CALIFORNIA SHAKESPEARE COMPANY OPENED THE FINAL SHOW of its 2013-14 season Saturday with a fresh and lovely rendering of the Bard’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Director Shana Cooper incorporates dance and other directed movement into the production, lending a graceful aspect to this zany, mixed-up fantasy about four pairs of lovers who all seem to require some intervention before they can rest in their love.

The special visuals in the Cal Shakes production provide a calming thread that helps the audience follow the character groupings and the complex connections they form along the story’s convoluted path.

One especially intriguing example occurs early in the second act, as fairy king Oberon and his queen Titania (Daisuke Tsuji and Erika Chong Shuch, respectively) are engaged in a heated marital spat. Their words fade in importance as a broad ribbon of soft, white cloth serves to illustrate their argument visually. The actors’ scripted, acrobatic movements and the fluid, twisting curtain together create a dream-like, visceral representation of their passionate quarrel, emphasizing the larger underlying issue of the pair’s struggle between the momentary antagonism they’re feeling toward each other and the deeper-rooted affection that stubbornly draws them together.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a complicated story. The plot isn’t too hard to follow on the stage, but it may be more tricky to summarize on paper. Let’s have a go:

As Theseus anxiously awaits his wedding to Hippolyta, Egeus (James Carpenter) comes begging the duke to force his daughter (Tristan Cunningham as Hermia) to marry Demetrius (Nicholas Pelczar), who spurns the advances of Hermia’s love-crazed friend Helena (Lauren English).

Meanwhile, Oberon, frustrated in his attempts to get Titania to release her adopted son, has his fairy servant Puck (Danny Scheie) trick her into falling in love with an ass (Margo Hall as enchanted amateur actor Bottom), while using the same potion to make Demetrius fall for Helena, on whom he has taken pity.

But Puck accidentally hexes Hermia’s true love Lysander (Dan Clegg), who then abruptly disavows his love for her in favor of Helena — until the spell is later reversed.

Bottom forgets all about rehearsals for his play about frustrated lovers Pyramus (Bottom) and Thisbe (Craig Marker as Flute), and in her bewitched and confused state Titania finally gives up her son to Oberon, who in turn releases her from the spell. Now newly restored, Bottom returns to his troupe just in time to perform the comically flawed play, which curiously parallels the larger story, for the duke.

I think that’s everything …

The play-within-a-play provides comic relief on a most basic level. Liam Vincent is a joy to watch as director Quince, trying in vain to get his actors to deliver their lines on cue, while Snout (Catherine Castellanos) does his best to portray the wall, and the chink in the wall, through which Pyramus and Thisbe must communicate. Marker is hilarious as the ungainly male actor poorly outfitted as the feminine Thisbe, with stark red lipstick and ruffles that hang in all the wrong places.

Fairy prankster Puck is always a favorite character in “Dream,” and Scheie does him up royally. In fact, the actor may be having just a little too much fun in the role, chewing the scenery to such an extent that at times he becomes a show to himself. Scheie tends to strike a commanding pose and a brash — rather than playfully mischievous — tone.

Chuch, who plays Titania, Hippolyta and ensemble roles, is also the production’s movement director, which is far and away her greatest contribution — not to knock her stage performance, which is flawless. It’s just so clearly evident the hard work that must have gone into the creative and beautifully executed choreography.

And that’s what makes the Cal Shakes production so uniquely wonderful — aside from the usual inspired acting, quality costuming (Katherine O’Neill) and unobtrusive but beautiful and evocative sets (Nina Ball).

There is much to love in this inspired season-closer. The Cal Shakes troupe makes it easy and fun to follow the twists and turns in one of the Bard’s best-loved comedies. The production maintains the integrity of the historic work while lending it a special beauty with the addition of choreographed movement. Enjoy this last chance of the season to see some of the Bay Area’s best outdoor theater.

If You Go
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” continues at the Bruns Amphitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way, Orinda through Sunday, Sept. 28. Tickets are $20 to $72 and are available by calling 510-548-9666 or online at calshakes.org.

Elizabeth Warnimont is a freelance writer specializing in the performing arts. She is also a substitute teacher for the Benicia Unified School District.