Working diligently since Jan. 21, 16 cast members are putting the final touches on their upcoming performance of Shakespeare’s comedy, “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.”

The classically chaotic love story will be performed in Rice Auditorium the first week in March and is free to the public.

The story starts out similar to “Romeo and Juliet,” but the couple, Hermia and Lysander, run away from their uptight Athenian parents, only to stumble into a dreamy forest filled with meddling fairies.

Junior Heather Wickman said the adventure unravels into a story full of magic and mayhem and glitter and stardust. Wickman plays the prankster elf, Puck.

“This performance is really different than what most people have seen on the Baker stage,” Wickman said. “(Cast members) get to let loose on stage, and there is a lot of fun.”

About five days a week, cast members amble into the auditorium to practice their thee’s and thou’s in attempts to get comfortable with the Victorian speech commonly used by Shakespeare.

The language barrier is a struggle for the students because, unlike standard English, Shakespeare’s Victorian style uses three times the number of words in a day, with changes to both word choice and order.

“It’s hard sometimes to understand what the thought is that we’re trying to get across,” Wickman said. “And now I sometimes catch myself saying something (in a Shakespearian way), and people question it.”

Not only have the rehearsals perfected their speech, but they have also brought the cast closer together.

Tom Heiman, co-producer and technical director, said the group of 13 full-time Baker students, two high school students and an alumnus have “become a family” and have worked really hard to put together this production.

“It’s been a huge challenge to get enough people to be able to work and to get the actors comfortable with Shakespeare’s language,” Heiman said. “But this group is really close.”

The witty act even got the stamp-of-approval from professional actor Steve Milton, who is the older brother of cast member Jeff Milton.

Steve sat in Rice Auditorium, laughing throughout the performance and offering the actors advice, even to his brother.

In the end, Steve said the group did very well, including his younger brother, senior Jeff Milton.

“With (Steve) being 10 years older than me, we haven’t been able to work a whole lot together,” Jeff said. “It was a good experience working together; he gave a lot of good insight.”

The audience can expect a whimsical set, quirky stage combat and laughter if they attend the performances at 7:30 p.m. March 1-3 or the matinee at 2 p.m. March 4.

What they should not anticipate is a perfect love story, because according to Shakespeare himself, “the course of true love never did run smooth.”