Puck

Shakespeare's Shadows

featuring interviews with actor Ray Porter
and University of California Merced professor Katherine Steele Brokaw

A spirit of mischief, transformation, and imagination, Puck aka Robin Goodfellow darts around A Midsummer Night’s Dream provoking chaos and confusion when a couple groups of humans wander into a forest populated by magical beings. Discussed in this episode is Puck’s relationship to Oberon, looking at Midsummer with an ecological lens, how Puck’s meter sets him apart, and why this play is such a popular choice for young audiences and young performers.

This episode is a special one for a couple reasons — among them: Ray Porter played Puck in the first professional production of Shakespeare that podcast creator Emily Rome ever saw, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 1998 Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. He reflects back on that production, as Katie Brokaw lends her expertise as both a professor and practitioner of Shakespeare at UC Merced and in Yosemite National Park.