Disha NEET Physics Guide for classes 11 and 12.pdf
Dramaturgical PowerPoint for "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by William Shakespeare
Dramaturgical PowerPoint
compiled by Thomas Canfield
Production Dramaturg
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96. Egeus comes
before Theseus
and Hippolyta
to complain
against his
daughter,
Hermia.
Demetrius and
Lysander flank
them on either
side, while
Philostrate
looks on.
98. Helena and Hermia,
Illustration
by Arthur Rackham
(1908)
Hermia informs Helena
of Lysander’s plan to
elope to “the wood,
where often you and I/
Upon faint primrose-
beds were wont to lie,/
Emptying our bosoms
of their counsel sweet.”
99. Hermia and
Helena
by
American artist
Washington
Allston
(1818)
117. “Ill met by Moone-light./Proud Tytania.”
Illustration depicting the meeting of Oberon and Titania
by Arthur Rackham
118. “the Windes, piping to
vs in vaine,/
As in reuenge, haue
suck’d vp from the sea
Contagious fogges . . .”
Titania and Oberon
quarreling
by Arthur Rackham
(1908)
119. Joseph Noel
Paton
The Quarrel
of Oberon
and Titania
(1849-50)
146. A Midsummer
Night’s Dream
by Sir Joseph
Noel Paton
(1821-1901)
This painting
depicts Oberon
applying the
juice of Cupid’s
flower on
Titania eyes,
with Puck
hovering above.
147. Illustration from an
1874 German work
depicting Oberon
applying Cupid’s flower
to the eyes of the
sleeping Titania
172. “The honie-bags steale
from the humble
Bees,/And for night-tapers
crop their waxen
thighes,/And light them at
the fierie-Glow-wormes
eyes . . .”
Titania, as portrayed by
John Simmons
(1823-76)
173. Marc Chagall’s
painting of A
Midsummer
Night’s Dream
(Songe d'une nuit
d'été)
(1939)
174. “Lord, what fooles
these mortals be!”
Illustration by Arthur
Rackham
(1908)
175. “She was a vixen when she
went to schoole.”
Illustration by Arthur
Rackham, 1908
176. Puck misleads the
lovers in the woods:
“Vp and downe, vp and
downe, . . ./Goblin,
lead them up and
downe.”
Illustration by Arthur
Rackham
(1908)
206. The Disenchantment of
Bottom
by Daniel Maclise
(1832)
Bottom sits in front of a hollow tree and he
seems to awaken from a nightmare rather
than a dream. Two hag-like figures, not as
we imagine Shakespeare's Peaseblossom,
Mustardseed, Cobweb and Moth, are on
either side of his head, an image that
reminds us of the ears of an ass that have
just been removed when the enchantment
ended. One of these ugly little creatures
pulls open his eyelid and the other blasts a
trumpet in his ear. On his knee sits a small
figure reading over his script for Pyramus
and Thisbe, and overhead the reconciled
Oberon and Titania float in a sensuous kiss.
Many figures, all of them sinister and
deformed, hover around Bottom creating a
circular frame with him in the center. A
grimacing figure in the upper left-hand
corner looks like the devil himself and in the
lower left-hand corner a ringlet of fairies
dance around the figure of Pan playing a
pipe and sitting on a pedestal.
221. Part III:
Some Famous
(and Not-So
Famous) Actors
and Productions
16th century English woodcut of Robin Goodfellow
222. The varying fortunes of A Midsummer Night's Dream as a stage play give interesting
insights into the history of the theatre and the variations of public taste through the
centuries.
Allusions by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and successors show that the play was
exceedingly popular until the closing of the theatres by the Puritans in 1642. In 1602, the
interlude of Pyramus and Thisbe was imitated by the students of St. John's College, Oxford,
in a burlesque titled Narcissus, a Twelfth Night Merriment. Ben Jonson took some hints
from the fairy scenes for The Masque of Oberon the Fairy Prince (1611).
Illustration of
Puck, from
Robin
Goodfellow, His
Mad Pranckes
and Merry Jests
(1639).
223. During the Commonwealth
(1642-1660), when theatres were
closed and performance was
forbidden, the play was adapted
into a droll titled The Merry
Conceits of Bottom the Weaver.
“Drolls” or “droll-humors,” as
they were often called, were
farces or humorous scenes
adapted from current plays and
staged, for the most part, on
extemporized scaffolds at
taverns and fairs.
Robert Cox, the leading
performer of drolls, counted
Bottom the Weaver in his acting
repertoire. This particular droll
is essentially an abridgment of
the Mechanicals scenes.
Right: Title page to Francis Kirksman’s
published collection of drolls (1662)
224. Frontispiece illustration to
Kirkman’s collection. Notice that
one of the characters (inset below)
is called “Changling.”
225. Immediately after the Restoration of Charles II (1660) and the reopening
of the theatres, the droll version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was
published to match “the general mirth that is likely very suddenly to
happen about the King’s Coronation,” according to its title page.
The only direct evidence of a Restoration production of the play occurs in
Samuel Pepys’s diary entry in 1662. Pepys was less than impressed with
the performance that he saw, terming it “the most insipid ridiculous play
that ever I saw in my life.” Although Pepys did enjoy “some good dancing
and some handsome women,” he added, that was “all my pleasure.” The
editor of Pepys Diary, Henry Wheatley, notes that, “this seems to be the
only mention of the acting of Shakespeare’s play at this time, and it does
not appear to have been a favourite.”
The play as it was originally written was seldom performed during the
Restoration, and never performed in the eighteenth-century. There is no
evidence of any other revival of the play until a single disastrous
performance in 1763. Instead, it was adapted many times as a backdrop for
opera and spectacle.
226. In 1692, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
under the title of The Fairy Queen, began a
long and variegated career as an opera.
Henry Purcell, the great English musician,
composed the instrumental and vocal
parts, and the masque included elaborate
dances, with scenery and mechanical
effects that surpassed anything seen in
England before.
The central action of the play was mostly
preserved, but the interlude of Pyramus
and Thisbe was moved to Act II, and its
place was taken by an elaborate masque,
including a duet by a Chinese man and
woman, and a dance by six monkeys.
Additional attractions included three poets,
two dragons, two swans who turn into
fairies and dance, four savages, and a troop
of fauns, dryads and naids.
228. Pyramus and Thisbe was the title of a “comic masque”
presented in 1710, and of a “mock opera” performed in 1745 at
Covent Garden.
