"I have had a dream past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream."

Few have followed the advice of Bottom the weaver about "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the expansive Shakespeare comedy about love and magic in which he plays such a marvelous role.

Believed written around 1595-96, the play continues to inspire many productions, many analyses and even a few naysayers, like diarist Samuel Pepys who complained in 1662 that it was "the most insipid, ridiculous play that I ever saw in my life."

A serious womanizer, Pepys must have been distracted by what he called the "handsome women" in the cast because "A Midsummer Night's Dream" remains one of Shakespeare's most popular and well-known plays.

That's why it comes as a surprise to find out that Pittsburgh Public Theater's Ted Pappas has never directed it as a play until this year. He directed Benjamin Britten's operatic version several years ago at the Chautauqua Institution.

The Public's production opens tonight at the O'Reilly Theater, and Pappas hopes "it's the first of many productions I'll do. It's just such a marvelous work because there's so much going on in this play that it never ends."

Pappas promises a "big production" with such a large set by James Noone, a regular Public set designer, that the theater had to rent an extra truck to haul in all the pieces.

"And, we are going to use the whole theater," he said, "the balconies, the aisles, the trap door in the stage. We've never done a play with so many ways on and off [the stage]. And the actors will be speaking in the midst of the audience."

The approach is another way of responding to Shakespeare's concept that "all the world's a stage," Pappas said. "In this show, the audience is part of the play as well. It is in 'The Dream' right along with the actors."

More proof that the comedy remains popular is how actors responded to Pappas' casting call. "I got every one of my first choices because there are good parts for every actor," he said.

Shakespeare veteran John Ahlin returns to the O'Reilly to play Bottom after appearing in two of the Bard's works here. Other major roles will be filled by PPT returnees J.T. Arbogast as Demetrius, Harris Doran as Puck, and local stage regulars Stephen Coleman playing Quince and Egeus and David Whalen as Theseus and Oberon.

Other actors will be doubling up as well, including South African native and Broadway regular Bianca Amato as Hippolyta and Titania. Also in the cast are past winners of the Public's annual Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest, Meggie Booth and Alex Lindsay Roth.

In all, 14 actors play 22 roles.

"The play calls for actors playing similar roles and we believe Shakespeare's company did as well," said Pappas. "It's logical because there several different worlds at work in the play, mirroring the others."

The royal worlds are presented by the real -- Theseus, the duke of Athens and his wife-to-be, Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons -- and the fairy land -- Oberon and his estranged lover, Titania, king and queen of the fairies.

There's another world here, that of the rustics or "mechanicals," craftsmen well known to Shakespeare as he grew up in rural Stratford-on-Avon. Led by Peter Quince, a carpenter, they petition the duke to perform a play for his nuptials starring Bottom.

Pappas uses several of those actors to double as the fairies attending Titania, one of several jokes in the play as they also wait upon Bottom when he's turned into an ass whom the drugged queen falls in love with in a cruel trick of Oberon's.

The dimensions of the play continue to grow, says Pappas. The rustics stage "Pyramus and Thisbe," a classic tale in which confused lovers unwittingly commit suicide.

"It's a send-up of 'Romeo and Juliet,' " says Pappas. "We think that was the play Shakespeare wrote before 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' which was a box-office smash. Imagine him turning around and making fun of it."

Ovid is the author of "Pyramus and Thisbe," and the creator of "Metamorphosis," which Pappas directed one year ago. That was a major production as well, with a Noone set that featured a swimming pool.

"I wanted to start the year with adventure and size," he said. "I got both from those plays and hope the audience gets them as well."

First Published: January 21, 2010, 10:00 a.m.