What qualities would you look for in casting the actors playing Helena and Hermia and how would you direct the opening scene of the play to convey their differences to an audience? A Midsummer Night's Dream examines
What qualities would you look for in casting the actors playing Helena and Hermia and how would you direct the opening scene of the play to convey their differences to an audience? A Midsummer Night's Dream examines the theme of love in all its aspects. When Act one scene One opens we are at the court of Duke Theseus and he is swearing his undying love for Hippolyta so at the very start we are introduced to love and its deep emotional impact. The declaration of love between the Ducal pair is shortened by the arrival of Egeus with his disobedient daughter Hermia. The mood immediately changes and we discover that Hermia rather than being filled with filial love is determined to marry Lysander rather than her father's choice for her. And so the love theme is made more complex as we have the wrathful love of her father confronted by the love of her daughter for the man who is not her fathers' choice. The love theme is further complicated by the arrival of Helena. Here we see the platonic love of two friends. Undermined by sexual attraction when we discover that Helena is in love with Demetrius, the suitor that Egeus has chosen for his daughter Hermia to marry. All these complexities of the love theme I will have to reveal both as a director and in the performance of the two young women, Hermia and Helena. Hermias' costume is quite simplistic but very feminine. It is
Take a director's view of 2 key scenes in a Midsummer Night's Dream. Choose a character and 2 key scenes in which they appear.
Shakespeare Essay Option 2: Take a director's view of 2 key scenes in a Midsummer Night's Dream. Choose a character and 2 key scenes in which they appear. * Describe the character and why their part is important within the play. * Focus on your first scene. Give instructions to your actor on how to perform their part. * Remember to make close reference to the text using quotations to demonstrate: a) Understanding of Shakespeare's language b) The emotion or motivation of the character c) The feeling/response you want from the audience. * Repeat for other scene. In this essay, I am going to focus on Helena in Act 1 Scene 1 and Act 3 Scene 2. I decided to answer this question based on Helena because I believe that her role in the play is very important as it completes a love circle, and can add humour to the play. I will also try to show how I would like Helena to play her part. It would still be in the Shakespearean language, but would appeal to a modern day audience. This way, all of the magic of the 1595 comedy would still be there, but the modern English of today will enjoy it as much as anybody back then. To do this, I can use Shakespeare's language to tell Helena's actress how to use the language effectively, and using the language to show emotion and genuine feeling. But, most of all, I would like the audience to be entertained. When Helena first appears
Explore the theme of Appearance and Reality in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Faye Jarvis 10A Explore the theme of Appearance and Reality in A Midsummer Night's Dream. A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy, written by William Shakespeare. It's made up of madness, confusion, mayhem, illusions and obviously dreams, as it says in it title. A key theme to A Midsummer Night's Dream is appearance and reality. This is where the confusion starts. The Artisans fail to grasp the difference between appearance and reality, this adds to the humour of the play. The setting of A Midsummer Night's Dream is in Athens and the woods. Athens represents reality. And the woods symbolise illusion. The power of love, magic and imagination add to the madness and illusion of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The play itself is an illusion. In order to enjoy the illusion of A Midsummer Night's Dream, we need to suspend reality. Love, whether induced by magic or real, often robs people of their common sense and makes it difficult to tell what is real. At the start of the play, we are introduced to the idea that songs, moonlight and poetry are able to influence people's feelings. "This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires" Also at the start of the play, Egeus speaks harshly of Lysander. He accuses Lysander of stealing Hermia's love. He doesn't believe that Hermia loves Lysander of her own free will, and is convinced it is because of trickery. "Filched my daughters heart"
Social, cultural & historical aspects of "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
Although there is no definite evidence, historians say that the original production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" will have probably been performed at either The Globe Theatre or alternatively, The Rose Theatre in around 1596, the year of Thomas Barkley and Elizabeth Carey's wedding. Carey was Queen Elizabeth's god-daughter, meaning that the reception and celebrations after the ceremony would probably have been of the highest-class. Because Shakespeare was creating this play especially for Elizabeth's god-daughter, he added a strong reference to her delivered by Oberon in Act 2 Scene 1 as he says, "Fair vestal, throned in the West." At this point William Shakespeare was one of the most famous playwrights around and to have him write a play for a special occasion would have been something that only royalty could do. It would have probably been written between autumn 1594 and spring 1595. We know that it was definitely not written before 1594 as there are two passages in the play that refer to this very year. Firstly, Titania's speech on the foul weather in Act 2 Scene 1. The summer was more boisterous and wet than "the agedst man of our land is able to recount." The second is by Bottom in Act 3 Scene 1 as he remarks, "to bring in (God shield us) a Lion among Ladies is a most dreadful thing. For there is not a more fearful wild fowl than you Lion living" as this would have
I am setting my performance of a midsummer nights dream in the 1970's in New York.
A Midsummer Nights dream My concept Rachel miller l6.9 My concept I am setting my performance of a midsummer nights dream in the 1970's in New York. I found this was quite appropriate, as the characters in the play would fit the types of people around at the time. I have set my performance around the theme of gangsters and the mafia, which will be the equivalent of the courts. The fairy world will be presented in the form of a strip club with the fairies becoming prostitutes and strippers. Titania will be the lead stripper/pole dancer with Oberon the club owner and puck the pimp who is also a drug dealer and distributor. The mechanicals will be a group of unemployed men trying to make a living out of stripping. My focus My focus or themes for my interpretation of a Midsummer Nights Dream will be: STATUS/POWER This will be shown through the gangsters and how the males have more power over the females and between Titania and Oberon and how Titania is trying to gain a higher status than Oberon but feels she cant while she is a stripper. The unemployed/mechanicals are a contrast to these worlds and show a considerable lack of power and status. In my performance the fairies/prostitutes will have an overriding power of the whole play, as they are involved in all worlds and control the other characters. DECEPTION The fairies are deceptive and can manipulate the other
Shakespeare's Theatricality.
