Two sure things in Chicago: (1) Outdoor summertime stagings of
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and (2) strenuously
amped-up stagings of Shakespeare’s anything by Barbara Gaines. Chicago
Shakespeare Theater has brought the two inevitabilities together for a
production touring to 18 city parks. And with Gaines directing her own
adaptation, there’s no limit to the audience-goosing liberties on view.
Gaines’s anachronistic filigrees are often more annoying than illuminating,
suggesting a director way too determined to demonstrate what we can easily
learn on our own: that what happens in a Shakespeare play might mean
something even after 400 years. Here, she drops all inhibition, and the
result is more a set of novelty riffs than a coherent telling. Still,
there’s no denying that she’s a accomplished ingratiator. What’s here is
fun, mostly. And then there’s the chance to see the moon rise as the
performance unfolds. v
Through 8/26: various times and locations, see website, 312-595-5600, chicagoshakes.com. F
