Guthrie leader reimagines ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ for a new generation in uncertain times

The last time the Guthrie Theater put on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Barack Obama was nearing the end of his presidency, Joe Dowling was closing out his 20-year artistic directorship and Puck was played by Tyler Michaels like an acrobatic simian. What was once a high-flying reverie in relatively halcyon times now takes on a whole new edge as Joseph Haj stages the Shakespearean rom-com for a new generation.

Haj is bringing a musicality and lyricism to the show, tapping longtime collaborator Jack Herrick to set some of the script to music.

“Everybody comes into the world with an idea about what a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ or a ‘Hamlet’ or a ‘Midsummer’ should look like based on their own experiences,” Haj said. “The delight of coming back to a play like this that has been done multiple times across 60 years is the fun, just seeing how someone else is going to treat that same stack of words.”

Haj has tapped Broadway actor Remy Auberjonois to play the dramatically incompetent Nick Bottom in a cast that includes Regina Marie Williams, William Sturdivant and Jimmy Kieffer as Puck.

We caught up with Haj before a recent rehearsal. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: What is your history with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”?

A: I made a production of it at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that opened in March 2020. It was to run for nine months out there but for obvious reasons related to COVID, it closed after only two performances after opening.

Q: Oy. What did you discover in that production?

A: When directors are invited to stage a work, they read the play and read around the play. I stumbled on a bit of research that suggests that Shakespeare wrote “Midsummer” for a wedding. While the couple for whom it was written is lost to history, the thought of the playwright explicitly writing it as a gift to a couple getting married makes so much sense, because it neatly lays out these examinations of partnered love. There’s the quartet of young lovers for whom love is all heat and appetite and at the other end there’s Titania and Oberon who have literally been married for millennia. Then you have [Amazon queen] Hippolyta and [Athenian conqueror] Theseus, and they have a forced, arranged marriage that’s trying to become a love marriage. And even in Bottom’s transformation into an ass, we have a mature man who we may believe love has passed by. But at least in his dream he is partnered with the most extraordinary creature in the universe. So that information just broke the play wide open for me.

Q: Did you intend to bring it here?

A: Well, I didn’t know if I’d ever have the opportunity to make it here because it was such a signature production for Joe Dowling, who made it multiple times across 20 years. But then COVID happens and now it’s 10 years since the last time. So, we have a whole new generation that hasn’t seen it. And when we were making the Histories, which was a three-year process, we thought, what could be in conversation and almost a counterweight to that.

Q: Please explain how you relate the marathon History Plays to “Midsummer”?

A: The Histories are these big interrogations of power and leadership. “Midsummer” is different in temperature and tone. If we think of the History Plays as a clenched fist, we can think of “Midsummer” as an open hand.

Q: “Midsummer” is one of the earliest romantic comedies in the canon, but it’s sometimes interpreted as a literal or metaphorical clown show. What’s your take on that?

A: The best of the rom-coms, like “When Harry Met Sally,” are funny and effervescent but also touching and moving. We’re working hard to build a production that isn’t just a riotous gossamer confection. Sure, it’s silly and it’s funny but it’s also tender and sweet.

Q: The rude mechanicals, who put on a play within the play, are often portrayed as silly dolts. Do you think they’ve been misinterpreted?

A: Absolutely. Those characters aren’t clowns, they’re artisans, and astounding ones. What’s ridiculous is that they try to make a play and they have absolutely no idea how to do that. That’s what’s funny about it, like sending me to the costume shop and saying, “Joe, make a suit.” It’s not my thing, so the funny comes from that engine.

Q: You’re making this play in a time when leaders are held in high suspicion. How are we to regard what the Rude Mechanicals are doing for the king and queen?

A: They want to share something truly beautiful, not ridicule them. My wife, Deirdre, shared a story that I don’t think is apocryphal. It’s about how Queen Elizabeth I was going by carriage somewhere and passing a village whose people wanted to do something beautiful for her but didn’t really have much. The best thing about this village was this gorgeous old tree that was far away from the road. So, they cut down this tree and dragged it over to the side of the road where Queen Elizabeth could see it as her carriage passed. It’s both beautiful and awful but that idea of wanting to do something beautiful is the register that we’re playing in.

Q: That sounds almost tragically sincere in a play that also has fairies. How are we treating those?

A: Look, we’re pushing hard against a kind of flitty, gossamer fairy world. Sure, they can put a girdle around the globe in 30 minutes and have a lot of magic. But Puck is not Tinker Bell. The fairies and the gods relate in a very human way. It’s just that when they fight, the put the seasons upside down and throws the world out of harmony. It helps enormously that we have a 6-foot-5 actor [Kieffer] as Puck.

Q: Which brings me back to Joe Dowling’s “Midsummer.” Have you spoken with him?

A: We had coffee recently. And he was thrilled that we’re making it. I know that people saw and loved his production, and that it’s hard to free oneself from expectations, and yet I think it is in fact necessary to do it. How do we make a play so we don’t feel like we’re carrying the burden, the luggage and ghosts of past productions?

Q: And your answer?

A: You know, these great texts are just inkblots. They are what we make of them, and I’m hopeful that folks will enjoy seeing a production that is not contemplating all the past productions of the play. In this moment at this time trying to make a play guided by love, sincerity and generosity feels itself like a revolutionary act.

Who: By William Shakespeare. Directed by Joseph Haj.

Where: Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 1 & 7:30 p.m. Sat., 1 & 7 p.m. Sun. Ends March 23.

Tickets: $32-$92, 612-377-2224, guthrietheater.org.