The Jeremy Henerson Snooze-O-Meter for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Shakespeare Festival/LA: about 5 minutes. He lasted partway into the first scene -- which followed a jazzy musical interlude _ then checked out to contend with dreams of his own. He did, however, wake up for the final scene to chuckle over Snout dressed up as a wall during the "Pyramus and Thisbe" conclusion.

In fairness, I didn't exactly over-prepare Sleepy J for this, his second Shakespeare play, beyond telling him that he pretty much owed his existence to "A Midsummer Night's Dream." His mother and I met while performing in a production of that very play 15 years ago. In fact, his mother and I attended SF/LA's 1992 production of "Dream" at the Ford Amphitheatre that very summer (Enjoyed it more than this one.) Benjamin Bratt was in that production.

I digress...

In double fairness, there have been better, livelier "Dreams" than what we saw downtown. My review of the production runs Friday in print.

Still, I wish there was a way to convince an 8 year old ahead of time that plays aren't synonymous with boredom. Maybe we need an adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Gameboy Dream."