During David Garrick’s management of Drury Lane, he
presented two highly altered productions. The first was The
Fairies, an opera by J.C. Smith (1755). In this version, the
“rude mechanicals” did not appear at all.
In 1763, Garrick presented highly cut version of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, but the public was disappointed and the
single performance was considered a disaster. The play was
quickly reworked into a farce titled A Fairy Tale, which
opened three days after its parent production’s debacle. It
became a fairly successful afterpiece that remained in the
Drury Lane repertory until 1787. This version was also revived
at the Haymarket in 1777.
229. Depiction of eighteenth century
English actress and singer Jane (Jenny)
Barsanti (fl. 1778, died 1795) as Helena,
Act III, scene i.
As portrayed by John Roberts in Bell’s
Edition of Shakespeare’s works
(published 1 March 1776).
Although she was an extremely popular
actress, there is no actual record of
Barsanti having appeared in this role in
a production on the London stage, a
curious phenomenon that is common
with many of eighteenth century
artistic renditions, according to
Allardyce Nicholl’s The Garrick Stage:
Theatres and Audience in the
Eighteenth Century.
233. Portrait of Emma (Lady Hamilton) as Titania with Puck and
Changeling (1793)
by George Romney
234. Lady Hamilton
(1765-1815), was the
Mistress of Lord
(Horatio) Nelson
(1758-1805).
She achieved
celebrity through
her beauty,
personal vitality,
and skills as a
performer.
235. Lady Hamilton is principally remembered as the “muse” of artist George Romney,
and for her affair with Nelson. The affair was an international scandal, and when, at
Nelson’s death in 1805, he entrusted Emma’s care to the nation, this request was
ignored by the government. Lady Hamilton died a pauper in France in 1813.
236. Lady Hamilton depicted in the role of Miranda in The Tempest, as painted
by George Romney
238. The caption states, “MISS
FARREN in the character of
HERMIA (Starting from Sleep).”
Notice her clutching for the
serpent in her bosom.
239. Called the “Queen of
Comedy” by contemporary
Horace Walpole, Elizabeth
Farren was the star of
Drury Lane for 20 years
until her marriage to
Edward Smith Stanley, the
12th Earl of Derby, in 1797.
Noted for her vivacity and
style, she frequently took
leading roles in plays by
Colman, Sheridan and
other contemporary
authors.
240. Playbill for a performance of A
Midsummer Night's Dream, 17
January 1816, at the Theatre
Royal, Covent Garden.
This adaptation of the play was
undertaken and produced by
Frederic Reynolds (1764-1841).
Reynolds laced his adaptation
with a cornucopia of crowd-
pleasing devices, including low
comedy, disguise, spectacular
entrances, musical numbers,
pageants, and flying.
241. Other than the playbill,
the only surviving visual
evidence of Reynolds’s
production is this
engraving of performer
John Duruset as Oberon
(published 1819).
242. The first known
performance of A
Midsummer Night's
Dream in America took
place at the Park
Theatre, New York, on 9
November 1826.
It was revived at the
same theatre in 1841,
with legendary actress
Charlotte Cushman in a
“breeches role” as
Oberon. This
production played only
one week.
Right:
Portrait of Charlotte
Cushman
(1816-76)
243. W. E. (William
Evans) Burton
(1802-1860)
as Bottom, in
Act
IV, scene ii
Burton achieved
a triumph in the
character of
Bottom in a
magnificent
setting at his
New York
Theatre in 1854.
244. Burton, who often went by the
nickname “Billy,” was an English-
born comedian, magazine editor
and theatre manager who came to
the United States in 1834.
Burton made his first New York
appearance in 1837, but maintained
Philadelphia as his base for several
years, acting and running theatres
there.
In New York (1848), he turned
Palmo’s decaying Opera House into
Burton’s Chambers Street Theatre,
where he presented several seasons
mainly of old comedies,
burlesques, and dramatizations of
popular novels.
Over the years, he also presented a
number of Shakespearean revivals,
which were deemed among the
best of the era.
245. Contemporary Joseph
Jefferson recalled that,
“Burton’s features were strong
and heavy, and his figure was
portly and ungainly.”
On Burton’s acting, Jefferson
recalled that, “Burton colored
highly, and laid on the effect
with a liberal brush.”
In 1867-68, Jefferson’s own
production of the play at New
York’s Olympic theatre ran for
a hundred nights.
246. English actress and singer
Eliza Vincent (1815-56)
in the role of Oberon
Reportedly the daughter of a
Lambeth newsvendor, Vincent went
on to experience success at Drury
Lane, Covent Garden and the Royal
Vic theatres.
She was called “the acknowledged
heroine of domestic drama.” After a
scandalous elopement with actor and
theatre manager David W
Osbaldiston in 1834, Vincent
eventually became manager of the
Royal Vic theatre, a position which
she held until her death.
247. -1840-
With Romantic sentiment in the air, and a stress on dreams
and the supernatural, as well as a delight in wild landscapes,
the time was ripe for a new vision for the play.
At London’s Covent Garden theatre, Madame Vestris (1797-
1856) reversed the theatrical fortunes of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream by employing her knowledge of flying
machinery, ballet, and more historically accurate scenic and
costume design. Vestris also employed judicious editing
practices (this was one of the first relatively uncut
productions of the play), and music from Felix
Mendelssohn’s overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(1826) to establish a tradition that would dominate the
nineteenth-century approach to staging the play.
Vestris played the role of Oberon in the production, with
another female in the role of Puck, beginning a tradition of Above:
female Oberons and Pucks that lasted for seventy years. The Madame Vestris as
production was hailed as a critical success. Oberon
248. Playbill for another production
of A Midsummer Night's Dream
on 29 April 1842, at the Theatre
Royal Williamson Square.
249. Bottom was esteemed to be one of the greatest
comic roles of English actor Samuel Phelps
(1804-78), who conducted a notable series of
Shakespearean revivals at Sadler’s Wells theatre,
starting in 1844.
Phelps revolutionized the Shakespearean
production of plays by restoring the original text
of the first folio. He staged all but four of
Shakespeare's plays at Sadler’s Wells, some of
which had not been performed since their
premieres at the Globe Theatre.
His production A Midsummer Night's Dream in
1853 (in which he played Bottom, a role he
reprised for over 20 years) was also remarkable.
The production marked the first time that gas
was used as a stage illuminant. The play also
introduced the use of a seamless, diaphanous
blue net, the same size as the act-drop, to give a
“misty effect” to the fairy scenes.
250. Fanny Cooper
(a.k.a.
Mrs. T.H. Lacy,
1819-72)
as Helena
Frances Dalton Lacy, a
capable and intelligent
actress, was born in London.
