A Midsummer Night's Dream:

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of his finest comedies.  It deals with three plots, connected by the upcoming wedding of the dictatorial Duke of Athens to the warrior queen, Hippolyta.  The plots weave together as the play unfolds.  It was written in about 1595 but is as fresh and funny now as it was then.  The Tater Patch Players’ 2008 interpretation of the play will be lively and unique – no traditional velvet-gowned Shakespeare here.   The audience will meet lots of wonderful young fairies, Athenians who looked as if they stepped out some South American “banana republic” and a crazy group of blue collar guys who try to put on a show to win a prize from the Duke – kind of “Athenian Idol”.  Now that you have the outline, here are some details.

The play opens with an enraged father, his young daughter, and her two suitors, followed closely by her best friend, who loves one of the young men. The two pairs of young lovers get their loves and their lives into a terrible tangle, with some “help” from Puck, a mysterious elf-like fellow who sometimes makes mistakes in his enthusiasm to make mischief.  Now, pay attention here, because it’s going to get complicated: The lovers are Hermia, who loves Lysander but has been promised by her strict father to Demetrius.  She must marry him, enter a convent, or die according to the laws of Athens.  Demetrius, who also loves Hermia, is loved by Hermia’s best friend, Helena.  He wants nothing to do with Helena and treats her with complete scorn.  They all end up in the enchanted forest one Midsummer night.  Lysander and Hermia are eloping, Demetrius is chasing them trying to get his fiancée back, and Helena is chasing Demetrius, still trying to win his love. 

They have no idea that the woods are full of fairies, who are coming to honor the Duke on his wedding day. The king of the fairies, Oberon, asks Puck to bring him a particular flower to make a potion that will make anyone, when he or she awakes, fall helplessly in love with the first thing he or she sees.   Oberon wants to use the flower’s magic to make his wife, Titania, fall helplessly in love with some very unattractive creature.  He’s trying to embarrass her to end their quarrel over custody of an orphan boy.  When Oberon learns of the love-tangle of the four humans, he tells Puck to use some of the flower potion to straighten it out.  But Puck uses the potion on the wrong lover and the confusion gets worse.  Still with the story so far?

Meanwhile, as the saying goes, back in the forest, another complication arises.  A groups of six local workmen have gotten together to put on a play to entertain the Duke at his wedding feast, in hopes of winning his favor and a bag of gold coins.  These “rude mechanicals” as Shakespeare calls them, are anything but actors.  But they are determined to play out their stories as if they were competing for an Oscar.  While they are rehearsing in the woods (so their competitors can’t see them and steal their ideas) Puck transforms one of them by giving him the head of a donkey, and then placing him where Titania will see him when she awakes.  The “romance” between the beautiful queen and the donkey-headed workman gives rise to some of Shakespeare’s best-loved lines.

Of course, it will all work out in the end.  Everyone will end up with the right person, and after the triple-wedding, the “rude mechanicals” will present their play to the party-goers.  Their efforts at great drama make for some great comedy.  And to make the evening perfect, the entire court of the Fairy King and Queen will pay a magical visit.

To top off the evening’s magic, the play will be performed at Twelve Stone Farm.  This beautiful, rolling farm, with views of the mountains is just to the west of Jasper.  Directions are at the end of this article.  The show dates are July 11,12,13,17,18,19. Because of the size of the performing area, seated will be limited, so tickets will be sold for each individual night of the show, in contrast to Tater Patch’s usual general-admission seating policy.  Tickets may be purchased, with cash or check, at Jasper Drugs, on Main Street in Jasper, at Hollywood FX Studio in the Kroger shopping center, at Chestatee Bank at Foothills Shopping Center. 

Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $8 for students.  The show times are 8 PM every show except Sunday, July 13, which will be a 2PM matinee.  Patrons are invited to come early and bring a picnic to enjoy before the show.  Snacks and beverages will be sold before the show and at intermission.

DIRECTIONS TO TWELVE STONE FARM: Take Ga. 515 to six miles north of Jasper ,turn onto  Highway 136 West. Go two miles to fork in highway, Take Left fork, Highway 136 Connector. Go one mile to first road on right, Bunch Court. Turn right, go 1/2 mile to Farm entrance on right.

From Highway 53: From Jasper, take Highway 53 West approximately 8 miles to cluster of stores called Hinton, Turn Right onto Highway 136 Connector. Go two miles to first road on left, Bunch Court, turn left and farm entrance is 1/2 mile on right.

From Fairmont: Take Highway 53 East approximately 10 miles to cluster of stores called Hinton, Turn Left onto Ga. Highway 136 Connector. Go 2 miles to first road on left, Bunch Court. Turn left, go 1/2 mile to farm entrance on right.