issue 23 // volume 43 arts // no. 7 Shakespearean comedy with a sinister spin > Balancing humour and darkness in ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ Caroline Ho Arts Editor pening this weekend, Douglas College’s Departments of Theatre and Stagecraft & Technology are bringing to the stage A Midsummer Night’s Dream, presenting a considerably darker take on the tale than one might expect for this classic Shakespearean comedy. Director Thrasso Petras opted for A Midsummer Night’s Dream partly because it offers many potential approaches, giving cast and crew a lot of room for experimentation. “It’s the kind of play that’s expansive,” said Petras. “You could produce it in so many different ways. There’s so many options, because it’s a fantastical world.” Against the backdrop of an upcoming wedding between the Duke of Athens and the Queen of the Amazons, the play follows several groups of characters. Four young Athenians, entangled ina knot of clandestine love, flee into the forest. A troupe of six amateur actors, the Mechanicals, are rehearsing fora play that they will perform at the royal wedding. Meanwhile, the King and Queen of the Fairies are embroiled in their own disputes, and human and fairy romances become entwined through a blend of mishaps and magic. Petras’ approach to. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is primarily inspired by a production of the play that he saw in Munich, Germany, in 2009. Although he doesn’t speak German, the play was so intense and visceral that he felt he would have been able to follow along even if he hadn’t already been familiar with the plot. And what especially stuck out about this production, he said, was how dark it was— even as a comedy celebrating a marriage, Grammy country spotlight > Country album winners also deserve recognition Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist he Grammy Awards this year had many big moments that a lot of people have been talking about. While everyone has been focusing on the big winners this year, including Adele, Beyoncé, and David Bowie, there has not been a lot of attention on the winners in the country categories. The albums that won in these categories are hidden gems and you will enjoy them, even if you are not a fan of country music. You will likely recognize some of these singers because they recently performed on Saturday Night Live. Shakespeare’s text doesn’t shy away from violence and abuse in relationships. The Douglas Theatre Department’s production will be along a similar vein. Petras said that audiences who have seen darker productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream will likely “get it,” but it may be more of a surprise to people who are only familiar with the more light- hearted, fantastic side of the story. Striking the right level of darkness and presenting the grimmer aspects both impactfully and sensitively, said Petras, has been the biggest challenge. “How do we deal with this material in a way that’s not glossing over it and at the same time in a way that’s not irreverent?” He admits he doesn’t have a concrete answer quite yet, but that is one powerful reason for staging this production: “That’s the point, that there are no real answers, we have to deal with things as they come up and accept that there are dark aspects to humanity.” However, audiences won't be totally mired in despair, as the play is still very much a comedy, and it will have about a } equal amounts of humour and darkness. a W Comedic elements are interspersed sa throughout the play, giving the audience a perfect balance of sombre and silly, mainly with the antics of the Mechanicals as they practice for their play within a play. The key to being humorous as an actor (or as an actor playing an actor), said Petras, is to commit to the character and to figure out his or her objectives. Rather than merely trying to show how funny something is, an actor should be true to the writing and to what the character really wants. He explained, “Whether you're a character playing a character, or just a character, regardless of how many levels there are, if you commit to that and go to the extreme that’s indicated in the text, that’s what’s going to be funny.” A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens at the Laura C. Muir Performing Arts Theatre on Friday, March 17, and runs until March 24, with a free preview on March 16 at 7:30 p.m. Details on tickets and shows can be found at midsummeratdouglas.bpt.me. me ee) ee) never did run smooth Directed Ti aia eT ee March 17- 24, 2017 Laura C. Muir Performing Arts Theatre SiS ere eT ait te ast Ua ee ih] Image via douglascollege.ca Maren Morris —- Hero Winner of the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance, the 26-year-old Arlington singer rocked the country music scene with her first major label album. Maren Morris is considered to be the next Taylor Swift in terms of music, except let’s hope that Morris will not end up like Swift, as far as public image. Also, Morris looks like Selena Gomez. Hero has both pop and country songs. The album begins with “Sugar,” which has the most country line in the album: “Like a Coca-Cola on Christmas Day.” The Grammy-winning song “My Church’ talks about Morris’ type of church and the backing vocals sound like a gospel choir. The track “I Could Use a Love Song” sounds like the Shania Twain song “Forever and for Always.” One of my favourite songs on Hero, “80s Mercedes,” sounds great and it has a lot of bass when played with great speakers. The song “Just Another Thing” has all of the sounds you would expect from a pop song. Occasionally, Morris swears throughout the album, which is something that you would not expect in a country album, though I have heard Blake Shelton swear on his album Based on a True Story. Hero is one of the reasons why Maren Morris is the next big country star. Image via Maren Morris Sturgill Simpson — A Sailor’s Guide to Earth fe Sturgill Simpson provides a guide to getting around Earth by ship in his next album. The winning record for Best Country Album explores the world ina very interesting way. On the back of the album it says that the album has “to be played at maximum volume” or simply put, played loudly. This is because there are a lot of surrounding effects and interesting sounds throughout. While this album is country, it sounds like a soul album because the Dap- Kings are involved in it. The first song, “Welcome to Earth,” sets the mood of the album, and midway through the song, it sounds like soul. In “Sea Stories,’ Simpson mentions a lot of cities in Japan. When you listen to track five, you first think that he is singing a country song until you realize that he is doing a country-soul version of Nirvana’s first hit single “In Bloom.” The hit single from A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, “Brace for Impact,” is so loud that it will cause the room to shake. The album truly allows you to experience what it is like riding on a ship. Image via Sturgill Simpson