Her first appearance in
London was at the Haymarket
in 1838. She then became a
member of Madame Vestris’s
company at Covent Garden in
1840.
In 1842, she married actor,
theatrical publisher and
playwright Thomas Hailes
Lacy.
251. After three years at Covent Garden,
Fanny Cooper went to Sadler’s Wells
theatre, where she held a prominent
position for several seasons as
Samuel Phelps’s leading comic
actress.
252. An unidentified 19th
century production:
Actress (and
acquaintance of Charles
Dickens), Maria Ternan
(1835-1903) as Titania.
253. -1856-
Charles Kean (1811-68) revived the play in its original form, albeit with a
Victorian sensibility, at the Princess Theatre in London.
The part of Puck was assigned to “a blond roguish girl” about ten years old
who, under the name of Ellen Terry, was to be a favorite interpreter of
Shakespearean roles for English-speaking audiences for half a century.
In Kean’s production, Bottom was played by Harley, one of the leading
comic actors of the day. On his deathbed a few years later, Harley’s last
words were a quotation from this role: “I have an exposition of sleep come
upon me.”
255. An actor and stage manager,
Charles Kean was the second
son of Edmund Kean.
Determined to become an
actor, he made his first
appearance at Drury Lane in
1827, but his failure to achieve
popularity led him to leave
London the following year for
the provinces.
His next London appearance
was in 1833, but his success was
still not pronounced enough for
him to remain in the capital.
256. In 1838, Keane returned to
Drury Lane and played Hamlet
with a success that placed him
among the principal tragedians
of his time.
In 1850, when he became joint
lessee of the Princess Theatre,
one noteworthy feature of his
management was a series of
highly regarded Shakespearean
revivals.
257. Charles Kean as Mamillius and
Ellen Terry in her stage debut (at
the age of eight) as Leontes in in
The Winter's Tale (1856) at the
Princess Theatre.
During the course of this long-
running production, Terry
performed the role 102 times. A
review in The Times described her
performance as “vivacious and
precocious.”
That same year, she also went on
to play Puck in Kean’s production
of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
258. A
Midsummer
Night's
Dream
playbill for a
27 October
1856
performance
at Kean’s
Princess
Theatre,
featuring
Ellen Terry
in the role of
Puck.
259. Dame (Alice) Ellen
Terry (1847-1928),
shown here in the
role of Lady Macbeth
260. Carlotta Leclercq (1838-93) played
Titania in Kean’s 1856 production of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the
Princess’s Theatre.
265. Playbill for a performance of A
Midsummer Night's Dream on 9 March
1858 at the Princess Theatre, again
featuring Ellen Terry in the role of
Puck.
266. Two “breeches” roles:
Julia Harland as Oberon and a
Miss Conquest as Puck in a
production that marked the 31
March 1851 opening of the
Grecian Saloon in London under
the management of George
Conquest.
The Miss Conquest depicted here
was most likely one of George
Conquest’s elder daughters
(Amelia, Laura, or Isabella)
267. Julia Harland was the
granddaughter of
famous English actor
William Wallack (c.
1794-1864); she also was
the sister of J.W.
Wallack, Jr. (1818-73),
who had a
distinguished career on
the American stage.
She eventually married
William Hoskin and
acted in the U.S. under
the name of Julia
Wallack; however,
appeared on the lyric
stage in England under
the name of Julia
Harland.
269. English actress Lizzie Weston (nee Elizabeth Jackson, died 1899), was the former wife of
F.H. Davenport and of William West; later, she married Charles James Mathews.
270.
271. Playbill for a performance at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 30 June
1863, to raise money for a national
monument to Shakespeare.
Plays performed included Romeo and
Juliet, King John, As You Like It, Henry
IV Part I, Much Ado About Nothing,
The Merchant of Venice, Othello,
Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night's
Dream.
272. In 1873, Augustin Daly produced the play at the Grand Opera House in New York,
complete with the panoramic passage of Theseus’s barge in the last two acts.
273.
274. -9 July 1895-
Augustin Daly’s run of 21 performances of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream at Daly’s Theatre
(London) opened.
The players were: George Clarke as Theseus,
Frank Worthing as Demetrius, John Craig as
Lysander, James Lewis as Bottom, Maxine
Elliott as Hermia, Ada Rehan as Helena, Percy
Haswell as Oberon, Sybil Carlisle as Oberon,
and Lillian Swain as Puck.
284. An interesting note to Daly’s production is that a young Isadora Duncan
played one of the fairies (as shown at left). Duncan, who met Daly in
1896, traveled to England to perform with the company.
286. One of the
leading figures of
the Czech
National Theatre
in the latter half
of the 19th
century, Mošna
(1837-1911),
appeared in
more than 500
tragicomic and
comical roles
during his
professional
career.
He entered the
theatre as the
owner of a
travelling theatre
in The Bartered
Bride and Vocílka
in The Bagpiper
of Strakonice.
288. Bosse is today most
famously remembered for
being the third wife of
Swedish playwright August
Strindberg.
These photos depict her in
the role of Indra’s daughter
from Swindberg’s A Dream
Play.
289. British actor and theatre manager
F.R Benson (1858-1939) founded his
Shakespearean company in 1883.
A Midsummer Night's Dream was
one of the most successful plays in
the repertoire of the company,
which acted at the Globe Theatre
and made extensive tours in the
English provinces.
The concept for the production
under Benson remained broadly the
same from the 1880s into the 1920s.
Benson also managed the Globe
theatre for one season in 1890; his
production of A Midsummer
Night's Dream began on 19
December.
Playbill advertising Benson’s production at the
Globe, 1890
290. Sir Francis
Robert Benson
(1858-1939),
was commonly
known as Frank
Benson or F. R.
Benson.
His company,
founded in
1883, produced
all but two of
Shakespeare's
plays.
293. -1900-
Frank Benson’s company gave seven performances of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lyceum Theatre
(London) in February.
Benson played Lysander and his wife, Constance
Benson, played Titania. Others in the cast were Lily
Brayton as Helena, Ada Ferrar as Hermia, H. R.
Hignett as Demetrius, Kitty Loftus as Puck, and
Frank Rodney as Oberon.
295. Playbill for a performance of A
Midsummer Night's Dream on 16
December 1901 at the Theatre
Royal Birmingham, featuring F.R.
Benson’s company.
296. -20 April 1908-
Benson opened the Stratford-upon-Avon
Shakespeare Festival with productions of Much
Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s
Dream.
