It’s Shakespeare As You Like It--Free of Charge

Sometimes, the best things in life really can be free.

And, if you count Shakespeare as among those best things, then you are in luck.

In San Diego this summer, free weekend performances of two Shakespeare productions are being presented: a classically costumed “Romeo and Juliet” by the Spring Valley-based Octad-One Productions and a raucous, modern-robed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by the Naked Shakespeare Company, a subdivision of the Ruse Performance Gallery downtown.

Neither company is professional, but both clearly care about the work they are doing and both present community theater with a healthy emphasis on community by using local actors.

For some of these actors, this is their first chance to perform Shakespeare. But they get audiences, here; so far this summer, locals have been turning out in the hundreds for each weekend show.

Both productions take place outdoors--Octad-One’s is in the amphitheatre outside the East County Performing Arts Center and Ruse Performance Gallery’s is in Alcazar Gardens in Balboa Park--are high-spirited and virtually devoid of props. Without scenery, there are no scene breaks; the plays run swiftly and smoothly without intermissions. The attentive and appreciative audiences need no reservations, and people tend to bring their own chairs and blankets as well as pizzas, Chicken McNuggets and other picnic goodies. The audiences are all ages, and dress is casual--T-shirts, sandals and jeans. Little children have been seen with Cabbage Patch dolls in tow.

Octad-One, now in its 10th year, has found a magical place to present what it calls its Shakespeare-by-the-Lake. The shows begin at 6:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through Aug. 26, so they get their principal lighting first from the sun and then, as the sky darkens, from a spotlight that begins to shine in time for the young lovers’ moonlight balcony speech.

The set design is by none other than Mother Nature; trees and a lake act as backdrop, often enhanced by a gentle breeze.

As directed by Martin F. Gerrish, president and founder of Octad-One, the production emphasizes the innocence and youth of the principal players.

Romeo and Juliet, here, are literally high school-aged; Morgan Brown, who plays Romeo, is still a student at Granite Hills High School and Alexandra Auckland, who plays Juliet, just graduated this year.

If the two are not expert at the subtleties of characterization, they do succeed in capturing the aching loveliness of teen-agers groping to understand the passions ruling them. This production makes it hard to forget that Juliet is only 13 in the play.

More mature performers are here, too, to give balance to the show, particularly Don Pugh as a forceful and charismatic Mercutio, and Bruce Erricson as the anxious Friar Laurence. Jane Hopf earns her share of laughs as Juliet’s ever-pragmatic nurse.

Mark Butler’s sound design romanticizes the mood with gentle incidental music. The fight choreography by Donald Pugh lends an authentic feeling of danger. The director’s wife, Elaine Gerrish, designed the lovely period costumes. And the company, in its program, provides a synopsis of the play.

Ruse Performance Gallery is presenting “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in modern dress--colorful exercise stretch tights and skirts for the women, with shorts and T-shirts for the young men. It’s the first of what director Christopher R hopes will become an annual free Shakespeare presentation by The Naked Shakespeare Company.

As in the Octad-One production, the Naked Shakespeare company benefits from its setting. In the Alcazar Gardens in Balboa Park, the play begins at 4:30 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 23, with one Saturday performance Sept. 1. It is a woodsy grotto that needs no props to conjure up the forest in which the lovers lose themselves. And, happily, the company provides blankets for the audience to sit on.

Christopher R succeeds best when he fosters the natural enthusiasm of his company. The exercise outfits, for example, encourage a welcome playfulness in the actors.

The production falters when ideas appear that are not carried through. What is the point of having Theseus bring in an angry Hippolyta in chains? There is no transition between that scene and the later scenes where she is in love with Theseus.

But this is a minor distraction in what is largely a high-spirited, entertaining romp through the story of four mismatched lovers who go “into the woods” and find everything made right again.

The cast, like that in Octad-One, is a mix of those new to Shakespeare and those familiar with it. Andy Wynn, a sadly under used local actor, stands out as Oberon, the fairy king, who sets things right. Cindy A. Lu, as Oberon’s messenger sprite, Puck, has some genuinely funny moments. So does Murray Stanley as Nick Bottom, the weaver. The young lovers are a green but appealing lot, with Lee Allison making a vivid mark as Helena, the ultimate woman who loves too much.

The overall feeling is unpretentious. The actors scamper up and down the walls in the park with abandon, and their high spirits are infectious.

Christopher R said he last used the Alcazar Gardens space 15 years ago when he was the co-founder of Indian Magique, the company that was the precursor of the San Diego Repertory Theatre.

To the appreciative audience that numbered about 250 Sunday night, it was a happy return.

“There is no reason that journeymen and apprentices can’t take on a full Shakespeare,” he said after the show. “This is a street theater version of ‘Dream.’ In a way it helps to have naivete, because then you don’t know you can’t do it.”

Although there is no charge for either show, contributions are accepted after each performance.