Vivid ‘Midsummer’ in the ‘Hood

Resetting “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” amid the graffiti hues and staccato strains of urban hip-hop has its share of compromises, but on balance Lisa Wolpe’s adventurous staging for the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company comes down squarely in the plus column.

The result is an accessible, family-friendly romp in which the soul-searching verse of the Bard even undergoes a scansion-stretching marriage with the soulful style of Aretha Franklin(“R-E-S-P-E-C-T / Give that changeling boy to me!”).

Substituting the ‘hood for the woods blunts some of Shakespeare’s vision of the magical vitality of nature as antidote to urban neurosis. Yet his essential themes of misplaced infatuation and even his affectionate potshots at theater (the hilariously bad play-within-a-play) stand out in sharp relief against set designer Elina Katsioula’s elaborate cityscape.

The energetic cast includes director Wolpe as a leather-jacketed, street-smart Lysander vying with a vain, aristocratic Demetrius (understudy Denise Kruger) for the hand of first Hermia (Melanee Murray) and later Helena (Kimberleigh Aarn). Dual-cast Fran Bennett and Cindy Martino preside as the regal rulers of the human and fairy kingdoms, while abundant comic mischief is supplied by Veralyn Jones’ Bottom and Colleen Kane’s Puck.

Next to all the vivid contemporary embellishments, the all-female casting seems almost traditional--especially since women pretending to be men was a plot device employed by Shakespeare himself.

*

* “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Gascon Center Theatre, Helms Bakery Complex, 8737 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends May 17. $15. (310) 289-2111. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.