A Midsummer Night's Dream

(Charles Ludlam Theatre, New York; 140 seats; $25)

A Ridiculous Theatrical Company presentation of the play in five acts (one intermission) by Shakespeare. Directed by Everett Quinton.

With: Tim Sozen, Noelle Kalom, Michael Goldfried, Everett Quinton, Wilfredo Medina, John Cassaras, Christine Weiss, Jimmy Szczepanek, Lisa Herbold, Lenys Sama, Michael Van Meter, Mel Nieves, Grant Neale, Beth Dodye Bass, Eureka.

In the seven years since Charles Ludlam's death, his protege Everett Quinton has striven mightily to maintain the wild traditions of the Ridiculous Theatrical Co., and to a large extent he's succeeded better than anyone had any right to expect. With "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Quinton sets a goal Ludlam himself never tried for: a travesty of Shakespeare (at the time of his death, Ludlam had begun work on a production of "Titus Andronicus," but that was for the New York Shakespeare Festival and not his own troupe). "In order for this play to work," a director's note in the program says, "you must believe in fairies."

Quinton's task is all the more daunting because no Shakespeare play has lent itself to more tampering, from high camp to stark Russian expressionist to low comedy and everything along the way, than "Dream." The miracle is that he largely succeeds; this may not be a dream "Dream" but it's rude, crude and lewd, everything a Ridiculous production ought to be. It may not be quite as over the top -- it ain't "Salammbo" or even "Galas"-- as the company has been known to go; this may actually be the first Ridiculous show to suffer from too much respect for text. And like most camp, it suffers for want of the passion that fuels these frolics. Nevertheless, it's a helluva romp.

Choreographed by Barbara Allen. Sets, T. Greenfield; costumes, Ramona Ponce; lighting, Richard Currie; sound, Mark Bennett; wigs and makeup, Zsamira Ronquillo; props, David Schulder, Myrna E. Duarte. Artistic director, Quinton; managing director, Adele Bove. Opened Sept. 29, 1994. Reviewed Sept. 28. Running time: 2 HOURS, 30 MIN.

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