PHS Drama Perfoms A Midsummer Night's Dream

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By Ciera Lundberg

You probably read A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare in English. Or maybe you even saw the show when you were a kid on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. You know, where that red-headed kid is a fairy and Cody gets the donkey head? Good stuff. You really are more cultured than you think. Or maybe you saw the show in its most impressive form to date. That is when our drama department here at PHS performed it over this last weekend.

                The show was great. It was funny and entertaining, but the most impressive thing about the performance was the acting. I mean, seriously, those kids should be on the next 007 movie or something.

                Unlike most plays where there are generally only 1 or 2 leads, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has 9. Those 9 main characters are split up into 4 groups: The Lovers, the Court, the Fairies, and the Rustics.

The 4 characters that make up the Lovers group are Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius. Hermia and Helena, who are played by Marisa Ruiz and Ciera Lundberg, are the women of the group. Lysander and Demetrius, played by Dayan Solis and Jared Gheen are, as you might have guessed, the men. As the name implies, they are all in love with each other. They do switch around a bit, but they all end up with the right person for them in the end.

The Court is made up of a bunch of different people, but there is only one main character in that group. Theseus, played by Brady Clark, is the king who is getting married in a couple of days to his woman. He is a big-hearted guy who likes to give advice to his subjects.

The Fairies are made up of 3 main characters: Puck, Oberon, and Titania. Oberon, played by Austin Perry, and Titania, played by Kalee Doyl, are the fairy king and queen. They argue a lot, and Oberon likes to play tricks on Titania. Puck, played by Mckenna Stewart, is Oberon’s evil henchman who wreaks havoc on Titania and the Lovers.

Then there are the Rustics. The Rustics is a group of poor guys trying to put together a play for the King’s wedding night. There are quite a few Rustics in the show, but there is one that stands out above the rest. His name is Bottom, and he is played by Spencer Parks. Bottom is the leader of the group, and he loves the attention he gets for his superb acting skills. 

Shakespeare was an interesting man. What would possess him to create a play with so many main characters? Maybe he was trying to create some sort of form of equality between his cast members. But who knows? Either way, the show performed by the young actors and actresses here at Payson High was fantastic. Well acted, and well directed by Mr. Allred. Congrats, Mr. Allred! But too bad you’ll never have such a good cast ever again!

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By Ciera Lundberg
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