Enchanting ‘Midsummer Night’

Summer is upon us, and so is “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Merry wanderers of the Southern California night might well venture to Garden Grove, where the Bard’s enduring comedy opens the 14th season of Shakespeare Orange County with a delightful open-air revival.

Probably written around 1596, “Dream” is one of the most popular works ever written, a clockwork-logical fantasy that seldom fails to enchant audiences. It certainly enchants the Festival Amphitheatre, where director Thomas F. Bradac and a beautifully balanced cast cavort with light-handed ease. Composer William Georges’ electronic arpeggios sound as Titania’s retinue (Whitney Kaufman, Emma Schneider, Kristin Norris and Talia Steinberg) peeks through the leaf-bearing poles and rainbow-washed levels of designer Soo Lee’s set.

The occasion is the marriage of Athenian duke Theseus (Baron Kelly) and Amazon queen Hippolyta (Katie A. Keane), whom costumer Brenda Mercure present as Renaissance portraits. Enter Egeus (Robert Stilwell), with his daughter, Hermia (Stephanie Robinson). Spurning her father’s favorite, Demetrius (Steven Josefson), Hermia risks execution by eloping with Lysander (Bo Foxworth). Demetrius follows them into the forest, with Hermia’s friend Helena (Amanda Zarr) in pining pursuit.

Meanwhile, craftsmen-turned-actors prepare a masque for the wedding. Carpenter Quince (Jack Messenger) is the troupe’s leader, but their motor is weaver Bottom (Michael Nehring), the original hambone. Tinker Snout (Gregory J. Allen), tailor Starveling (Jeremy Schaeg) and stammering joiner Snug (Alyssa Bradac) aren’t far behind in scenery-chewing potential.

Lovers, lunatics and poets come unglued through the fairies, all green tatters and neoclassical pastels. Oberon (Kelly), who suggests a tattered Dionysus, bickers with Titania (Keane) over a changeling. Thanks to an error by vassal Puck (Brandon Force), Oberon’s mischievous payback upends not only Titania but also the Athenian quartet and stage-struck mechanicals.

Bradac’s staging has sufficient invention for remote-controlled sensibilities without losing meter or tradition. Brad Reyes’ properties and David C. Palmer’s lighting provide unpretentious, elegant atmosphere.

Kelly and Keane are wonderful, clear spoken and wittily physical. The four lovers are correctly convulsive, and, as Puck, Force is a gleeful force of nature. Nehring, who plays Bottom as a blend of Bert Lahr and Sid Caesar, could edit his high jinks a bit, but he and his Sousa-humming colleagues own the house.

I can imagine a more ornate or provocative “Dream,” but you’d be hard pressed to find a more enjoyable one than this delicious reading.

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‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Where: Festival Amphitheatre,

12740 Main St., Garden Grove

When: 8:15 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays

Ends: July 23

Price: $29

Contact: (714) 590-1575; www.chapman.edu/shakespeare

Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes