Creating Magic on stage...

With the play, mortal characters should have a natural look to off set the look of the Faerie Kingdom. Using pictures of faerie paintings, we can see that the faeries have an other world appearance to them. By bringing in an irridecence and brighter colors, the look of the faeries can be achived. In many different productions of the play, this look can be overdone and start to look bad. Less is more when it comes to this look.

For the mortals, the use of neutral colors and pale hues work best to create that difference between them.

Work Cited:

http://pygar.deviantart.com/art/Green-Fairy-WP-104277798

http://fairies.artpassions.net/

Dressing the characters...Costumes

For the Faeries, the look of authentic Athenian garments would be better suited. the idea that they are from a different time and place would help to create the feel of the difference between the Gods and the mortals. they colors should be vibrant but with more floral and neutral tones. Fabric should be light and airy, to give the illusion of movement without moving.

For the mortals, the idea of 19t century clothing would be good. This is when the play is originally placed and therefore it would fit for the mortals to be within that time period as well. Their colors should be darker with just splashes of colors, such as greens, blues, and purples. The occasional red and orange can be present but, with that it might stray too far into the Faerie world. 





Work Cited:

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Fashion2.htm

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-10998939-victorian-fashion-young-women-19th-century.php

TIme Period.....when shall it be set??

The production of A Midsummer Nights Dream, is typically set in the late 19th century. This is the time period that it was originally set in and therefore most people still use it. When using this time period, thinking about the use of costumes and sets is infinitive. The set has to be made to fit both the realistic world of the Mortals as well as the fantasy world of the Faerie Gods. The time of the play as far as year, is not so much important as the fact that it is set on midsummer night. The festival must be apparent in te plays production

Work Cited:

"A Midsummer Night's Dream." Free Study Guides for Shakespeare and Other Authors. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xMidsummer.html>.

Historical Backgroud within the Play

The time in which the play is set is on Midsummer. Midsummer, the summer solstice, is 21 June, but tradition throughout Europe reckons 24 June as Midsummer Day, and calls the night of 23/4 Midsummer Eve, Midsummer Night, or St John's Eve. Midsummer is a time of celebration. In folklore, it is the time of bonfires, processions, and divination. The earliest descriptions of the celebrations on Midsummer, were in the 14th century by monk John Mirk. He describes the setting of the bonfires, the community aspect of the celebrations and the sharing of bread and wine. Along with the bonfires, the night was also a night of love divination, the belief that if you do something in a certain way at a certain time you will discover or influence the future of your love-life. The Midsummer also speaks of the idea of dreams and love within the dream.

Work Cited:

"midsummer (23/4 June)"  A Dictionary of English Folklore. Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  Central Washington University.  10 March 2011  <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t71.e683>

Creating the world...

Te most misunderstood dramatic technique would be that which might be called half false and half true...I would rather endure a mixture of incongruities; they , a least, are free of falsity. Shakespeare's error is not the greatest a poet can fall into; it merely indicates paucity of false" (Nagler 325-326). This essay is showing us tat if you want to make the play accessible to the audience you have to show them either one side or the other, or in Shakespeare's case, give the audience a clear mixture of te two so that the audience can floow along without getting side tracked.

The set can also vary along the line of mythical and reality. The forest can be made to illuminate in a certain way to show the faerie world, but still keep the sense of reality along with it. This can be done with all aspects of the show.

Work Cited:

Nagler, A. M. "Diderot on Scene Design and Stage Costume." A Source Book in Theatrical History = Sources of Theatrical History. New York: Dover Publications, 1959. 325-28. Print.

The Importance of being....Characters.....

The main charaters in the play are the mortals and the Faerie Gods...

Faerie Gods:

Oberon: King of the Faeries, he is the main source of the plot to mess with the love flower and meddle in the lives of the mortals and his Queen.

Titania: Queen of the Faeries, She is a victim of Oberon's plot, she falls in love with Bottom, the ass.

Puck: Servant of Oberon, Creates mischief and havoc on the mortals love life's as well as falls into cohorts with Oberon in his plot against the Queen.


Mortals:

Theseus: Duke of Athens

Hippolyta: Queen of Amazons, Betrothed to Theseus.

Lysander:  in love with Hermia.

Helena: in love with Demetrius.

Demetrius: in love with Hermia.

Hermia: in love with Lysander.

Nick Bottom, weaver; the Ass the Titania falls in love with, he plays Pyramus in the troupe's production of "Pyramus and Thisbe".


Work Cited:

"Midsummer Night's Dream: Entire Play." The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/full.html>.

Setting, Time and Place.....Where shall it be??

The time and place can be made to fit whatever world. The original setting for the play is set in Athens, Greece. the time is varied within different productions of the play. Even though the mortal world is set in Athens, the world of the faeries can be made to be whatever you want. In Hutton's article, he states "if our world is a world of faeries or Gods, none of our beliefs or actions can make it otherwise". He is basically stating that the world of the faeries can be set whenever and wherever is deemed appropriate.

 

 

Works Cited

 

Hutton, Virgil. "A Midsummer Night's Dream: Tragedy in Comic Disguise." Studies in English Literature (Rice) 25.2 (1985): 289. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Mar. 2011.

Adaptations of an Old Story...

Over the years there have been many different adaptations to Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Since the play has the classic plot of lost and misguided love, it has lead to many different takes on the play itself. The plays plot as been adapted to many different forms of entertainment. From main stage show, to ballet as well as to the big screen. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the big screen, many different liberties have been made with the story. From creating the actual world with classic time and place as in the 1999 adaptation of A Midsummer Nights Dream. There have also been movies with a different take on the classic story. The movie Get Over It is set in modern times in a high school where the characters are acting in a production of the play. But the love plot is actually occurring to the characters in the play while the production is happening.

Work Cited:

http://orwhatyouwill.wordpress.com/category/shakespeares-plays/a-midsummer-nights-dream/

http://www.utoronto.ca/stmikes/kelly/movies/shakespeare.html

What is the play about? Plot revealed...

 

The play A Midsummer Nights Dream is about love. The characters within the play are constantly falling in love with the wrong people due to the failed attempts of the faerie Gods at helping them. With the help of Puck, the plot thickens when he mistakenly makes the wrong people fall in love while making a fool of the Faerie Queen, Titania. She is made to fall in love with a mortal ass, and the star struck lovers are thrown into a frenzy in the forest while Puck creates havoc. In the end the correct people fall in love and Titania is reunited with her King, Oberon.

Works Cited:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hW15r1Io-8&feature=related

William Shakespeare, who was he?

The play, A Midsummer's Nights Dream, was written by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare "was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the 19th century. In the 20th century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance" (Greer 12). Even now, William Shakespeare is revered as on of the greatest playwrights to have ever lived. His works are some of the most iconic stories, which include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth (the Scottish play). Although his play, A Midsummer's Nights Dream, was not the most popular of his plays, the premise and plot of the play still make it one of the more interesting and lighthearted.

Work Cited:

Greer, Germaine (1986), William Shakespeare, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1-152.