by Emily Moore | Editor-in-Chief (Opinion)

When everyone loves the wrong person, there’s only one solution: adapt it to present day. With hipster influences, modern costumes, and “of-the-times” situation, this Midsummer Night’s Dream got a whole new face.

Let’s start with the costumes. Equipped with all the necessary “do’s” of our outcast trendsetters, including a fresh copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and knee-high socks to compliment the wire-rimmed, Star Wars ensemble. Even those ever classy matching bride and groom jogging suits made it the stage, but what is a modern play without the modern preppy boy look. Personally, Demetrius personified this to a T with his pleather loafers, and hair gelled to perfection. Lysander, retrospectively, made a tremendous present-day slacker in jeans and a slouchy jacket.

Since when does Shakespeare include the Spice Girls? Well, according to the Johnson Theater Department, now. The play took several fresh, new turns away from the original; including dance numbers and some chart toppers for background noise. While, yes, mashing together Taylor Swift, The Spice Girls and Shakespeare may seem like a little much for some, it dolled itself out quite nicely. The dances and music intertwined themselves into the story and only helped the audience get into the story more.

Despite a new twist on the outer appearance of the play, the story line remained true to the master’s. All the characters succumbed to the fairies’ trickery and ended up loving the wrong person, including the Fairy Queen herself.

Overall, this modern take on such an outstanding original was a risky, and bold, move. Lucky for Johnson, it paid off.