DECEPTION
The fairies are deceptive and can manipulate the other characters through pucks use of drugs, which will be in the form of LSD and so will make the other characters hallucinate and appear to be in love, e.g. Titania and Bottom.
LOVE
The theme of love will circulate throughout the play as a forced love when theseus has won hippolyta in a shoot out and true love towards the end. A true love will be portrayed through Oberon and Titania as Oberon has got his and Titanias best interests at heart. Also the love and lust between the 4 young lovers will be explored with the help of puck.
Staging
I will use a traditional proscenium arch stage as I am having one set that will be on the stage all the time so no real changes in staging will need to be made. I will fly props and set on and off from above the stage in order to alter parts of the set.
The set will be quite bright to give colour as most characters are wearing black costumes.
COSTUME
Each costume must be in keeping with the characters personality but also reflect the time period and style of the piece.
The courts/Gangsters
This is a representation of Theseus’ costume and is quite stereotypical of a gangster. The gun is an important part of the costume and helps maintain his high status.
This is a representation She is sexual in an understated
of Hippolyta’s costume. way and so has a certain power.
The remainder of the courts will be dressed in a similar way with men in suits and the women in dresses.
The Fairies/Prostitutes and Strippers
This is my representation of Titania with long flowing blonde hair and portrayed in a very sexual nature. The black helps to convey the evil powerful side to the fairies and how they manipulate the play. Although in my interpretation of a midsummer nights dream the fairies are not real they still represent the idea of fairies and their mystical spirituality.
This would be the costume for Oberon whish is quite over exaggerated and makes him appear very powerful. The hat, cane and jewellery give him a high status as they portray that he has money to spend and is successful.
This is my interpretation of Puck in my production of a Midsummer Nights Dream, he is dressed similarly to Oberon but is not as important as he only has a fake fur jacket, not the whole outfit. This gives Oberon the higher status and more power. This choice of costume shows Puck looks up to Oberon and respects him, he is aspiring to him and although he is mischievous I would convey that all his actions point to the fact that he is trying to impress Oberon.
The mechanicals/unemployed male strippers
This is how I would costume Bottom from the mechanicals, as he is extremely self-confidant although I would cast him as a slightly overweight man. The bare chest reflects his self-confidence even though he is unemployed and has fallen into being a stripper quite by accident.
The remainder of the mechanicals would be dressed in jeans trousers and t-shirts when not performing. As strippers they would wear pink hot pants to add extra comedy and not expose too much flesh.
Lighting and sound
Lighting and sound are particularly important as the play is set in a club and there are always actors and dancers present on the main part of the stage. The lighting needs to be bright and reflect the clubs strip theme. Reds, pinks, blues and oranges would work best and would symbolise the love and mystery element. In the gangsters part of the stage there will be normal lights with no coloured gels to show the separation between the worlds.
When the scenes in the club are taking place there will always be very soft music playing in order to gain the correct atmosphere for a strip club i.e. Marvin Gaye and other such soul artists. When the couples dance I would have a track like the mamas and papas dancin’ in the street, which was sometimes played in strip clubs in the 70’s. These types of dances would be specially choreographed and would include the strippers teasing the male strippers and crossing into their “world” or space.