297. Lady Constance Benson as
Titania in front of the wall at the
Shakespeare Theatre in
Stratford.
She played Titania six times
between 1888 and 1911 in
Stratford productions of the play
directed by her husband.
The part of Bottom was played
by George R. Weir, who appeared
in the play five times between
1888 and 1908.
298. Constance Benson out of costume (left), and in the
role of Lady Macbeth (right)
299. Murray Carrington
(1885-1941)
as Oberon
Carrington, posed at the Shakespeare
Memorial Theatre, played the role of
Oberon four times between 1908 and
1919. The first three productions were
directed by Sir Frank Benson; the last
was under the direction of W. Bridges-
Adams. Posed with him here is an
unidentified actor .
Carrington made his first stage
appearance in 1904, and the next year he
played his first Shakespearean role in
Cymbeline at the Queen’s Theatre,
Manchester.
Carrington spent eight years with Frank
Benson’s company and played many
major Shakespearean roles.
300. Another photograph,
taken outside the
Shakespeare Memorial
Theatre in Stratford,
depicts two unidentified
actors in the roles of Nick
Bottom and Francis Flute
as Pyramus and Thisbe.
301. -10 January 1900-
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s spectacularly lavish production of A
Midsummer Night's Dream ran for 153 performances (January 10-
May 26) at Her Majesty’s Theatre (London). Reportedly, live rabbits
were used on the set to make the forest more realistic.
Tree played Bottom while his wife, Maud Holt, played Titania.
Other players in his company were William Mollison as Theseus,
Dorothea Baird as Helena, Gerald Lawrence as Demetrius, Sarah
Brooke as Hermia, Lewis Waller as Lysander, Julia Neilson as
Oberon, and Louie Ferrar as Puck.
303. -Fall 1903-
The sumptuous New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street,
New York, opened with a naturalistic production of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The lavish production, which ran for three weeks, featured
elaborate settings and costumes.
Victor Herbert, the popular composer of operettas, arranged
Felix Mendelssohn’s score of the incidental music for A
Midsummer Night’s Dream that accompanied the
production.
304. The scene depicted in the photograph seems to be Act II, scene i (the
confrontation of Titania and Oberon), with the Indian Prince
kneeling in the foreground of the picture.
305. Nat C. Goodwin played the role of
Bottom in the production.
Nat Carl Goodwin was born in Boston,
Massachusetts, and started on the
stage in 1874, chiefly performing in
vaudeville and burlesque.
He played several Shakespeare roles in
his career, including Shylock in The
Merchant of Venice (1901).
Goodwin tried his hand on the stage
in England, but had little luck there.
One of his great successes was his part
of Fagin in a stage adaptation of
Dickens's Oliver Twist.
In 1914 he published an
autobiography, titled Nat Goodwin's
Book.
306. -(1905 to 1907)-
Walter Hampden, the “Dean of the American theatre” (1879-
1956) played Oberon in three productions at the Adelphi in
London.
Hampden as
Oberon
307. Walter Hampden Dougherty was born in New York
City, but he began his stage career in England
where he learned his craft as a player in Frank
Benson’s company. In 1907, Hampden returned to
New York, where he became identified with a
number of Shakespearean roles: Shylock, Hamlet,
Othello, Oberon, Macbeth, and Romeo.
In 1925, he acquired the Colonial Theatre in New
York and renamed it Hampden’s Theatre. There, he
established a repertory theatre that included the
plays of Shakespeare. As late as 1947, Hampden was
still acting, taking on the role of Cardinal Wolsey in
Henry VIII. Hampden’s last Shakespearean
engagement was in 1949 (he was 69) when he made
his television debut as Macbeth. Hampden died in
1956 at the age of 77 without ever formally retiring
from acting and producing.
In addition to his full life in the theatre, he played
in eighteen films between 1915 and 1956. Hampden
played his last role in 1956, the year of his death, as
King Louis XI in the film The Vagabond King.
308. Beatrice Ferrar made her
stage debut and played her
first part in a Shakespeare
play simultaneously in 1887,
Another when she debuted in
Eastbourne at the Theatre
postcard
Royale as Peaseblossom in A
image of Midsummer Night's Dream.
Hampden
as Oberon; She was only a child when she
here, joined Frank Benson's
flanked by company in 1888 and played
Beatrice children’s parts in his
Ferrar as Shakespeare plays.
Puck
Ferrar first appeared on the
London stage in 1890.
In 1905, she played Puck to
Walter Hampden’s Oberon in
A Midsummer Night's Dream.
310. Hampden and Ferrar were joined by
two other notable performers of the
early 20th century: Oscar Asche (1871-
36) as Bottom and his wife, Lily
Brayton (1876-1953) as Helena.
These two photos show Lily Brayton in
the role of Helena.
311. Brayton and
Asche
collaborated
often as actors
and managers.
Brayton made
her first stage
appearance in
1896 with Frank
Benson's
company. She
remained with
the troupe for
some time, and
played many
Shakespearean
roles, appearing
several seasons
in the Stratford
Shakespeare
Festival. Her
last appearance
on the stage was
as Portia in
Julius Caesar.
312. Oscar Asche as Bottom (left),
and out of costume (below).
315. Dubbed the "Duse of the English-
speaking stage," Annie Russell was
born in Liverpool, England but raised
in Canada.
This “frail, darkish woman with a
slightly lugubrious face” made her
stage debut in 1872.
Her New York debut came in 1879.
Afterwards, Russell toured North and
South America, as well as Australia.
In 1881, she scored a huge success in
New York with her brilliant portrayal in
Esmerelda.
She retired from the stage for three
seasons, but returned in 1894 and
regained her popularity.
316. Russell first played London in 1898,
and in 1905 created George Bernard
Shaw’s heroine in Major Barbara. She
also gave memorable performances
as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s
Dream (1906-07), Viola in Twelfth
Night (1909) and Beatrice in Much
Ado About Nothing (1912).
In her final, active years Russell
organized the Old English Comedy
Company, where she played such
roles as Kate Hardcastle, Beatrice,
Lydia Languish, and Lady Teazle in
School for Scandal. She retired in 1918
to head the dramatic program at
Rollins College in Winter Park,
Florida, where subsequently the
Annie Russell Theatre was named in
her honor.
318. This card (right) is
an advertisement
for Annie Russell’s
appearance in A
Midsummer Night's
Dream.
The advertisement
on the side says,
“Miss Annie
Russell, who will
appear at the New
Montauk Theatre
in Midsummer
Night’s Dream,
week of October
22d.”
