Holly Santero
Reporter
@Santerocourant
photo contributed by Perannos
Rhymes and Shakespearean couplets are in the air as the NCHS theatre prepares for its hilarious Dr. Seuss inspired drama, which parodies the Shakespeare play, A Midsummer’s Night Dream.
The upperclassman production includes a diverse cast, including senior newcomer Dean Wertz and the only sophomore cast member, Jack Dahill.
All of the members of the cast have different theatre backgrounds that have influenced their portrayals of “Seussified” Shakespeare characters.“I’ve been doing theatre since I was five years old and I’ve learned to find a balance between how I want to play the role and how the character is supposed to be portrayed,” said junior Jennifer Daly, who will be playing one of the main love interests, Helena.
Senior Kyle Street, who plays Demetrius, Helena’s love interest, has a background in playing supporting roles. “For Tom Sawyer I was backstage as a part of the orchestra, while for Little Women I was onstage. But each one prepared me for all aspects of theatre,” he said. “When it came to this play and acting as one of the lead roles, it really helps to know everything.”
With a newcomer as well as a sophomore, the diverse cast has been preparing diligently for opening night. “We’ve been working really hard on the show and everyone’s put in a lot of effort and their best acting,” Jennifer said. “I expect a really good show and a great response from the audience because it’s a very funny and comedic show.”
The play, unlike past productions, does not include any singing or dancing. Instead, it focuses solely on acting. “It is a lot easier in some ways to only focus on acting because you can focus on every aspect of the character,” Kyle said. “You can get into character a lot more in terms of emotion, the way you walk, and the way you react to what other people say.”
Besides learning the basics of acting, the actors had to cope with the surprising challenge of following the rhyming dialogue. “In order to incorporate rhyme and say all of the words correctly you have to know your exact lines, which I found very challenging,” Dean said.
Rhyming is not the only “Seussified” addition to the play; a twist on narrators as well as vibrant stage set ups can be expected as well. “The characters are very seussified in a sense that the two narrators are like Thing One and Thing Two from Cat in the Hat,” Kyle said. “So it’s way over-the-top, more of a comedy than the original, a lot of bright colors, and a lot of seuss-like shapes.”
The actors have high expectations for the opening of the play this Thursday, and hope to hear many laughs from the audience.“What makes this play unique is the big, bright colors, the crazy and wacky wigs,” Jack said. “It keeps that Shakespearean style humor of puns and tiny jokes but at the same time it really sets you up for some big laughs with physical comedy.”
