THEMES WITHIN A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT DREAM
Love and Marriage and the difficulty of making relationships work.
Some related scenes:
Some related scenes:
- Act 1 Scene 1: Theseus describes his courtship of Hippolyta and the confusion of the four lovers begins with Egeus' formal complaint about his daughter's involvement with Lysander.
- Act 2 Scene 1: Oberon and Titania quarrel over the Indian boy; Helena confronts Demetrius in the wood.
- Act 3 Scene 2: Lysander falls in love with Helena on awakening with the love juice in his eyes: the lovers are in great confusion.
- Act 4 Scene 1: Titania expresses her love for Bottom who has been transformed into a donkey.
- Act 5 Scene 1: Three weddings and a fairy blessing bring all to a happy conclusion.
Order and disorder and the need for a balance between the rational and irrational, between rules and magic, in the interests of love, harmony and creativity.
Some related scenes:
Some related scenes:
- Act 1 Scene 1: Theseus describes Hermia's punishment if she disobeys her father, prompting the lovers' escape to the woods.
- Act 2 Scene 1: Titania describes the consequences for the natural world of her quarrel with Oberon.
- Act 3 Scene 1: Bottom's transformation disrupts the Mechanicals' rehearsal.
- Act 3 Scene 2: Puck's mistakes bring the lovers to great confusion.
- Act 4 Scene 1: Titania expresses her love for Bottom who has been transformed into a donkey.
- Act 5 Scene 1: Three weddings and a fairy blessing bring all to a happy conclusion
Appearance and reality and how people and events are often not as they seem.
Some related scenes:
- Act 3 Scene 1: Bottom's transformation disrupts the Mechanicals' rehearsal.
- Act 3 Scene 2: Puck's mistakes bring the lovers to great confusion.
- Act 4 Scene 1: Titania awakes from her fantasy and the lovers comment on how like a dream recent events seem to them now.
- Act 5 Scene 1: The play within the play highlights the theme of illusion and reality.
Creative imagination and its reliance on the unconscious, the magical, the mysterious.
Some related scenes:
Some related scenes:
- Act 4 Scene 1: Titania awakes from her fantasy, the lovers comment on how like a dream recent events seem to them now and Bottom tells of his vision.
- Act 5 Scene 1: Theseus describes the poet's art, the play within the play provides its comment on artistic enterprise and all ends in harmony with the fairies' blessing of the sleeping house.
MOTIFS WITHIN A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT DREAM
The Moon reflecting change, disruption and unpredictability, romance, the magical and mysterious, a journey.
For example:
For example:
- 'Four happy days bring in/Another moon'
Act 1 Scene 1 - 'I'll met by moonlight, proud Titania'
Act 2 Scene 1 - 'Therefore the moon, the governess of floods, / Pale in her anger, washes all the air...'
Act 2 Scene 2 - 'We the globe can compass soon, / Swifter than the wandering moon'
Act 4 Scene 1 - 'Now the hungry lion roars, / And the wolf behowls the moon'
Act 5 Scene 1
Sleep and dreams which take us to mysterious places, are states of innocence and vulnerability, cause confusion and the blurring of boundaries between fantasy and reality.
For example:
For example:
- 'Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here!'
Act 2 Scene 2 - 'Tell me how it came this night / That I sleeping here was found / With these mortals on the ground'
Act 4 Scene 1 - 'It seems to me / That yet we sleep, we dream'
Act 4 Scene 1 - 'God's my life, stolen hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream...'
Act 4 Scene 1 - 'Why, then, we are awake: let's follow him / And by the way let us recount our dreams'
Act 4 Scene 1 - 'I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be called Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom'
Act 4 Scene 1
Eyes as emblems of perception and perspective, as entryways to the heart, windows on the soul
For example:
For example:
- 'I would my father look'd but with my eyes'
Act 1 Scene 1 - 'Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind'
Act 1 Scene 1 - 'Reason becomes the marshal to my will / And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook / Love's stories written in love's richest book'
Act 2 Scene 2 - 'And then I will her charmed eye release / From monster's view, and all things shall be peace'
Act 3 Scene 2 - 'Methinks I see these things with parted eye, / When every thing seems double'
Act 4 Scene 1 - 'The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, / Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven...'
