Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Double Feature’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM & MACBETH: Exceedingly intimate, immersive revivals that create worlds within worlds

• By drediman
• August 31, 2023
• No Comments

A night after attending Public Works’ large-scale musical adaptation of The Tempest at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, I ventured deep into Brooklyn ti a secret location (warning: brief spoilers here) to take in some more Shakespeare via Double Feature’s dual productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth (both run a manageable 90 minutes a pop, and can be seen either individually or back-to-back in a single night). Compared to the prior evening, these represent the other end of the Shakespeare-going spectrum — immersive, exceedingly intimate experiences that nonetheless seek to intensely capture the Bard’s spirit. Essentially staged in a four story home, the productions call to mind such hand-crafted, less-publicized endeavors as this summer’s Uncle Vanya in a loft, Houseworld Immersive’s Bottom of the Ocean, and Joseph Medeiros’s ongoing efforts to stage a one man version of The Odyssey (in Ancient Greek!) — each have have invited audiences into and taken advantage of deceptively personal spaces to effectively conjure expansive worlds within unassuming facades.

Commencing at dusk, first up was A Midsummer Night’s Dream (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Taking place in both harsh reality and the murky, sensual realm of the subconscious dreamworld, the popular play seems a perfect vehicle for blurring the lines between the house in which it takes place and an intangible location that transcends its “daytime” manifestation. Especially when the actors are literally inches away from and making direct eye contact with you — both shows are capped to ten audience members per performance! — it’s hard not to engage with them on a viscerally personal level, as if you were an active participant in the proceedings. To ease into the immersion of it all, there’s also an elegant “there-and-back-again” quality to the progression of the pseudo-promenade staging (the direction is credited to Katherine Wilkinson), which takes place mostly on the upper floors of the home. Comprised of young, talented women and non-binary actors, the hardworking cast deliver dynamic and carefully nuanced performances all around — particularly impressive given the smartly truncated text — bringing a fascinating queer element to their interplay that enhances rather than overwhelms Shakespeare’s work.

Then after the sun had completely set, Double Feature launched into its second journey — the pitch-black tragedy that is Macbeth (RECOMMENDED), literally completing the company’s long day’s journey into the night of the human soul. Staged fully in the home’s creepily austere basement, the production is in stark contrast to the rowdy merriment that preceded it upstairs. As with that physically rambling experience, Mikhaeala Mahoney’s haunted house of a production creates a world unto itself using just a handful of objectively simple effects at its disposal, but instead for the purpose of a claustrophobic, psychologically suffocating experience that aims to delve headlong into the title character’s fraught mental state. Throughout, sound and lighting are utilized and configured in creative and incisively compelling ways. For example, much of the play takes place shrouded in shadows or played out in silhouette (or even in pitch blackness), maximizing the sense of dread felt by both Macbeth and his unfortunate victims. As audience members in such close proximity, the terror transmutes directly to us — the menace and uneasiness is palpable. Although the acting generally isn’t as consistently excellent as in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s language nevertheless registers with clarity and intent. Thankfully, the distinctive actor Will Dagger is superb in the title role, giving an approachable everyman portrayal that makes his downward spiral that much more tragic and harrowing.

DOUBLE FEATURE: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM / MACBETH
Off-Broadway, Play / Immersive Theater
An undisclosed location in Brooklyn
Each production runs approximately 90 minutes
Through September 9