Fools these mortals be
Monitor staff
For anyone not into works of William Shakespeare, director Betty Lent doesn’t want them to be discouraged.
“There’s some Shakespeare in it, but it’s not entirely Shakespearean dialogue, and the dialogue that’s in the play is very accessible to the audience,” she said.
Shakespeare In Hollywood, an original comedy by Ken Ludwig, is set in 1930s Hollywood on the set of Austrian theatre director Max Reinhardt’s screen adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The real film, released in 1935, included actors like Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland, James Cagney and Joe E. Brown, who are cast in Ludwig’s play.
Different in this play is the introduction of Shakespeare’s famous fairies Oberon (played by Greg Fischer) and Puck (played by Paula Demers), who find themselves on the set and end up being cast (as themselves) in Reinhardt’s production.
“It’s a play about the making of a movie about a play,” said Lent, who along with her actors, considered how they would portray characters based on real people.
“I researched this fairly extensively in order to get the right look and the right feel,” Lent said.
Audiences can expect a fast-paced production with a lot of sight gags and physical comedy.
The Community Players of Concord are presenting the play at the Concord City Auditorium on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 at the door.