Act5 Scene 1
Plays, rehearsals and roles/parts as symbols of magical transformation and of experimentation and preparation; also as ironic comment on the insubstantiality of A Midsummer Night's Dream and its themes.
For example:
For example:
- 'Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming'
Act1 Scene 2 - 'You can play no part but Pyramus'
Act 1 Scene 2 - 'We will meet; and there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously. Take pains; be perfect: adieu'
Act 1 Scene 2 - 'Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so; / And, being done, thus Wall away doth go'
Act 5 Scene 1 - 'If we shadows have offended, / Think but this, and all is mended: / That you have but slumbered here / While these visions did appear'
Act 5 Scene 1
Magic as representing the unseen, the unpredictable, the irrational and inexplicable.
For example:
For example:
- 'And this same progeny of evils comes/From our debate, from our dissension'
Act 2 Scene 2 - 'That very time I saw, but thou couldst not, / Flying between the cold moon and the earth, / Cupid all arm'd...'
Act 2 Scene 1 - 'The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid / Will make or man or woman madly dote / Upon the next live creature that it sees'
Act 2 Scene 1 - 'I'll put a girdle round the earth/In forty minutes'
Act 2 Scene 1 - 'But who comes here? I am invisible; / And I will overhear their conference'
Act 2 Scene 1 - 'Churl, upon thy eyes I throw / All the power this charm doth owe'
Act 2 Scene 2 - ' Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound...'
Act 3 Scene 1 - 'Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated'
Act 3 Scene 1 - 'Now, until the break of day, / Through this house each fairy stray. To be best bride-bed will we, / Which by us shall blessed be'
Act 5 Scene 1
PAST PRODUCTIONS OF A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT DREAM
Gregory Doran (2005 and 2008)
Gregory Doran's production was presided over by an enormous full moon which travelled across the stage during the show, exerting its influence over mortal and immortal alike.
The modern-dress production began with a sword-fight between two warriors who revealed themselves to be a sparring Theseus and Hippolyta.
Sinister fairies attended on Oberon and Titania while the Changeling Boy, the cause of their quarrel, was represented by a life-sized Bunraku puppet.
Stephen Brimson-Lewis's forest set featured a giant U-shaped junk-heap and Bottom was wheeled around in a discarded supermarket trolley.
The production was originally staged in the RST in 2005, and revived in 2008 for the Courtyard Theatre's thrust stage.
Gregory Doran's production was presided over by an enormous full moon which travelled across the stage during the show, exerting its influence over mortal and immortal alike.
The modern-dress production began with a sword-fight between two warriors who revealed themselves to be a sparring Theseus and Hippolyta.
Sinister fairies attended on Oberon and Titania while the Changeling Boy, the cause of their quarrel, was represented by a life-sized Bunraku puppet.
Stephen Brimson-Lewis's forest set featured a giant U-shaped junk-heap and Bottom was wheeled around in a discarded supermarket trolley.
The production was originally staged in the RST in 2005, and revived in 2008 for the Courtyard Theatre's thrust stage.
Act 1 Scene 1
Hippolyta Four days will quickly steep themselves in night; / Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
And then the moon, like to a silver bow / New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night / Of our solemnities.
The production opens with a duel between two warriors. They take their masks off to reveal themselves as Theseus and Hippolyta who announce that they will be married in four days time. This is the first of many references in the play to the moon. In this production, their marriage is a marriage of equals - Hippolyta is marrying Theseus of her own free will. The modernisation of the costumes and their warrior cotumes represents their status within society and how powerful they are. Usually the actors portraying Thesus & Hippolyta also portray Titania & Oberon - so by them wearing warrior costumes, it later reflects on the powerful nature of the characters. The colour black represents the strength of these two characters and the control that they have. Gregory Doran's contemporary interpretation of A Mid Summer's Night Dream really emphasises and dwells on the key themes & motifs throughout the iconic play.
Hippolyta Four days will quickly steep themselves in night; / Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
And then the moon, like to a silver bow / New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night / Of our solemnities.
