While just a short walk away in Bing Theatre, Nick Bottom in “Something Rotten!” is singing about how much he hates William Shakespeare, McClintock Theatre is alive in a roaring production of one of the Bard’s most iconic shows. In this building on the outskirts of campus is a production that would get even Nick Bottom to change his mind on Shakespeare.

This show, adapted and directed by Laura Flanagan, runs about 90 minutes as opposed to the usual two-and-a-half-hour runtime. Flanagan cut the show herself in order to achieve a full production on a Second Stage level, which worked very well. The goal of the Second Stage program is to highlight the actors and their ability to bring the text to life. 

As of 2016, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is the most performed Shakespeare play in the United States, making up 7% of all major notable Shakespeare performances globally, according to one archive. There is a good reason for that, too — it is a fun story full of silly and farcical hijinks, but also involves sweet and heartwarming love. Over the last nearly 430 years since it was written, it has brought joy to countless audiences around the world.

The cast was made up primarily of sophomore Bachelor of Fine Arts candidates in acting for stage and screen as part of their degree requirements. The setup in the theater was unique, allowing audience members to sit in more traditional seating but with five less traditional seats on either side of the stage. Untraditionally, actors were visible for the entirety of the show and when not “on stage” sat just behind those on-stage seats. 

Kevin Rome played Robin Goodfellow, famously nicknamed Puck, and he brought the perfect upbeat, exciting and — not to forget — mischievous tone to the iconic troublemaker. As light on his feet as the character is, Rome was also very grounded in his performance and managed to fill the entire stage with nothing but his presence alone.

Within the world of fairies, Titania, the queen of fairies, was brought to life really well through Yara Raymond’s royal performance. She excelled in creating such elegance and charm on stage, and out of all the performances, she was especially powerful even when she was idle off stage. She held the space in character while not steering the audience’s eye from the story at hand.

Straying from the fairy world was Jayden Adam-Ruiz as Nick Bottom — though it must be noted that this is different from the one portrayed in “Something Rotten!” Adam-Ruiz brought so much joy to the thespian-turned-donkey. While the entire troupe of performers brought unspeakable joy to the show, it was Adam-Ruiz who lit up the audience throughout.

On the completely human side of things, the major love square — or whatever the term is when four people are involved — was done brilliantly by Nash Rahman (Hermia), Sarah Mwangi (Lysander), Lara Botha (Helena) and Aaron Eichenlaub (Demetrius). This quartet of performances was woven so perfectly together through love, delusion, scorn and pure character. 

The relationship between Lysander and Hermia, notably with how Lysander was gender-swapped from the original text, really shone through from the very start with Mwangi and Rahman’s stellar performance.

Meanwhile, Helena’s fruitless initial attempts at Demetrius were elevated by Botha and Eichenlaub, especially when they first found themselves in the woods. Botha’s pleas and true yearning for Eichenlaub, whose only desire for her is that she get away, were brilliantly funny and a wonderful experience to witness. 

While the show executed on the Second Stage model was well done, there were notable pieces of the story that were missing, given the play’s consolidated nature. Considering Flanagan managed to cut nearly half of the show, the work of adaptation was incredibly well done but a few story moments fell through, notably between Oberon and Titania. It was clear that Oberon wanted the young child that Titania had, but much of his reasoning and understanding of their relationship got lost in the cuts. This is one of a few things that gets cut and causes confusion in an otherwise perfect adaptation.

Additionally, while the show’s laughter was very joyous, it could also get overly absurd at times. With too much absurdity, nonsense becomes the norm, and therefore no longer has the same spark as before. The show did a good job of mixing up the silliness most of the time, but in some moments, it started to drag on the same attempts for too long.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” did exactly what it set out to do and exactly what a Second Stage production ought to look like. It highlighted the actors’ use of a brilliantly adapted text under Flanagan’s direction. With a brilliant cast, this show was a must-see this School of Dramatic Arts season. While the show only ran for five performances, each show surely had audiences leaving and reciting “Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears / The passion of loud laughter never shed.”