The course of true love never did run smoove.

I went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at Theatre Memphis on Saturday. The production was okay--it was designed with a door/moon/bed motif, which gave it a certain experimental feel. At the same time, some of the choices in acting, delivery, and staging I felt were probably mistakes:

• For some reason, Hippolyta was handcuffed to Theseus at all times. While this provides an interesting reinforcement of the point of Hippolyta's supposed dalliances with Oberon, it hardly plays into her character as an Amazon Queen
• On two occasions, the mechanicals had a few minutes of running through the onstage doors in the style of a Scooby Doo chase. That works as a bit when Bottom is transformed into an ass, but if that's the second time it happens (and the first time did nothing to advance the plot, characters, or even have a decent pratfall to speak of), you've already blown your joke.
• The actress playing Helena completely Shatnered her lines. A-like so:

  Wherefore
  was I to this keen mockery born?
  When
  at your hands did I deserve this scorn?
  Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
  That I
  did never, no, nor never can,
  Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
  But you
  must flout my insufficiency?
  Good troth,
  you do me wrong, good sooth, you do,
  In such disdainful manner me to woo.
  But
  fare you well: perforce I must confess
  I thought you lord of more true gentleness.
  O,
  that a lady, of one man refused.
  Should
  of another therefore be abused!

  
  Shakespeare can be hard enough to understand when you do it right.
• A few times during the first act, the actors would break character and reiterate what they'd just said in standard English--just a footnote's worth--for laughs. This device is used sproadically (thank heaven), and dropped completely in the second act

Not that there weren't some excellent parts--notably, the actor playing Bottom (who played Iago in using primarily semaphore in last season's Othello toned down the hand-waving quite a bit, allowing the audience to focus on something other than his need for Pom-Poms (as Iago). There was a tone shift during the "Pyramus and Thisbe" bit that allowed the characters to drop the comedic pretext and die with dignity and some pathos, with a nice comedic beat at the end to bring the audience back to the surrounding comedy.

All in all, it was an okay show, that could have used a bit less pretentiousness and a lot more faith in the material.