Russell was
celebrated for her
performance as
Puck in the play.
321. In 1911, Beerbohm Tree repeated the triumph of his production of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream that he had experienced ten years earlier.
Below is a costume design sketch by Percy Anderson for Oberon
in Tree’s production.
322. -17 April 1911-
Arthur Bourchier staged A Midsummer Night’ s Dream at His
Majesty’s Theatre, London.
Bourchier played Bottom, with Gerald Lawrence as Theseus,
Basil Gill as Lysander, Evelyn D'Alroy as Oberon, and
Margery Maude as Titania
323. Evelyn D’Alroy (1882-
1915, right) and
Margery Maude (1889-
1979, right)
as Oberon and Titania
in Arthur Bourchier’s
production.
324. Evelyn D’Alroy’s career
was cut short when she
died at the age of 33.
She first appeared on
the stage in 1902.
D’Alroy played several
Shakespearean roles,
including Ophelia,
Portia, and Oberon.
Who Was Who in the
Theatre reports that
her favorite part was
Ophelia.
325. Margery Maude was a noted English
actress of stage, screen and television.
After moving to the U.S., she appeared
on Broadway in a long career between
1913 and 1965.
326. -1914-
Harley Granville-Barker’s production at the Savoy was termed a triumph of gorgeous
decorativeness. The fairies had gilded body-paint and gold-bronze dresses that jangled
as they moved. The background was green and purple, with Puck as a single patch of
scarlet. Adhering closely to the original text, the lines were delivered at a normal, fast-
moving pace, rather than the drawn-out oration that had been the norm.
327. The palace of Theseus in Granville-Barker’s production.
329. Harley Granville-Barker
(1877-1946)
In 1915, after 99 performances of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Granville-Barker set off for New
York, where his production was
presented at Wallack’s Theatre.
330. Donald Calthrop as Puck (below, right) in Granville-
Barker’s production
331. Calthrop, the nephew of celebrated playwright Dion Boucicault, made his stage debut in
1906 at the Comedy Theatre; his first part in a Shakespeare play was as Solanio in The
Merchant of Venice. He also managed the King’s Way Theatre in 1923, and produced
revivals of Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Calthrop had an active career in films as well. Starting in 1916 with Wanted: A Widow
and ending with Shaw's Major Barbara in 1940, the year of his death, he appeared in 63
films, including five films by Alfred Hitchcock. The above stills are from Hitchcock’s
Blackmail (1929).
332. An advertising card for
Wallack’s Theatre in New York,
featuring Lillah McCarthy, the
wife of Granville-Barker, in the
role of Helena.
Granville-Barker brought his
company to Wallack’s Theatre
in New York from the Savoy
Theatre, London, in 1915.
334. Norman Wilkinson designed two
outfits for Lillah McCarthy in the role
of Helena.
For her first scene, and later in the
wood near Athens, she appeared in a
dress of white crêpe-de-chine with a
stenciled border. She also had two
cloaks, one in grey, the other in green
lined with white.
The costume here is her second dress,
also of white crêpe-de-chine, worn for
the wedding celebration in the final
scene. Its cut and shape are based on
classical sources, but Wilkinson used
pink stenciled flowers to create a look
that was modern and English.
The costume was completed with
mauve shoes and red beads, and
Helena’s long blonde tresses were
decorated with a wreath of flowers.
341. Three unidentified
actors in the
Pyramus and Thisbe
play, although this
could possibly be
Cossart in the role of
Pyramus
342. P.L Travers (1899-1988) was an
Australian author and journalist, best
known for her popular series of
children’s books featuring the timeless
character of Mary Poppins.
Travers began her career as an actress,
before turning to journalism in her
twenties.
The photo at right shows her is in the
role of Titania, ca. 1920s.
343. This photo shows the 23-
year old Vivien Leigh, on
the verge of stardom as
Scarlett O’ Hara in Gone
With the Wind (1939), in
the role of Titania the Old
Vic (1937-38), directed by
Tyrone Guthrie.
One reviewer noted:
“Vivien Leigh’s Titania was
a bewitching partner to
this Oberon: as graceful as
he, beautiful as a fairy
princess, silver of tongue
and meltingly seductive.”
344. Headdress designed
by Oliver Messel
(1904-78), Britain’s
leading designer,
which was worn by
Vivien Leigh in
Tyrone Guthrie’s
production.
For the flowers,
Messel used
metallic paper,
chandelier drops,
metal discs and
cellophane to subtly
convey the fantasy
and inhuman
elements of the fairy
queen, as well as a
sense of steely
character.
345. Guthrie sought to reconcile
Elizabethan comedy with the
Old Vic’s early Victorian
architecture (1833) and
Mendelssohn’s (1809-1847) early
Victorian incidental music. He
said that the music was
“redolent of crimson and gold
opera houses, of operatic fairies
in white muslin flying through
groves of emerald canvas” (Old
Vic Theatre Program, 27
December 1937).
A. E. Wilson reported that Leigh
was “like an exquisite picture
from some Victorian lady’s
keepsake.” This costume sketch
for indicates the flowing lines of
her early Victorian style white
muslin dress, which Messel
decorated with flowers and
accessorized with insect wings.
346. Robert Helpmann (1909-1986), a
ballet dancer and actor, played
Oberon.
Messel designed a dark costume
decorated with organic motifs in
contrasting bright, shimmering
fabrics in gold, blue and yellow
with red wings.
The design sketch here also
indicates Oberon’s heavy, blue
eye makeup used in the
production.
348. Left to right, Starveling/Moonshine (Gerald Kay Souper), Bottom/Pyramus (Baliol Holloway),
Snout/Wall (Dennis Roberts), Flute/Thisbe (Richard Blatchley), Quince (Randle Ayrton).
Pyramus and Thisbe communicate through a chink in the wall. Act 5, Scene 1
349. -1938-
Royal Shakespeare Company
production
Directed by Andrew Leigh and
also designed by Norman
Wilkinson.
350. Bottom (Jay Laurier) and Titania (Valerie Tudor) encircled by fairy attendants.
Act 4, Scene 1
351. Oberon (Francis James, left) watches the enraptured Bottom (Jay Laurier) and Titania
(Valerie Tudor). Act 4 Scene 1
352. -1944-
Swedish actress Gaby Stenberg (b. 1923) played Titania in A
Midsummer Night's Dream at the opening of Malmö City
Theatre (Sweden).
353. -1949-
Oberon
and
Titania in a
Bristol Old
Vic
production
354. -1949-
Royal Shakespeare Company production, directed by Michael Benthall and designed by James Bailey.
