‘Not Another Midsummer’ – Theatre Drinking Game Left Me With A Hangover

By Ernest Kearney  —  A spin on the popular “The Show That Went Wrong” formula has an acting company arriving late at the Three Clubs Bar minus half their company requiring that audience members be press-ganged into substituting for them.

From there the silliness proceeds, in Not Another Midsummer, with the audience encouraged to participate in a drinking game and imbibing at every utterance of the word: “Love.”

The audience I sat among seemed to enjoy this raucous romp well enough; myself less so.

I found the cast uneven with some standouts – those actors portraying Hernia, Peter Ouince and Titania I would love to credit by name but not being supplied a program and not finding any mention of them on the Fringe site I fear they must remain anonymous in this review.

However my major problem with this 90-minute show was that it ran nearly an hour over.  Even when a performance is the last show on a particular night, this is simply unacceptable.

If you want an excuse to get plastered and have a few snickers in the process then here’s a show for you.

No Medal.   

Not Another Midsummer

Playing during the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2022

Three Clubs
1123 N VINE ST

SCHEDULE

Wednesday June 15 2022, 6:30 PM
Wednesday June 15 2022, 9:00 PM
Wednesday June 22 2022, 6:30 PM
Wednesday June 22 2022, 9:00 PM

For Additional Information and Tickets:

www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/7516

Written by

An award-winning L.A. playwright and rabble-rouser of note who has hoisted glasses with Orson Welles, been arrested on three continents and once beat up Charlie Manson. His first play, "Among the Vipers" was a semi-finalist in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition and was featured in the Carnegie-Mellon Showcase of New Plays. It was produced at the NPT Theater in Ashland, Oregon and Los Angeles’ celebrated Odyssey Ensemble Theatre. His following play, “The Little Boy Who Loved Monsters” was produced at The Hollywood Actors Theater, where he earned praise from the Los Angeles Times for his “…inordinately creative writing.” The play went on to numerous other productions including Berlin’s The Black Theatre under the direction of Rainer Fassbinder who wrote in his program notes of Kearney, “He is a skilled playwright, but more importantly he is a dangerous one.” Ernest Kearney has worked as literary manager or as dramaturge for among others The Hudson Theater Guild, Nova Diem and the Odyssey Ensemble Theatre, where he still serves on the play selection committee. He has been the recipient of two Dramalogue Awards and a finalist or semi-finalist, three times, in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition. His work has been performed by Michael Dunn, Sandra Tsing Loh, Jack Colvin and Billy Bob Thornton, and to date, either as playwright or director, he has upwards of a hundred and thirty productions under his belt, including a few at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater as puppeteer. Kearney remains focused on his writing, as well as living happily ever after with his lovely wife Marlene. His stage reviews and social essays can be found at TheTVolution.com and workingauthor.com. Follow him on Facebook.

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