The production opens with a duel between two warriors. They take their masks off to reveal themselves as Theseus and Hippolyta who announce that they will be married in four days time. This is the first of many references in the play to the moon. In this production, their marriage is a marriage of equals - Hippolyta is marrying Theseus of her own free will. The modernisation of the costumes and their warrior cotumes represents their status within society and how powerful they are. Usually the actors portraying Thesus & Hippolyta also portray Titania & Oberon - so by them wearing warrior costumes, it later reflects on the powerful nature of the characters. The colour black represents the strength of these two characters and the control that they have. Gregory Doran's contemporary interpretation of A Mid Summer's Night Dream really emphasises and dwells on the key themes & motifs throughout the iconic play.
Act 2 Scene 2
Oberon What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true-love take,
Love and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wakest, it is thy dear:
Wake when some vile thing is near.
Oberon squeezes the juice of a flower onto Titania's eyes as she sleeps in her bower. Doran's interpretation of this scene is extremely eerie and sinister. He uses a major motif, The Moon, in order to emphasises Oberon's motives. Again, he uses the colour black to show the strength of these two characters and he uses a rustic set in order to create a forest-like atmosphere. This scene also highlights the order & disorder within the play and the strive for power that both Oberon & Titania share.
Oberon What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true-love take,
Love and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wakest, it is thy dear:
Wake when some vile thing is near.
Oberon squeezes the juice of a flower onto Titania's eyes as she sleeps in her bower. Doran's interpretation of this scene is extremely eerie and sinister. He uses a major motif, The Moon, in order to emphasises Oberon's motives. Again, he uses the colour black to show the strength of these two characters and he uses a rustic set in order to create a forest-like atmosphere. This scene also highlights the order & disorder within the play and the strive for power that both Oberon & Titania share.
TIM SUPPLE'S PRODUCTION - 2006
Tim Supple's Dream brought the warmth and rich diversity of India to England. This Dash Arts production was commissioned by the British Council and toured India before being staged in the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2006 as part of the RSC Complete Works Festival.
Supple put together a company of actors with a wide range of backgrounds and skills - from different areas of India, with different languages and skills, both traditional and modern - to create a show which transported the audience. From the first moments when the actors tore through the papered scaffolding set and churned up the red earth floor, India was brought to life in Stratford.
Shakespeare's text was spoken in the original English plus faithful translations in six Indian languages. There was no need for sur-titles - the language retained its beauty in all the languages.
The fairies were atheletic sprites who performed aerial stunts on the scaffolding and lengths of fabric hung from the ceiling. The Changeling Boy was represented by a young actor.
Bottom's transformation was marked by the addition of a large set of donkey ears and he was swept up Titania's bower of silks.
Tim Supple's Dream brought the warmth and rich diversity of India to England. This Dash Arts production was commissioned by the British Council and toured India before being staged in the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2006 as part of the RSC Complete Works Festival.
Supple put together a company of actors with a wide range of backgrounds and skills - from different areas of India, with different languages and skills, both traditional and modern - to create a show which transported the audience. From the first moments when the actors tore through the papered scaffolding set and churned up the red earth floor, India was brought to life in Stratford.
Shakespeare's text was spoken in the original English plus faithful translations in six Indian languages. There was no need for sur-titles - the language retained its beauty in all the languages.
The fairies were atheletic sprites who performed aerial stunts on the scaffolding and lengths of fabric hung from the ceiling. The Changeling Boy was represented by a young actor.
Bottom's transformation was marked by the addition of a large set of donkey ears and he was swept up Titania's bower of silks.
Act 2 Scene 2
The fairies perform aerial acrobatics. Again, Tim Supple opted for a contemporary theme, however added a cultural difference. In this scene, the faires acrobatic abilities represent that lightness & grace that immediately springs to mind when the audience thinks of fairies. He also emphasises the motif of magic, with the fairies being suspended in mid-air. He also highlights the key themes of appearence and reality & creative imagination. The fairies appear to be flying and magical, however the reality is that they're using acrobatics in order to portray something magical. Supple's use of creative imagination is really conveyed in this scene as he personifies the fairies characters and also the setting used. This results in a majestic and beautiful setting for both the play and the audiences pleasure.
