Sometimes the show you see isn’t the one you meant to see.

It was pouring down rain on Sunday when I left the house to see the Muse of Fire production of the Bard’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.  The Muse website assured me that the show would go on.  Even with an umbrella, I was thoroughly wet between crossing from my truck to the covered “auditorium”.  But the venue is really just a fifty foot high metal roof on stilts.  With open sides.  Good light, good crossbreezes, but lots of rain.

At T minus five minutes, the chairs were set, but the audience was huddled near the right side of the building, away from the angry rain blowing in from the other side.    The actors – almost fully costumed – were excitedly swarming around behind the audience, taking shelter just like normal people, not like Shakespearean fairies or goddesses at all.  It’s unusual to get to watch all the backstage effervescence play out in front of the audience.  I don’t think there was a chair without rain in it and more kept falling from holes in the roof.

We were finally warned by Artistic Director Elizabeth Hunter that it was unlikely that the weather would let them perform the full show, but that they were going to do as much as possible.  Even it meant being forced to forego the lights or sound.  Sure enough, the inclement conditions cut us off after three scenes.

Gratefully, those three scenes were very cool.  We met Helena and Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius – the human, love-story performers – while they cavorted among the audience.  We got to see the “rude mechanical” cast of Pyramus and Thisbe – many of the performers of the Extemporaneous Theatre Company – make an entrance in their herky-jerky improv-mobile.  And, finally, we started to meet Puck and the other fey folk.  The best moment of the performance may have been Peaseblossom saying, “Farewell, fair spirits!” but being interrupted after “farewell” by a huge clap of thunder, which reverberated around the exposed, metal building for a solid fifteen seconds.  No other production of “Dream” ever had that.  Puck’s fault, for sure.

I was disappointed not to get to see the show, but you just can’t control the weather.  The production team seemed to do everything in their power, including using good sport Alan Hunter to awkwardly bebop his way down the center aisle holding a boombox for Oberon’s grand entrance.  My only squabble would be that I’d hope that someone declares the rain vouchers good for any other performance.  Even though the program advertises future shows on June 20, June 27-28, and September 2009, the vouchers are only good for an unnamed show a year from now in the spring of 2010.

Thanks again to Elizabeth Hunter and the Muse of Fire team for doing everything they could to try and let us see the performance.