HIGH POINT -- Karl Baumann performed his acrobatics off and on for a decade with Cirque du Soleil. N.C. Shakespeare Festival audiences can glimpse his talent on the rope when he plays Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
"It brings the physicality and the words together, which I was always interested in doing," Baumann, 41, says between rope practice and play rehearsal.
In Cirque du Soleil, Baumann's acting was more mime. As Puck, he has had to memorize lines such as the famous, "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" in English, although German is his native language.
His rope becomes a vine in the forest on which his character can slide and perform.
Puck follows the instructions of Oberon, King of the Fairies, to fetch a magic flower. Its juice, applied to a sleeper's eyes, makes the person fall in love with the first mortal that person sees upon awakening. Puck applies the juice to the wrong eyes, with chaotic and comic results.
A chance conversation in a Starbucks coffee shop with longtime Charlotte theater director Steve Umberger brought Baumann to the role.
A native of Salzburg, Austria, Baumann was in Charlotte with Cirque du Soleil's show, "Quidam," last year when he met Umberger. Baumann didn't want to leave his wife and child in Las Vegas while he toured Japan, but thought the trip would be too hard on them.
And he wanted to act. "After more than 2,000 shows (with Cirque du Soleil), you want to experience something new," Baumann says.
Umberger thought that Baumann would be a perfect Puck when casting "Dream" this year at Theatre Charlotte. When the Shakespeare Festival hired him to direct the same play, he cast Baumann as Puck again.
"I have loved this play for so long, so it was fortuitous that we would meet," Umberger says.
Baumann plays both Puck and Philostrate in "Dream" and Launcelot Gobbo, servant to Shylock, in "The Merchant of Venice."
The plays feature casts of festival newcomers such as Kate Donadio and Sarah McCafrey, UNCG students such as Quentin Fears, Jimmy Addison and Leah Humphrey and veterans Allan Edwards and Michael Kamtman.
Playing leading roles is Hugh O'Gorman, who has a long list of stage and television credits, including four years as Jeff Singer on cable network AMC's "Remember WENN."
O'Gorman plays Theseus, Duke of Athens, and Oberon in "Dream" and the starring role of Antonio in "Merchant."
"Merchant" tells the tale of what ensues when Antonio borrows money from Shylock to help his friend Bassanio win the heiress Portia.
One of Shakespeare's most popular plays, it's also troublesome for modern audiences because of the anti-Semitism of Renaissance Venice that surfaces against Shylock.
Randell Haynes is directing "Merchant" for a company that he says largely formed him as an artist. About 25 years ago, he played Shylock's servant at the festival. Pedro Silva, now the company's manager and artistic director, played his father.
Since those early six seasons with the festival, Haynes has gone on to a career in theater, directing, television and film, including such movies as "Critical Condition," "Crazy People" and "The Patriot."