Titania (Kathleen Michael) and fairy attendants.
355. Puck (Philip Guard,
center) watches in glee as
Quince (Bertram
Shuttleworth, right)
cowers before a
transformed Bottom
(John Slater, left), Act 3
Scene 1.
356. Oberon (William Squire,
upper left) and Puck (Philip
Guard, upper right) examine
the sleeping Bottom (John
Slater) and Titania (Kathleen
Michael).
Act 4 Scene 1
359. Puck (David
O'Brien, left)
returns with the
magic flower for
Oberon (Powys
Thomas, right) to
enchant Titania’s
eyes.
Act 2, Scene 1
360. A bewitched Lysander (Tony Britton) attempting to woo a shocked and perplexed Helena
(Barbara Jefford). Act 2, Scene 2
361. Anthony
Quayle
(1913-1989)
played Bottom
in the
production
362. The “rude mechanicals” in rehearsal, from left to right, Snout (James Grout), Bottom (Anthony
Quayle), Quince (Leo McKern), Snug (Mervyn Blake), Starveling (Peter Duguid), Flute (Ian Bannen).
Act 3, Scene 1
363. Bottom attended by
Titania and her
fairies.
From left to right,
Mustardseed
(Alexandra Jack),
Peasblossom
(Annette Apcar),
Bottom (Anthony
Quayle), Moth (Jill
Cary), Titania
(Muriel Pavlow),
Fairy (Jean Morley),
Cobweb (Audrey
Seed).
Act 4, Scene 1
364. Oberon and Puck look on as Titania fawns over Bottom. The cast, from left to right, includes Mustardseed (Netta
Cox, left, to the left of male fairy), Titania (Kathleen Michael), Cobweb (Ann Dobson, behind Titania), Bottom (John
Slater), Peasblossom (Jean Fox) Oberon (William Squire), Puck (Philip Guard), Moth (Jill Bennett).
365. Design for an expressionistic production of the play at the Kungliga
Teatern in Stockholm (1956)
366. -1959-62-
Peter Hall produced the play in 1959 at Stratford. It was revived in 1962 (with a provincial
tour following in 1963). Hall’s production also inspired his own 1968 film version.
Each revival included certain cast changes, and various modifications to setting and action
to suit the performing conditions, but in essence the basic production and design concepts
remained virtually unaltered over this ten-year period.
Lila de Nobili’s set featured an Elizabethan hall, with a minstrel’s gallery and timbered oak
steps on each side. The slightly raked stage floor was covered in straw and parts of the basic,
permanent set could be backlit to reveal a woodland setting behind that was leafy green
and romantic in mood.
The longstanding theory that the play was written to celebrate an aristocratic wedding
prompted the setting of an Elizabethan country house that could easily be transformed
into the forest by foliage and lighting effects. Elizabethan costumes and rushes strewn on
the floor created a sense of period. The fairies were dressed in the richly-jeweled costumes
of Elizabethan masquers, but their bare legs and feet linked them to the wildness of the
forest.
367. Some commentators saw Hall’s production as a mixture between a certain
visual traditionalism and a very contemporary approach. The
characterization of the lovers, who behaved like modern teenagers, and of
the fairies, who were tousle-haired and wild-eyed, was considered to be
amongst the more unconventional elements. Hall described them as
“sexy and wicked and kinky.”
In Hall's film version, he took the fairies a step further: they were almost
naked (wearing only strategically placed ‘leaves’), dirty-faced, muddy, and
painted all over in slimy, glistening green make-up.
380. From left to right,
Mustardseed (Michael
Scoble), Bottom
(Charles Laughton),
Titania (Mary Ure),
Peaseblossom (Judith
Downes).
Act 3, Scene 1
381.
382. Puck (Ian Holm) enchants the eyes of Hermia (Priscilla Morgan) and Lysander (Albert
Finney)
383. Oberon (Robert
Hardy, far left)
and Puck (Ian
Holm, far right)
survey the
sleeping
Bottom
(Charles
Laughton,
center right)
and Titania
(Mary Ure,
center left).
Act 4, Scene 1
384. Puck (Ian Holm, left) and
Oberon (Robert Hardy,
right), eavesdrop on
(below left to right)
Demetrius (Edward de
Souza), Lysander (Albert
Finney), Helena (Vanessa
Redgrave), Hermia
(Priscilla Morgan)
Act 3 Scene 2
385. Hippolyta, Theseus and the young lovers perusing a list of available entertainments. The cast, from left to right, is
Hippolyta (Stephanie Bidmead), Theseus (Anthony Nicholls), Demetrius (Edward de Souza), Philostrate (Donald
Layne-Smith), Helena (Vanessa Redgrave), Lysander (Albert Finney), Hermia (Priscilla Morgan). Act 5, Scene 1
386. -1962-
(Peter Hall)
Oberon
(Ian Richardson)
and Titania
(Judi Dench),
Act 2, Scene 1,
in Peter Hall’s
revival.
387. Oberon (Ian Richardson, left) and Puck (Ian Holm, right) applying magic love potion on
the eyelids of Titania (Judi Dench). Act 2, Scene 2
388. Titania (Judi Dench) and the fairies frolic affectionately with Bottom (Paul Hardwick).
Act 3, Scene 1
390. Costumes worn by Oberon (Richardson) and Helena (played by Diana Rigg) in the wedding scene,
designed by Lila de Nobili for Hall’s 1962-63 productions
394. Puck (Michael Williams, foreground right) encounters the “rude mechanicals” as they
rehearse. The cast, from left to right, includes Snout (Newton Blick), Snug (John
Nettleton), Bottom (Paul Hardwick), Puck (Michael Williams), Quince (Tony Church),
Starveling (Michael Burrell).
398. Titania (Juliet Mills) and fairy attendants, including First Fairy (Patricia Conolly,
front right), Barry Doan (top left), Mary Webster (top right).
400. The lovers quarreling, (from left to right, Demetrius (Barry MacGregor), Lysander (Brian
Murray), Helena (Diana Rigg), Hermia (Ann Beach). Act 3, Scene 2
401.
402. Demetrius
(Barry
MacGregor,
left) and
Lysander
(Brian
Murray,
right) fight
over an
increasingly
confused
and irate
Helena
(Diana Rigg,
center).
Act 3, Scene
2
404. From left to
right,
Snug/Lion
(John
Nettleton),
Starveling/
Moonshine
(Michael
Burrell),
Snout/Wall
(Newton Blick),
Flute/Thisbe
(Ian Hewitson).
