Play Suggestions: A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
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Printed Date: 11/24/24 at 9:53pm
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Topic: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Posted By: theatreron
Subject: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Date Posted: 7/26/07 at 12:13am

My theatre that I am in is planning on doing A Midsummer Night's Dream this winter. I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions for me to use in the show, or just some helpful hints and tips to producing Shakespeare. Set, Costume, Props, Make-up: the whole nine yards...Give me your suggestions and hints and your two cents!

Replies:

Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 7/26/07 at 11:53am

My zaks [6 pence] worth is only about 2 foot 11 inches ;-

I have never had a lot to do with MSND, as I have yet to actualy seen a production through completely. Which might be by design, rather than good management.

The bits & pieces I have seen a number of times, except for one, have always gone down the same track. Delivered by prats prancing on the green sward thru a wood land setting & with gawd awful pohmy accents, delivered in a Kensington Gore style, with plumbs in thier gobs. The production nearly always pop their meager weasel completely with lavish costumes, set in a mise en scene of fairy land lustre.

Where by the best one I also never got to see entirely, which grabbed my interest completely. Had a plain one colour box set, with a couple of door openings. They also utalised the use of trapeeze, ladders & the odd trap door. Spoken with natural accents & dressed in ordinary day to day clothing - it was brilliant & a pity I missed the rest of it! So my opinion is keep it simple in projecting it over the 'floats'!

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Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

Posted By: Lazy Bee
Date Posted: 7/27/07 at 10:35am

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, you have three groups: the Athenian Nobility, the Mechanicals and the Immortals. You need to decide how you are going to diffentiate each of those groups. The Immortals are particularly difficult - there is a tendency to get stuck in 1900 representations of fairies, but these are wild and dangerous creatures!

The youth section of my local group have done this twice. http://www.cats.hampshire.org.uk/Workshop.htm - The first version had Oberon and Puck somewhere between punk and The Matrix. The second version (done in the round) was http://www.cats.hampshire.org.uk/Youth/AMDSD_2/Gallery6.htm - set in a circus ring , with the Athenians as the circus nobility - management and bareback riders - the Immortals as the high wire acts, and the Mechanicals as clowns.

I do not suggest that either of the above is a definitive way of staging, just that there is a lot of flexibility.

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Stuart
Lazy Bee Scripts
http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk - http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk read complete play scripts on-line

Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 7/30/07 at 6:56am

My production was set in contemporary/near future urban setting. The Royals were all business peoplel; the faeries were all magickal street people; the Rude Mechanicals were sort of a nerdy chess club putting on a skit.

It offered lots of opportunities for my tech people - and the staging choices were myriad for me!

Everybody seemed to enjoy it...though LOL everybody seems to love MSND no matter HOW it's staged LOL.

Good luck - it's such a charming and delightful play!

Posted By: theatreron
Date Posted: 8/03/07 at 10:07pm

Thank you very much. Now keep the replies coming. We don't do it till this winter, but I would like your input.