The fairies perform aerial acrobatics. Again, Tim Supple opted for a contemporary theme, however added a cultural difference. In this scene, the faires acrobatic abilities represent that lightness & grace that immediately springs to mind when the audience thinks of fairies. He also emphasises the motif of magic, with the fairies being suspended in mid-air. He also highlights the key themes of appearence and reality & creative imagination. The fairies appear to be flying and magical, however the reality is that they're using acrobatics in order to portray something magical. Supple's use of creative imagination is really conveyed in this scene as he personifies the fairies characters and also the setting used. This results in a majestic and beautiful setting for both the play and the audiences pleasure.
Act 3 Scene 2
Hermia: I am not yet so low / But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
Hermia is upset that both Lysander and Demetrius have mysteriously fallen in love with Helena instead so she takes out her frustration on Helena. In this scene, Supple hones in on the theme of order & disorder between the four protagonists due to Puck's mistake of putting a spell on the wrong person. He conveys this theme by the use of frabic along the floor to create a sense of confusion, division amoungst the characters. Again this emphasises Supple's creative imagination and lightly touches on the theme of love and marriage. Magic also plays a great part in this scene because due to Puck's magic, the wrong people have ended up loving one another.
Hermia: I am not yet so low / But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
Hermia is upset that both Lysander and Demetrius have mysteriously fallen in love with Helena instead so she takes out her frustration on Helena. In this scene, Supple hones in on the theme of order & disorder between the four protagonists due to Puck's mistake of putting a spell on the wrong person. He conveys this theme by the use of frabic along the floor to create a sense of confusion, division amoungst the characters. Again this emphasises Supple's creative imagination and lightly touches on the theme of love and marriage. Magic also plays a great part in this scene because due to Puck's magic, the wrong people have ended up loving one another.
NANCY MECKLER PRODUCTION 2011
Nancy Meckler returned to the RSC to direct Shakespeare's beguiling comedy following her acclaimed and joyous 2005 production of The Comedy of Errors.
Designed by Katrina Kindsay, the set for the play's opening featured a white leather sofa, on which Hermia and Helena perched in white mini-dresses while Hippolyta wrapped herself in a fur coat. Later in the play a forest of chairs crept down from the sky.
The Telegraph's five-star review, by Charles Spencer, called the production 'continuously inventive, mixing manic comedy with genuine enchantment'.
Nancy Meckler returned to the RSC to direct Shakespeare's beguiling comedy following her acclaimed and joyous 2005 production of The Comedy of Errors.
Designed by Katrina Kindsay, the set for the play's opening featured a white leather sofa, on which Hermia and Helena perched in white mini-dresses while Hippolyta wrapped herself in a fur coat. Later in the play a forest of chairs crept down from the sky.
The Telegraph's five-star review, by Charles Spencer, called the production 'continuously inventive, mixing manic comedy with genuine enchantment'.
This picture shows Titania holding her changeling baby. Meckler has opted for the more traditional portrayal of Titania by dressing her extremely fairy-like, with the set including flowers. She has stayed very true to Shakespeares intended description of this scene in the way that it is set in a forest with Titania being at one with nature. Meckler includes the motif of The Moon, by making it illuminate the stage. She also included the motif of nature to emphasis Titania's character and also the strong relationship with the changeling boy.
JOHN CAIRD 1989
This production directed by John Caird was a punky Dream. It mocked any idea of sentimental prettiness by dressing the fairies in tattered tutus, patched-up wings and Doc Marten boots. Their playground was a junkyard, filled with bicycle frames, an old piano and an iron bedstead which served Titania as her bower.
Ilona Sekacz provided a joyous, energising score created by subjecting Mendelssohn's music to the same inventive, parodic treatment applied to the fairies.
This production directed by John Caird was a punky Dream. It mocked any idea of sentimental prettiness by dressing the fairies in tattered tutus, patched-up wings and Doc Marten boots. Their playground was a junkyard, filled with bicycle frames, an old piano and an iron bedstead which served Titania as her bower.
Ilona Sekacz provided a joyous, energising score created by subjecting Mendelssohn's music to the same inventive, parodic treatment applied to the fairies.
