Midsummer for Haters is showing June 3-18, 2022! In this collaboration with Nemesis Theatre Company, Shakespeare’s beloved classic gets a new treatment by the people who can’t stand it, resulting in a kidnapped Amazon, mystified mortals, sadistic fairies, and mechanicals gone wild! Will any of them survive four nights in the magic forest?
We reached out to director Melon Wedick to find out more about her and her experience working on this unique production!
What do you hate about Midsummer?
So. Many. Things. The slapstick lovers, as deep as a mirror. Twee bewinged fairies. Every single one of Puck's speeches. The fact that the changeling business is written to occur offstage, even though it's the main driver of the plot. Titania and Oberon standing still and declaiming at one another. The lovers' relentless takedowns of the mechanicals' performance, which is the only endearing part of the whole play. Hippolyta and Theseus - these huge mythological/historical figures - being used only in a throwaway framing story (and typically double-cast with - and played indistinguishably with - Oberon and Titania, so then you have no idea who anyone is). People you don't care about being casually cruel to each other, and somehow you're meant to find it enchanting. Yeah. We try to change *all* of that. (Well, some of Puck's speeches are still in there.)
What’s your favorite scene in this show? Why?
I have sworn not to pick favorites! But my favorite thing about the *production* is how doing 2 versions simultaneously gives us the opportunity to explore some of our weirdest, wildest ideas. A loving Oberon? Why not? A dead baby? Sure! Amazons who fight with nunchucks? Ok! But at the same time, we get to investigate what it's like if Egeus really cares deeply about Hermia, if Demetrius secretly loves Helena but feels obligated to Hermia, and so on. The two shows get more different by the day and I am so excited to see how it all turns out!
Do you relate to your character or to any character in the show? How similar / different are you?
I'm definitely Peter Quince (who is, in this instance, a stuffed goat). He comes into his rehearsals with big plans that immediately go out the window once his actors open their mouths. Every time I direct a show I start with Big Plans about what I "want," and then the actors come and show me a thousand better and more innovative ideas. The best thing I can do is get out of the way and make sure things don't go *totally* off the rails (unless the rails were a mistake to being with, which should always be considered!). In this case, it happened at auditions! And I couldn't be more pleased.
What's your favorite line in the show?
"There are things in this comedy [...] that will never please."
How did you get into theatre?
I think my first theatre experience was being cast as one of three bunnies in my first-grade class's Easter play. Evidently, whenever anyone forgot their lines I would shout them, "helpfully," from across the stage. Not much has changed.
Do you have any upcoming projects that we should check out?
My next gig will be teaching "Shakespeare Level-Up" with the Moppets, starting in August - which will be all about connecting teens with the tools to better understand and speak Shakespeare's language - and then I'll be directing Julius Caesar for the Moppets as well, which goes up in November. Really excited to be working with them!
Biography
Melon Wedick (director) holds a BA in theater (and philosophy) from Oberlin College and, improbably, a Master's of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Michigan. She is the Artistic Director of Nemesis Theatre Company, and past founding member of the Certain Players (Randolph, VT) and the Greenville Shakespeare Festival (Greenville NH). A lifelong hater of Midsummer, she has enjoyed her first collaboration with The Magnetic Theatre. Past directing projects include 'Measure for Measure,' and 'Hamlet' with the Greenville Shakespeare Festival, 'Hamlet' with Montford Park Players (2018), and 'Coriolanus 2020' (Nemesis). Thanks to the cast and production team for going along with her many, many hare-brained plans for this unusual production, and to Katie and Jess, for going out on this limb with us!
Midsummer for Haters is showing June 3-18, 2022 at The Magnetic Theatre in Asheville, NC. Grab your tickets here: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=134503