‘Bottom’ tops show at Monmouth> Character portrayal carries Shakespeare production

You can’t do better than Shakespeare. Few would argue the point. Should you be looking for fun, romance, lighthearted comedy and fantasy, then it must be “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The Theater at Monmouth is trying its hand at this much-loved favorite this season, and the actors succeed best when they deal from the “Bottom” of the deck.

Bottom, easily one of Shakespeare’s best known and best loved parts, is the self-promoting actor (a redundancy) of the play within a play. Played by Charles Weinstein with gusto and panache, he steals the show, which, sadly, is like taking candy from the Changeling Boy.

There would seem to be two casts, two directors, virtually two plays on stage. The group surrounding Bottom, the cast of the play within a play, brings joy, light and evenhanded, comprehensible articulation to its motley crew. Adam Burke as the wall, Mark S. Cartier as Quince and Ryan McCarthy as Starveling all do fine work. Joshua Scharback as Flute and Mark F. LeBlanc as Snug and the lion physically fill their roles — which have virtually no lines — so completely that they sparkle like diamonds. This troupe of players within the play steals the show from the show itself.

The weaknesses of the main cast are shown up by the cast of the internal play. Shakespeare’s plays are poetry with movement. Thank goodness no attempt was made to use an English accent. The cast had serious trouble making many lines intelligible while rushing through them. Dana Claire Gotlieb as Hermia spent most of the play rushing her lines into incomprehensibility. By contrast, Devon Louise Jencks as Helena stands out. She seems to understand what she is saying and has managed to convey that understanding beyond the edge of the stage.

The small stage has been used extremely well, opening a relative shoebox into night in the forest. Yet movement within that space is limited and shuffling. John C. Hume as Peaseblossom moves easily over the stage, giving an androgynous lightness and movement to his role. However, Joan Jubett as Titania-Hippolyta moves with a leaden foot. At one point, she sits with her hands hanging between her legs looking for all the world like she is playing Annie Oakley. As for Puck, played by Geoffrey Molloy, he almost flies, but lacks the airy lightness of a magical wood creature.

If this is the stuff which dreams are made of, then the performers should talk to one another, not at one another. All too often, especially among the lovers, Andrew Shulman as Demetrius, David Harbour as Lysander, and Gotlieb, the confrontations become battling monologues instead of conversations. Why should your lover listen if you can’t be understood? Robert Walsh as Oberon understands and overstates, often sounding more like the fury of Macbeth than the fury of the fairies.

If any one factor weighs this production down, it is the costumes of Jennifer Dark. The fairies seem to have been costumed with Jesse Helms in mind. Heaven forbid we should see a leg that isn’t tightly wrapped in leotard. Puck looked like a refugee from a grade-B Robin Hood movie. David Harbour needs to stop pulling at the back of his costume when someone else has a line.

The set by Cathleen Behles is workable and appropriately sparse. The lights of Mark O’Maley provide atmosphere; it is not his fault when actors cannot find their spot.

Ultimately, director Michael O’Brien must take responsibility for a production that is heavy of foot and word. While there are those — Jencks, Weinstein, Scharback and LeBlanc — who are lost in a night dream, most of the cast is caught in an afternoon snooze.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is running in repertory through Aug. 30 with “The Miser,” “Hamlet,” “Shadowlands” and “Aladdin.” For tickets and information, call 933-9999.