-bending cross-purposes among four lovers. Add to that a theater troupe of six amateur actors, also at cross-purposes, with both groups lost in the forest and being manipulated by fairies. Also, somehow, there’s a magic potion that turns people into half-donkeys, bottom half or top half.
Donkeys, as in ass. “That’s Shakespeare’s joke,” McCarty said. As for the name, “A Bottom’s Up” – take it as you wish. “It’s meant to tweak your ear as in ‘ooh la la.’ ”
In this unapologetically queer rendition of the Shakespeare comedy, “A Bottom’s Dream” plays with all the elements.
“There’s a big conversation about gender diversity and what it means to tell a story about gender diversity, with, by and for a gender-diverse audience and community, without it focusing on trauma,” McCarty said.
But it’s aggravating, McCarty said, that always, always, always, trauma seems to be a requirement. “Is it really a story if it’s not about trauma?” he asked sarcastically. “Where’s the queer joy? Where is the trans joy?”
The joy is at Clark Park, in “A Bottom’s Dream,” with book, music and lyrics from Boston playwright Jay Eddy.
McCarty said he prefers to be involved in new theatrical works. But as someone who has spent a lot of time in the world of William (Shakespeare), McCarty explained why he finds a template for the fresh and new in the work of a playwright who lived more than 400 years ago.
True, “Shakespeare doesn’t sound like a fit for me on paper,” he said. But interestingly, Shakespeare’s plays come with few to no stage directions, producing an immediate blank canvas for innovation, McCarty said.
“Because it’s in the public domain, you can cut it whatever way you want. It feels like a new story,” he said. “The lack of stage directions and the lack of legal requirements create an ability to embrace it as a new text.”
“A Bottom’s Dream,” with a seven-member cast and community chorus, runs July 23-27 at 7 p.m. at Clark Park. Bring your own blanket, picnic, children and animals for the performances, which are all free. If it rains, head to Annenberg Center at the University of Pennsylvania, 3680 Walnut Street.
Need more Shakespeare? Plan a day trip to Philly’s outskirts and pencil in some time for the bard.
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, DeSales University, Center Valley
Looking for an all-day Shakespeare extravaganza? Mark your calendar for July 23 at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival on the campus of DeSales University, which is in the Lehigh Valley near Allentown.
The day begins at 10 a.m. with Shakespeare For Kids (S4K on the calendar). It’s a one-hour mash-up of Shakespeare’s characters, designed as a gateway drug for kids 4-10. “Hamlet” “ is next at 2 p.m., followed by a 7:30 p.m. choice of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” or “Timon of Athens.” There’s even a specialty dinner, Savoring Shakespeare, with the menu curated to match the productions. Here’s guessing that the menu will be Danish-centric, as both “Hamlet” and “Rosencrantz” are set in Denmark.
If July 23 doesn’t work, there’s Shakespeare all July long.
Philly’s own Lindsay Smiling, a co-artistic director at Wilma Theater, directs “Hamlet.” Tom Stoppard’s 1966 comedy “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” focuses on the lives of two minor “Hamlet” characters, courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. “Timon” is a rarely produced Shakespeare play about a rich man who squanders money on his freeloading friends, until they abandon him when his largesse runs out.
You can bring a picnic, order a catered picnic basket or dine at the festival’s restaurant, with an option to enjoy some specialty meals.
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, “Hamlet,” July 9-Aug. 3, “Shakespeare For Kids,” July 23-Aug. 2; “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” July 17-Aug. 2, and “Timon of Athens,” July 23-Aug. 3. Theaters are on the campus of DeSales University, 2755 Station Ave. Center Valley.
Nearby attractions if you go:
· Allentown Fairgrounds Farmers Market, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Get the garlic ring bologna. 1825 W. Chew St., Allentown.
· Lehigh Valley Zoo, a modest zoo, coupled with Trexler Game Preserve, a park with hiking trails that may take you near bison. The zoo and preserve share an address — 5150 Game Preserve Rd., Schnecksville.
Delaware Shakespeare, Rockwood Park, Wilmington
In the spirit of Shakespearean innovation, Delaware Shakespeare is breaking ground on two fronts. Philly mainstays Liz Filios and Tanaquil Márquez teamed up to create a bilingual and musical version of “Twelfth Night” titled “Twelfth Night, O Lo Que Quieras.” Márquez, who specializes in creating bilingual works, always aims to make the meaning clear, no matter what language is being used on stage.
In his much-loved comedy, Shakespeare provides the usual and entertaining mishmash of switched genders and star-crossed love.
The shows take place in Rockwood Park – and if you time it right, you can take guided or self-guided tours of the formal gardens and the museum, which is a 19th century historic house. Free tours available on Aug. 3.
Delaware Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night, O Lo Que Quieras.”, July 17-Aug. 3, Rockwood Park, 4651 Washington Street Extension, Wilmington.
Nearby attractions if you go:
· Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. Henry Francis DuPont’s lavish home and gardens, with 25 miles of trails, paths and lush gardens, as well as a collection of 90,000 objects, from furniture to paintings. 5105 Kennett Pike, Wilmington, DE 19807.
· Brandywine Zoo, a five-acre, family-friendly zoo, 1001 N. Park Dr., Wilmington.
