Alberta Ballet makes Bruce Wells' magical Dream come true

For some, Shakespeare means the greatest literature the English language has ever known, while for others it means high school agony; plowing one’s way through Renaissance English with the help of Spark notes.

But Bruce Wells came along with an adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to simplify both story and language without sacrificing the essential magic and theatrical charm of the original. Made as a family-oriented production over 30 years ago for Boston Ballet and set to Mendelssohn’s remarkable musical score, Wells took his inspiration from dancing and learning from the great choreographer George Balanchine’s version of Shakespeare’s most durable romantic comedy.

Wells’ ballet has become an accessible entry point for many over the years and not merely for those who love the play or fans of the stage who might enjoy seeing it brought to life as a fantasy piece. Wells’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream is for everyone, a seamless and effective adaptation which creates a visually enticing spectacle placed firmly in the tradition of the plummiest of narrative ballets.  

And for those who have never seen Dream danced, it makes them want to know more about Shakespeare. With all its fairy enchantments, Wells has created a Dream come true.

Act II alone was worth it. With most of the narrative exposition finished, the last 30 minutes could focus on non-stop dance action, a splendid surfeit of styles merged together culminating in a final wedding scene with Nutcracker-sized opulence.  

Most impressive was the pacing throughout, thanks not only to the production team’s choreographic direction but intrinsically to Pierre Lavoie’s magical mood-enhancing lighting of Lewis Folden’s overgrown sylvan set design. The atmosphere of ancient magicalness seemed to propel the production forward in the most natural manner possible and it effectively pulled the audience along with it.

The narrative flow-through is seamless, never drags, engages its audience on literary and visual levels but best of all, this Dream tells a sweet tale through conventional classical dance without rendering the movement language stale. You want to see this ballet because Wells’ command of the technical and poetic language makes you want to see it.

I saw the Friday night cast because I was delayed returning Thursday for opening night. To my delight, Alan Ma danced an impish Puck perfectly and moved splendidly as Oberon’s chief instigator of chaos. Easily the ballet’s first star who stole the show, Ma was lithe, virtually flawless, landed his jumps and turns with ease and most importantly, never let a single curvilinear movement lapse into dulled straight lines.  

The energy and smoothness Ma brought to the role was an all-around win for the production. So much of Wells’ ballet rests indispensably with a Puck who isn’t merely athletic or a good pantomime actor. Instead, the motion-intense choreography infuses Puck’s character with the responsibility of driving the plot beyond the confines of Oberon and Titania’s marital spat over the adoption of a changeling boy. Puck equals impish chaos — it’s hard to dance that kind of role well. But Alan Ma was a natural fit to make it all happen the way you think it should.

The four lovers were all effective dancers and actors. Alexandra Gibson’s Helena was the perfect counterpoint to Mariko Kondo’s Hermia and their jealousy and frustration, even isolation — their trials of love was captured well in fluid arm and shoulder movement and graceful pose.

Zacharie Dun’s Lysander and Kelley McKinlay’s Demetrius were excellent sparring partners in their duelling fisticuffs in Act II. Partnering throughout both acts was generally careful and seamless, while their pantomiming left us with a clear sense of what the plot was about, even without reading the synopsis.  

Garrett Groat was a regal Oberon to Jennifer Gibson’s demure Titania. And what a pleasure it was to see alumnus Blair Puente commanding centre stage at the end of the ballet as Egeus calling for the climactic weddings. The “tradesmen” played their slapstick roles for all they were worth including Eli Barnes’s Nick Bottom who stood out especially well in his scenes with Jennifer Gibson’s Titania.

But among everyone’s favourites were the young students and their older counterparts, the artists of the Alberta Ballet School. Opening the evening with sprites who were in the seven- to nine-year-old class was the perfect beginning. Directed by Natalie Nadeau-Hope, the students of the Alberta Ballet School were excellent throughout as fairies, sprites, and assorted pixies. In every way, they were as much the stars of the show as Ma’s performance of Puck and Folden and Lavoie’s stage and lighting design.  

In the end, it was the students and artists of the Alberta Ballet School who made the show and left the audience with a smile on their faces, taking away their portion of the evening’s theatre magic out of the Jubilee Auditorium and along for their drive home.