Puck. From my interpretation of the character, Puck, I have concluded that he is mischievous, but not malevolent. In an earlier scene, he states that he is a mischief-maker,
Puck.
From my interpretation of the character, Puck, I have concluded that he is mischievous, but not malevolent. In an earlier scene, he states that he is a mischief-maker, and his love for mischief is evident from many things he says in 3:2. For example;
"Then will two at once woo one;
That must needs be sport alone;
And those things do best please me
That befall preposterously."
He is saying that when two men love one girl, it will put things in a whirl, and the things that please him happen in a ridiculous way. So he will find the Lysander-Demetrius-Helena love triangle highly amusing.
I would not play Puck in a malevolent way, because as jester to Oberon, and a "mad spirit" as Oberon calls him, he is likely to find the entire situation of 3:2 extremely funny and entertaining, because he loves mischief and ridiculous situations so I as Puck, I would chuckle to myself, like a child would at some parts of the scene.
As a costume for Puck, I would use earthy colours; browns and greens, because he is very at home in the forest and blends in very well. I would use different colours for Puck then to the rest of the fairies, who would be dressed in generally lighter colours, for example, white. I would have Puck to be very hairy, because he is so earthy and natural, and perhaps give the character a small pair of horns, to represent his cheeky devilish streak An example of his cheekiness is something he says to Oberon after the fight between the lovers;
"And so far blameless proves my enterprise
That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes;"
This is Puck saying that he's not guilty in that he has actually anointed an Athenian's eyes. For this, I would speak not in a scared, fearful voice, but in a voice that gives us an indication of the closeness between him and Oberon, as if Puck is saying "I can't really be blamed, you [Oberon] told me I would know the man by his Athenian clothing, and I have at least anointed one Athenian's eyes, and I'm glad it's gone wrong, ...
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"And so far blameless proves my enterprise
That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes;"
This is Puck saying that he's not guilty in that he has actually anointed an Athenian's eyes. For this, I would speak not in a scared, fearful voice, but in a voice that gives us an indication of the closeness between him and Oberon, as if Puck is saying "I can't really be blamed, you [Oberon] told me I would know the man by his Athenian clothing, and I have at least anointed one Athenian's eyes, and I'm glad it's gone wrong, because I find the situation rather funny" It gives an idea that Oberon and Puck are more like partners then master and servant, because Puck can be so honest with him. When Puck says
"As this their jangling I esteem a sport."
I would try hard not to burst out laughing as I said this line, because this shows how lightly Puck is taking the situation, and almost shows him to be childlike in a way, because he doesn't really understand the severity of the situation..
At the beginning of the scene, Puck is telling Oberon about how he has transformed Bottom's head into that of a donkey's and how Titania has fallen in love with Bottom. As I was saying this as Puck, I would have my voice sound more and more excited with each line, and also move around the stage a lot in an excited way, going up close to Oberon for some lines and then jumping or skipping away, to demonstrate how light-footed the character of Puck is.
When the lovers are arguing, I would have Puck hopping around in the background, blending in as part of the scenery, and disguising himself as a boulder or a tree, or moving slightly forward in the bushes to get a closer look.
As Puck, everything I would say would be cheerful, and accompanied by chuckles. However, when Puck is saying he must hurry to crush the herb in Lysander's eye, and lead Demetrius and Lysander away from each other, I would do so in a worried, overly-dramatised voice, as if to show that Puck can go to different extremes with his voice, from sounding overly cheerful to overly worried. Because of all the inflections in his voice, it would not be surprising that Puck is adept at impersonating Lysander and Demetrius. At this point, I would, as Puck, put on a hat and hold a sword, to show that he is impersonating Demetrius and Lysander, and not actually talking to them as himself. When leading the two astray, I would have him going up behind one of them closely and saying his lines in their ear in a scornful way, and then making a noise in the general direction that Puck would want Lysander or Demetrius to run.
In this part of the scene, I would made Puck's interaction and body language towards Lysander and Demetrius very obvious, for example, making a lot of noise in the direction he wants them to move towards, or even pushing them in the direction, because he is actually invisible.
Puck's body language of pushing Lysander and Demetrius, and scornfully whispering insults in their ears would accentuate the old fashioned idea of mad, evil sprites in the woods misdirecting and playing around with lost travellers, and would also show that there is a line between the fairies and the humans.
When Puck is pretending to be either Lysander or Demetrius, I would have him at this point, not even feeling the need to laugh, as you would expect him to need to, because he is so adept at mischief-making that he perhaps takes it seriously when he does it, but is amused when he steps back to look at his handiwork, almost like an artist who is proud of his painting. Also, he has been instructed by Oberon, who he respects and possibly looks up to. Perhaps, because he is a jester, Puck is not taken so seriously by other fairies, but Oberon obviously trusts him above the other fairies, and so I think Puck has a deep loyalty towards Oberon, yet they are still on the same level, as Puck will not hide his pleasure at the conflict between Lysander, Demetrius, Helena and Hermia. He will comply with what Oberon tells him to do, but if he knowingly makes a mistake, he will not fix it until told to, because he knows that any error he makes will make more trouble, which would upset the lovers, and annoy/worry Oberon, but serve as a great performance, with Puck, as the audience.
When the lovers are asleep, I would whisper Puck's lines, but in a loud whisper so that the audience can hear him. I would tip toe nimbly around the lovers to Lysander and crush the herb in his eye in an almost reluctant way, because all the mayhem will be over, but as I say Puck's final lines, I would say them to, first, the lovers, and then turn to the audience, and say it to them as if I am actually speaking to them, and give a satisfied smile, and skip off stage.
As a conclusion, to all I have written, I would play Puck in a mischievous, not a nasty way, in a cheerful voice, that can change in tone and pitch, as to whether he is excited, cheerful, or worried. I would have Puck to be completely at home onstage, as it is in the forest, possibly with different platforms that only he uses, to show how well he knows the forest/stage. He would be dressed in browns and greens, to single him out from the other fairies, and make it more obvious that he is partners with Oberon, who I would have in Autumn colours; red and browns. Puck in browns and greens would show that he is almost apart of the forest, and by not being the same colour as the other fairies, would show that he is the link between the humans and the fairies. I would play Puck to be amused at the confusion between the lovers, but due to his respect for Oberon, he later rights the wrongs.
In this scene, all the events happen because of Puck. From his mischief-making, and from his mistakes. Even though all the ideas are Oberon's, they are carried out by Puck, and I would play Puck to generally not care whether he gets his instructions wrong or not, because he is, after all, just a mad spirit.