Shakespeare's Theatricality When Demetrius and Helena are arguing over whether Lysander is still alive or not Demetrius doesn't show a variety of emotions the only emotion the audience receive is Anger towards Hermia. "Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty; Yet you, you the murderer, look as bright, as clear, As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere" "I had rather give his carcass to my hounds" Act3 Scene 2. Throughout the lines that Demetrius has to say there is no point where the anger stops. I would direct it so that he would be angry but at the same time when he pauses there would be the emotion of worry in his voice and in his facial expressions. The character of Demetrius at the beginning of the scene needs to ensure that there is not tom much over emphasis of his lines until he gets to the line "There is no following her in this fierce vein; here therefore for a while I will remain. So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow" to make it look more like he was worried about Lysander there would be an over emphasis on the words "so sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow" He would have sadness in his voice and a worried facial expression to ensure that the whole audience understood that although he is trying to make out that he isn't worried deep down he is showing some emotion, even if it will be short lived until they find him The audience will realise more about
A discussion of a performance of 'A Midsummer Nights Dream,' Act 3 Scene 2.
A discussion of a performance of 'A Midsummer Nights Dream,' Act 3 Scene 2. Imagine you are directing the lovers' quarrel in act 3 scene 2. Your directions must include a detailed commentary on the following: - > Characters. > Pace. > Language. > Movement & use of stage. > Mood/ Atmosphere. This is to be written after the first performance in the form of a newspaper article. It can be set in either modern-day, or Elizabethan times. Include: - > A flavour of the appropriate time. > Comments on the fact that the queen was at this performance. > Comments on what the set looked like. > Favourite Scene. > Pick actors and & compliment/ comment on their performance. > Audience Reaction The curtains open with a big shell-like structure, covered in leaves and ivy, to give a platform to be used by the fairies. This platform can mechanically move up and down and can leave the set, for the parts of the scene that are only featuring the humans. There is subtle lighting, with blue, pink and purple shades, dimly lighting the stage and big trees painted on the backdrop, and fake trees on the stage. The performance starts with Oberon on top of the platform, the platform is slowly moving down, into view, from above the stage. Oberon is wearing a dark green cloak and dark clothes underneath, this gives an effect of mystery and shows that he isn't a human, he also
Reasons why Shakespeare has used two different settings in 'A Midsummer Nights Dream'
Reasons why Shakespeare has used two different settings in 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' In the play 'A Midsummer Nights Dream', Shakespeare uses two different settings (Athens and the Wood) for various reasons. The main possible reason for the inclusion of two settings could be to create clearer contrasts of elements and themes within the play for the audience, as the play consists of many contrasts, contradictions and opposites. For example, one of the main contrasts is the time at which the action of the play occurs in each setting. When the characters are in the wood, it is night time. This relates to the moon, therefore representing the Goddess Diana and women. In the Elizabethan era, when the play was written, women were thought to be below men because they were less intelligent and more irrational, likely due to the Great Chain of Being and the menstrual cycle, which is linked to the moon, and its own inconstant cycle of waxing and waning. During the same era, night time was also associated with fairies, the likes of whom Shakespeare has written into the play in the form of Oberon, Titania and Puck, for example, introducing an added theme of magic realism to the scenes set in the wood, or, as the play was written before this concept, a theme of dreams and chaos. The fact that the wood is set in night time also contributes to this theme as it hints that the events
The Nature of Power in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
The Nature of Power in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' The nature of power can be seen in many different forms in the this festive comedy set in patriarchal Athens, which are influenced in relation to the different environments in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. The different environments bring out complimentary aspects of human nature, as demonstrated when the four lovers, Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius enter the woods for the reason that Hermia wishes to go against her father, Egeus, and spend the rest of her life with Lysander, whom she loves. The play makes social and historical comment. Theseus' stiff and rigid domain mirrors the image of Elizabethan society in the 17th Century. Love and marriage was a manner of duty; people were married not out of love, but to make social or economic relation between two families. Scene I demonstrates this as it introduces one of the major plot issues of the play. Ordinarily a love triangle like that of Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius would cause a great deal of trouble just for the sake of love, but it is further complicated by Egeus' insistence that Hermia marry Demetrius, despite her love for Lysander. This conflict highlights a key issue in the amount of control a parent should have over their child. By Athenian law, Egeus has the right to decide whom his daughter will marry, and he is shocked and angered by his
Referring to at least two extracts in detail, explain why A Midsummer Night's Dream is still popular, 400 years after it was written. Comment on a production you have seen, or consider how you would like to produce the play.
Deevya Sethi (10RW) Monday, 14th June 2003 Shakespeare Coursework A Midsummer Night's Dream Referring to at least two extracts in detail, explain why A Midsummer Night's Dream is still popular, 400 years after it was written. Comment on a production you have seen, or consider how you would like to produce the play. A Midsummer Night's Dream, is set in Athens in Greece. It is a journey into a mid-night forest, where fairies put spells on people. The story begins with Hippolyta and Theseus (Duke of Athens), getting married and the events that surround it. There are a group of workers who have decided to put on a play for the wedding. "Here is a scroll of every man's name wish, is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the Duke and the Duchess on his wedding-day at night." In the play, a carpenter, called Peter Quince, gives this speech. He is informing the workers about the play, they will be putting on. "The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe." Bottom agrees with Peter Quince, that Pyramus and Thisbe is a great play to be putting on. Another main part of A Midsummer Night's Dream, is the quarrelling that has been going on between Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of the fairies. They are arguing about a little Indian boy, who Titania has looked after, since he was a baby. Oberon wants the boy to be his
