When Hermia is with Lysander in scene one, I would direct her to come across as love struck, clinging onto Lysander. Lysander would look lovingly into her eyes as he tells her of his aunt that they could elope to.
I would direct Helena to be played as a fragile woman. She is in love with Demitrius and so is happy that Lysander and Hermia will be eloping. That way she thinks that Demitrius will love her and they will be together. She is very jealous of Hermia. In Helena’s monologue I would direct her to be in a kind of trance. She is deeply jealous of Hermia, and at this moment she can think of nothing else. Towards the end she would end up with her fists clenched as she is plotting revenge.
In act 2 Helena is following Demitrius through the woods. I would direct Demitrius to be hurrying away from Helena, not looking at her as he speaks to her. Helena would be constantly running after him, trying to get him to look at her by running in front of him. When Demitrius says, ‘Do I entice you?’ I would have him stop with Helena in front and for him to then speak directly at her. But he would speak in a harsh tone. Clearly showing he wants Helena to leave him alone. Demitrius would then carry on walking and Helena would again run after him.
Helena I feel would have a pleading voice in quite a high pitch when speaking to Demitrius. It would be almost whiny. I think this would show her desperation for Demitrius to love her.
Demitrius would have a strong voice, high in register. He would be very firm in what he says, clearly stating his feelings.
When the spell is put on Lysander I would direct him to come across as more confident than he was before. With a stronger voice and gestures.
When the potion had been put on both Lysander and Demitrius they both end up loving Helena. Now both young men attempt to woo her, challenging each other to fight, while Hermia gives Helena the blame; Helena still despairs the three are playing a joke on her. Puck isolates the four lovers, biding time until he may administer the remedy. At this point I think Helena would be very confused as to why she suddenly has all this attention.
During the argument I think Helena would be getting more and more ‘hett’ up, thinking that they are all playing a joke on her. Hermia would be getting rather annoyed with Helena and this would come across in her actions and speech. She would also be confused as to why Lysander appears to no longer love her
Throughout the play I think that Demitrius would come across as the stronger character of the four young lovers. Helena would be the weakest.
The lover’s main role is to move the story along and create tension in the piece through their love triangle.
