Fairies and forlorn lovers will move across Rodey Theatre's stage this weekend.
Diane Schulz, the director of the UNM's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," said the play is full of linguistic style that is not as intimidating as your high school English teacher made it seem.
"There are preconceived notions that Shakespeare is difficult because of the language," said Shulz, who is also an associate professor in the Theatre and Dance Department.
Sometimes Shakespeare's language is divorced from our modern speech, she said.
"The plays are meant to be seen, not read," she said. "Once you add movement and characterization, it's a clear and active language."
Senior and theater major James Mills is playing the part of the fairy Puck.
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"This character is a little scoundrel," Mills said. "He is like a child who gets spanked, and then walks away and says, 'That didn't hurt.' He's a mischievous child who doesn't learn from his mistakes and loves what he does."
Mills has most recently performed in "Honk" at Theater X, "Westside Story" in Popejoy Hall and "Once Upon a Mattress" in Rodey Theatre.
Schulz said student productions don't compromise acting quality.
"A lot of times people think, 'They're just students, so the play isn't good.' But our students are great actors," Schulz said, adding UNM theater students and alumni often show off their talent in other Albuquerque theatres.
"Acting is really something you have to be passionate about to be good at," Mills said. "It's very, very rewarding to bring live theater to an audience. What the audience is doing - the laughter, the applause or the tears - is the reward."
Senior and theater major Patrick McElwee said his character, Bottom, allows him to
add purely physical elements to a story centered on language, which proved to be a challenge.
"During the course of the play, Bottom's head gets transformed into a donkey's head," McElwee said. "He changes dramatically, and as an actor, I have to be aware that my body has been changed so I can appropriately depict that."
Schulz said the show is light-hearted.
"This is not a deep-meaning, nihilistic story," she said. "This is a slapstick comedy. What you have in 'Midsummer' is a wonderful romp in the woods. It's not depressing, and nobody dies at the end."
The sharp humor in the play provides a common ground, Mills said, between the performers and the audience.
"There's something so elegant about it, yet incredibly witty," he said. "This play is full of such beautiful language, and the humor is something everybody can relate to."
"The whole play is fun," McElwee said. "I hope that the audience will have fun with it, and get captured in this world for a little while and kind of lose themselves."