Act 3 Scene 1
Titania I do love thee: therefore, go with me; / I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,
In the metal bedstead which formed her bower, Titania (Clare Higgins) introduces Bottom (David Troughton) to her fairies. In this production, the fairy attendants were played by children
Caird interprets the fairies in an extremely innocent manner, obviously portraying them as children, but also making them wear tutus. However, he adds a spin of edginess by making them wear Dr. Martens. Caird lightly touches on the motif of sleep & dreams by including a bed and using different levels within the fairies to create the different levels of dreams. Caird also expresses his creative imagination to portray the fairies and this tender scene between Titania and her fairies. He portrays Titania as a mother-figure in this scene, showing her power and status within the fairy-world.
Titania I do love thee: therefore, go with me; / I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,
In the metal bedstead which formed her bower, Titania (Clare Higgins) introduces Bottom (David Troughton) to her fairies. In this production, the fairy attendants were played by children
Caird interprets the fairies in an extremely innocent manner, obviously portraying them as children, but also making them wear tutus. However, he adds a spin of edginess by making them wear Dr. Martens. Caird lightly touches on the motif of sleep & dreams by including a bed and using different levels within the fairies to create the different levels of dreams. Caird also expresses his creative imagination to portray the fairies and this tender scene between Titania and her fairies. He portrays Titania as a mother-figure in this scene, showing her power and status within the fairy-world.
MICHAEL GRANDAGE 2013
In Michael Grandage's production of A Midsummer's Night Dream, he intereprets the play in a very urban manner. He uses comdeic devices and vibrant sets and costumes in order to convey the major themes and motifs. He conveys the fairies as eccentric characters who are confident and mischevious (using the motif of magic to do so), however he does this in a contemporary manner. Again, The Moon is a prodemient feature within this prouduction as it is the general setting throughout and is incredibly symbolic. Grandage conveys creative imagination in the syle of costume, set and the characters portrayal, noticeably Sheridan Smith as Titania and David Walliams as Bottom.
In Michael Grandage's production of A Midsummer's Night Dream, he intereprets the play in a very urban manner. He uses comdeic devices and vibrant sets and costumes in order to convey the major themes and motifs. He conveys the fairies as eccentric characters who are confident and mischevious (using the motif of magic to do so), however he does this in a contemporary manner. Again, The Moon is a prodemient feature within this prouduction as it is the general setting throughout and is incredibly symbolic. Grandage conveys creative imagination in the syle of costume, set and the characters portrayal, noticeably Sheridan Smith as Titania and David Walliams as Bottom.
ABORIGINAL SET DESIGN
For my set design, I have decided to explore a traditonal Aboriginal theme. I have set it in the Australian outback exploring the themes & motifs such as: The Moon, Creative Imagination and Nature. I have included traditional Australian/Aborigianal colours in order to convey the essence of their culture, I have also included some Aboriginal art on some rocks to convey the historical aspect of the set. My reasons for choosing an Aboriginal theme is that I wanted to think outside of the box - I wanted to convey something that was unusal & unique. I find the Aboriginal culture fascinatining, so getting to create a set based on this was a lot of fun as I learnt a lot from it. I was inspired by Tim Supple's 2006 production of A Midsummer's Night Dream because he not only portrayed the play beautifully but also emphasised the cultural side to the play by making it Indian themed. This gave me the insentive to not only include an appropriate set, but also include cultrual diversities. I included a lot of earthy and neutral colours to emphasis my Aboriginal theme and also to convey the scene that I'm showing which is the fairy-world. I've honed in on the nature motif in order for the potential characters of Oberon & Titania to really relate to the natural atmosphere surronding them. If I were to design a costume for these characters I would definitely stick to the traditional route and keep with the earthy & neutral tones. As much as I liked the contemporary interpretations of the play, for example Michael Grandage's production and also John Caird's, I wanted to stick to a more traditional interpreatation, not necessarily Shakespearean, but Aboriginal. I would want the moon to gradually move across the stage throughout the performance to really convey the Midsummer's Night Dream and I would want tidy-choreographed transitions from scene to scene. Here are some of my inspirations for my finalised set choice: