Midsummer magic.

Byline: Paul Denison The Register-Guard

ASHLAND - "The course of true love never did run smooth," Lysander says to Hermia at the beginning of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," although he has no idea just how bumpy things can get when mortals run into the woods and get caught up in a spat between the king and queen of the fairies.

There's nothing rough, however, about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's brilliant new production of this richly imagined comedy.

Directed by Kenneth Albers, this is a must-see staging in which all the elements - the acting, scenic design, costumes, lighting, music and movement - rise smoothly and surely into the realm of the magical.

Scenic designer Michael Ganio and lighting designer Robert Peterson use an arch, a rolling mirrored seat and strings of small lights to move the action and the imagination seamlessly between dual worlds. Simple in conception but very complicated to execute, it's an effective collaboration.

The arch, a half-moon of abalone shell broken by black shapes suggesting runes or elfish letters, at first is lackluster, overgrown with what appear to be dead vines. This is the harsh human world in which the duke of Athens is anxious to wed his balky captive, the queen of the Amazons, and a young woman's father is using a cruel law to make her marry the suitor of his choice.

When she runs away with her true love, the arch comes alive with colored lights and the voices of invisible spirits. And from that point on, the mother-of-pearl arch glows subtly in hues from fresh copper to bronze and orange as action and mood demand.

This is the realm of magic and mischief, where the king and queen of the fairies are fighting over custody of a changeling boy.

In a poetically powerful Act Two speech, Queen Titania reminds King Oberon that the "progeny of evils" afflicting the mortal world come "from our debate, from our dissension; we are their parents and original."

But that doesn't stop Oberon from casting a spell on Titania and from directing his right-hand man, Puck, to cast another spell that will turn the affections of one young man from a young woman who spurns him to one who loves him to distraction.

Puck, of course, screws up, much to the misfortune of four young lovers and a group of "rude mechanicals" who have gathered in the woods to rehearse a play in secret.

At court and in the woods, costume designer Susan Mickey garbs all the characters in lush or ludicrous outfits, with light-catching colors and textures.

When Puck turns Bottom the weaver into an ass and the poor fellow's thespians run off in fright, they return as fairies in brilliant orange costumes right out of Alice in Wonderland. Hermia, Helena and Hippolyta/Titania wear a series of dresses to die for.

The dresses also are tough enough to withstand rough use during a lot of robust physical comedy, especially fight scenes involving feisty Hermia.

Movement and fight director John Sipes deserves much credit for these scenes and probably for many finer details of how the actors use their bodies in this show.

The actors are well cast and well directed, making the plot and the text's deeper layers exceptionally clear.

James Newcomb and Catherine Lynn Davis are perfect in their dual roles as Theseus/Oberon and Hippolyta/Titania. Newcomb shows more depth of feeling as Oberon than he does as Henry Bolingbroke in ``Richard II.''

Julie Oda and Kim Rhodes complement each other as Hermia and Helena, who are close friends before and after they straighten out their suitors, the nerdish Lysander (Christopher DuVal) and the hunkish but clueless Demetrius (Shad Willingham).

Sandy McCallum plays Puck as a mischief-maker who's slow of foot and quick to delegate to his eager young assistants.

All of the tradesmen make the most of juicy comic roles, and their bungling amateur production of "Pyramus and Thisbe" is as funny as they come.

With buck teeth and really big ears, Bottom (William Langan) makes an ass of himself in both worlds but comes across with more depth than one usually sees in this role.

From beginning to end, this show is both charming and enchanting. This midsummer night's dream is not as deep and strange as the one Penny Metropulos directed for the festival several years ago, but it's just as good.

CAPTION(S):

William Langan's Nick Bottom has more substance than is usually seen in the character who is turned into an ass. Catherine Lynn Davis plays Titania. OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL