Rey, Rucker, Oghobaase Take The Stage

Cell Phone Photo by Taylor Doherty/The Chronicle

Talk about a strange week in the Gothic Wonderland.

In the same week that senior basketball player Greg Paulus worked out for the Green Bay Packers and watched a football practice at the University of Michigan, three Blue Devil football players—rising seniors Vincent Rey, Kinney Rucker and Vince Oghobaase—appeared on stage Wednesday night.

The three actors performed William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Baldwin Auditorium on Duke's East Campus. In addition to the main storyline, the work features a play within a play.

Rey played the role of Nick Bottom, the over-the-top, foolish actor who fills the role of Pyramus in the play within the play.

But then things got even a bit more over the top. Rucker's character? The bearded Francis Flute, or, as he is knows as in the show, Thisbe, a woman. All this despite the fact that Rucker has a 6-foot-2, 290-pound frame. And to the delight of the crowd, which was filled with a large section of football players in the back right, Rucker spent much of the play in a bright blonde wig.

Finally, Oghobaase played Tom Snout, whose role in the play was the wall that separated the two lovers. Oghobaase's costume was simple—a rope holding a square, cardboard cutout that had the look of a wall. And the chink in the wall that the two lovers were supposed to kiss in between? Nothing more than a ring shape formed by the thumb and pointer finger of Oghobaase's hand.