Act 5, Scene 1
405. Pyramus and
Thisbe attempt
to speak
through a chink
in the wall.
The cast, from
left to right, is
Bottom/Paul
Hardwick (Paul
Hardwick),
Snout/Wall
(Newton Blick),
Flute/Thisbe
(Ian Hewitson),
Quince (Tony
Church).
Act 5, Scene 1
406. -1970, 1972-
So much has been written about Peter Brook’s production that, in retrospect, it is difficult to
assess its real contribution to theatre. Nevertheless, it would be fair to say that Brook’s
production went far beyond a new interpretation of the play; it was perceived as a new
approach to theatre.
Brook wanted to strip away the inessential details and pose new challenges to the
imagination of the audience. The resulting production, considered to be a milestone in
Shakespearean production history, was very popular and went on world tour.
Brook’s vision reportedly found its genesis in circus and oriental influences. He witnessed a
Chinese circus in Paris, and was impressed by the way in which the oriental acrobats differed
from their western counterparts. The bare stage was hung with ropes, trapezes, swings and
ladders, and floored with soft, white matting.
Brook’s production used bright, vivid colors inside Sally Jacobs’s “white-box” set. Her
costume designs were the baggy trousers and gaudy-colored silks of an oriental acrobat,
with Puck in vivid yellow satin pantaloons and Titania and Oberon in flowing satin robes.
The lovers wore white cotton clothes with tie-dyed patterns. The four fairies (or ‘audio-
visuals’ as Brook referred to them) were dressed alike in drab grey sackcloth material, and
their magic was performed with the aid of wire hoops, fishing poles, trapezes and plastic
hose-lengths (‘frisbees’).
407. Set design sketch by Sally Jacobs for Peter Brook’s 1970 production
409. From Brook’s 1972 revival: Bottom (Barry Stanton) and Snug (Hugh Keays Byrne)
practice the lion's roar.
Act 3, Scene 1
410. The Mechanicals rehearse. From left to right, Quince (Philip Locke), Bottom
(Barry Stanton), Starveling (Richard Moore), Flute (George Sweeney), Snug
(Hugh Keays Byrne), Snout (Malcolm Rennie).
411. Helena (Frances De La Tour) grapples frantically with a reluctant Demetrius (Ben
Kingsley).
Act 2, Scene 1
412. Oberon (Alan Howard, above, purple robe) and Puck (John Kane, above, yellow robe) survey the
quarrel between Demetrius (Ben Kingsley, below, left) and Helena (Frances de la Tour, below, right).
Act 2, Scene 1
413. Puck on a trapeze, airborne:
Robert Lloyd as Puck being
swung by Oberon (Alan Howard)
in Brook’s 1972 revival of the play
417. Oberon (Alan Howard, left) and Puck (Robert Lloyd, right) enchanting Titania’s (Gemma
Jones) eyes with love potion.
Act 2, Scene 1 (from Brook’s 1972 revival of the play).
425. The Mechanicals
rehearse while
surrounded by fairies.
The cast, from left to
right, is Fairy (Celia
Quick, with barbed
wire), Bottom (Snug),
Fairy (Ralph Cotterill,
on floor), Fairy (Hugh
Keays Byrne),
Starveling (Terrence
Hardiman), Bottom
(David Waller, back
turned), Snout
(Norman Rodway,
profile only), Fairy
(John York), Quince
(Philip Locke).
427. Bottom
(David
Waller) and
Titania (Sarah
Kestelman)
with fairy
attendants.
Act 4, Scene 1
428.
429. A perplexed
Hermia (Mary
Rutherford,
left) watches
as Demetrius
(Ben Kingsley,
blue shirt)
and Lysander
(Christopher
Gable, right)
fight for the
attentions of
Helena
(Frances de la
Tour).
Act 3, Scene 2
430. Helena shouts at
Demetrius and
Lysander while Hermia
looks on in disbelief,
from the 1972 revival.
From left to right,
Lysander (Bruce
Myers), Helena (Jennie
Stoller), Hermia
(Zhivila Roche),
Demetrius (Glynne
Lewis)
431. Demetrius (Ben Kingsley, blue shirt) pulls Hermia (Mary Rutherford) away from
Helena (Frances de la Tour) while Lysander (Christopher Gable, left, background)
looks on. Act 3, Scene 2
432. Helena (Frances de la Tour, left) struggles with Hermia (Mary Rutherford, center)
and Demetrius (Ben Kingsley, right) while Lysander (Christopher Gable,
background) looks on. Act 3, Scene 2
433. Brook’s 1972 revival: Hermia (Zhivila Roche) attacking Helena (Jennie Stoller, far
left), while Lysander (Philip Sayer, right) and Demetrius (Glynne Lewis, second
right) try to restrain her. Act 3, Scene 2
434. Puck (John Kane, on stilts) chases Lysander (Christopher Gable, left) and Demetrius (Ben
Kingsley) around the forest.
Act 3, Scene 3
435.
436. Titania (Sara
Kestelman)
swoons in front of
Bottom (David
Waller).
Act 4, Scene 1
437. Titania (Sara Kestelman, left) and Bottom (David Waller) frolicking with fairies,
Act 4, Scene 1. The faires are Ralph Cotterill (left) and John York (right).
440. Oberon (Alan Howard, blue robe) and Titania (Sara Kestelman, green robe) united while the lovers
sleep. The lovers, from left to right, are Hermia (Mary Rutherford), Lysander (Christopher Gable),
Helena (Frances de la Tour), Demetrius (Ben Kingsley). The background cast is Bottom (David
Waller, lying down), Puck (John Kane, yellow robe), Fairy (Hugh Keays Byrne).
441. The young lovers are united at dawn after the night’s bizarre events, Act 4, Scene 1. The cast,
from left to right, is Lysander (Philip Sayer), Hermia (Zhivila Roche), Helena (Jennie
Stoller), and Demetrius (Glynne Lewis)
442. White dress splattered
with paint spots worn by
Zhvilla Roche in the role
of Hermia, designed by
Sally Jacob.
443. The “rude mechanicals,” from left to right: Quince (Philip Locke) Bottom/Pyramus (David
Waller), Snout/Wall (Norman Rodway), Starveling/Moonshine (Terrence Hardiman),
Flute/Thisbe (Glynne Lewis), Lion/Snug (Barry Stanton, on floor)
445. The Lion's
Head from
Peter Brook's
1970
production,
designed by
Sally Jacobs.
Worn by Snug
the Joiner, who
was played by
Barry Stanton.
