A Natural Set

Nature has always had a vital role in William Shakespeare’s plays. Indeed, it is hard to imagine King Lear without the storm or The Tempest without the, ahem, tempest. Nature is an undeniable presence in countless Shakespearean plays, and it is in nature that the characters’ undergo trials, complications and eventually self-realization.

Baileys Harbor’s Door Shakespeare Theatre Company has long realized the importance of nature in Shakespeare’s plays and is celebrating its tenth season. Along with Cyrano de Bergerac, the company is performing Shakespeare’s beloved comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream this year, a play practically made for an outdoor setting.

No set other than one made by Mother Nature could ever quite capture the danger, beauty and untamed quality of the natural world Shakespeare evokes while at the same time providing a backdrop for the revelation of the paradoxically simple and complicated elements of human nature in the play.

Stewart Dawson, the set designer at Door Shakespeare, seemed to understand that it was more about what he didn’t do than what he did in designing a set for Midsummer. The set doesn’t use man-made constructs other than props; there are no flats, no platforms and no curtains. Instead, the play unfolds within the tree-lined garden at Bjِrklunden, the 405-acre property owned by Lawrence University. Although most of the Door Shakespeare plays take place in the garden, this one completely relies on the landscape to provide the setting for the play.

Performing outside enables the cast to play off of nature in their acting. Jennefer Ludwigsen, in her seventh summer at Door Shakespeare, plays Hermia in Midsummer and says “…in a lot of [Shakespeare’s] plays, nature is sort of its own character.” Being outside enables the cast to “…really use the space; when you’re talking to the heavens at night, you can really actually do it, and when you’re running through the forest, you’re actually running through the forest…to have that truly there is a great gift.”

Of course, there are obstacles that arise from being in such a vast, unpredictable venue.

“I think you have the danger of losing the intimacy of being able to just talk on stage,” Ludwigsen says. “Shakespeare is big [and] does require a kind of stage energy and vocal energy that lends itself to outdoor theatre,” though the more conversational plays such as Cyrano de Bergerac are more difficult to perform outdoors.

Ludwigsen says it’s a challenge to use the space the actors are in.

“You have to acknowledge that [you] are outside, and you’re not just playing between two people, you’re playing to the whole world…you have to fill the space while maintaining a sense of reality and truth…” And of course, “you’re competing against the wind and the waves and rainouts.”

The benefits, however, far outweigh the negatives. One need only to hear a Shakespearean soliloquy set to a chorus of summer insects or watch the sun set in brilliant hues upon a group of star-crossed lovers in the woods, to realize that seeing an outdoor performance is no ordinary theatrical experience. For Shakespeare lovers and newcomers alike, the Door Shakespeare performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an opportunity to see the play as it was meant to be performed – under the stars, with a summer breeze whispering through the trees. As this classic story of love, confusion, and mischief unfolds within the beautiful Bjِrklunden garden, it is clear why outdoor theatre is so special.