446. Pyramus and Thisbe being performed, Act 5, Scene 1. The background cast, from left to right, includes
Snug (Hugh Keays Byrne, extreme left), Starveling (Richard Moore), Snout (Malcolm Rennie),
Demetrius (Glynn Lewis, right, black), Helena (Jennie Stoller, dark hair), Hippolyta (Gemma Jones,
bog collar). Foreground are Flute (George Sweeney, top), and Bottom (Barry Stanton).
447. -1977-
Royal Shakespeare Theatre production, directed by John
Barton with Gillian Lynne. Designed by John Napier.
The Athenian woods of this production were colorful and
picturesque, but the shifting lighting and nightmarish fairies
attending upon Titania and Oberon created an unsettling
atmosphere of menace.
The rich lace and creamy silks of the seventeenth-century
costumes gave the lovers a childish innocence that was
transformed by the forest.
452. A transformed Bottom (Richard Griffiths) terrifies his fellow actors while Puck (Leonard
Preston, second right, crouching) looks on. Act 3, Scene 1
457. Titania
(Marjorie
Bland) and
Oberon
(Patrick
Stewart) are
reconciled
after the
night’s
bizarre
events.
458. The play-
within-the
play.
From left to
right, Theseus
(Richard
Durden),
Flute/Thisbe
(Duncan
Preston), and
Bottom
(Richard
Griffiths).
Act 5, Scene 1
459. Bottom/Pyramus (Richard Griffiths, left) prepares to speak to Flute/Thisbe (Duncan
Preston,right) through the wall represented by Snout (Keith Taylor, center).
Act 5, Scene 1
460. Riverside Shakespeare Festival
(1978)
This production continued the
year-old company’s tradition of
un-miked Shakespeare, making
use of a sheet-steel touring set
for natural amplification of
both actors and musicians.
Eric Hoffmann as Puck
461. Riverside Shakespeare Festival (1978)
Performance of the play-within-the play by the rude
mechanicals
The set utilized a series of
sheet steel walls to project
the natural voice. The
parks tour of A
Midsummer Night's
Dream was expanded to
play locations in three
boroughs of New York
City, including the Bronx,
which became a favorite
annual summer
performing site for the
company.
462. -1981-
Royal Shakespeare production, directed by Ron Daniels, designed
by Maria Bjornson.
The repressed fantasies of Victorian sexuality escaped into the
forest in this production, with a design inspired by the trappings of
the nineteenth-century theatre.
The lovers who watched the absurd antics of Pyramus and Thisbe
had only just grown out of their own version of the excesses of
Victorian theatre.
Titania and Oberon (who were doubled with Hippolyta and
Theseus) were dazzlingly-dressed, exotic fairies from Victorian
pantomime, while their attendants were scary puppets
manipulated by black clad figures lurking in the background.
464. Black velvet bodice and blue
chiffon hooped skirt worn by
Juliet Stevenson in the role of
Titania, designed by Maria
Bjornson.
465. A perplexed
Helena
demands to
know why
Lysander and
Demetrius are
mocking her
with
protestations of
affection.
Act 3, Scene 2
466. Lysander and
Demetrius
fight over a
confused and
angry Hermia.
Act 3, Scene 2
467. -1984-
Royal
Shakespeare
production,
directed by
Sheila Hancock
and designed by
Bob Crowley.
The
photograph
shows Hermia
(Amanda Root),
clinging to
Lysander (James
Simmons).
Act 3, Scene 2
468. Titania (Penny
Downie) and
fairy attendants.
Act 4 Scene 1
469. -1986/87-
Royal Shakespeare production, directed by Bill Alexander,
designed by William Dudley.
The opulent elegance of Art Deco design characterized the setting
for this production, and the doubling of the mortal and immortal
kings and queens was given an unusual twist.
While two different actors performed the roles of Theseus and
Oberon, the roles of Titania and Hippolyta were doubled.
The strange adventures and encounters of the play, therefore,
appeared to be the dreamlike longings of a reluctant bride and, at
the end of the play, Hippolyta left her mortal consort and exited
with Oberon.
470. Egeus (Stuart Richman right) complains to Theseus (Richard Easton, second
right) and Hippolyta (Penelope Beaumont, center, black dress) about his daughter
Hermia’s (Amanda Harris, kneeling) refusal to marry Demetrius. Act 1, Scene 1
Also pictured is Lysander (Nathaniel Parker, far left).
471. Oberon (Gerard Murphy) instructs Puck (Nicholas Woodeson) to find a man
wearing Athenian clothes and apply love juice to his eyes, hatching a plot.
Act 2, Scene 1
472. Bottom (David Haig, right) and Peter Quince (Christopher Ashley) in rehearsal for
their wedding play. Act 3, Scene 1
473. 1987 Royal Shakespeare Company production, directed by Bill Alexander, designed by
William Dudley. The photograph shows Bottom (David Haig) and Titania (Frances
Tomelty, right). Act 4, Scene 1
475. Pyramus and Thisbe speak through the chink in the wall, Act 5, Scene 1. The cast, from left
to right, includes Helena (Kathryn Pogson), Demetrius (Max Gold), Theseus (Richard
Easton), Hippolyta (Penelope Beaumont), Hermia (Amanda Harris), Egeus (Stuart
Richman), Bottom/Pyramus (David Haig), Snout/Wall (Jeremy Pearce), Flute/Thisbe (Paul
Venables).
476. James Lapine’s 1988 outdoor production at the Delacorte Theater
(New York Shakespeare Festival)
477. -1989-
John Caird's 1989 production at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, (designed by
Sue Blane), was remarkable for it vivacious innovation. Complete with tutus, fairy wings,
gamboling ‘punk fairies’ with big leather boots, blazers and school ties, this production was
full of mischievous juxtapositions.
Oberon wore an old evening jacket, homemade-looking fairy wings and pointy ‘Spock’ ears,
and still managed to command authority over the proceedings, albeit with one eye winking
firmly at the audience.
This production stole, borrowed from, nodded and winked to many past productions of
the play (Peter Hall had his fairies wear pointy ears in 1962 and in his film version in 1969).
An anarchic, irreverent attitude and frenetic pace were captured by the gestures of Richard
McCabe’s Puck, who literally threw away his copy of New Penguin Shakespeare.
David Troughton’s pin-stripped Bottom sported big side-burns and an old straw hat; the
forest was an old scrap-yard with broken old pianos and Victorian bathtubs; and everything
on the stage seemed to be infected with a dreamy eclecticism.
485. Lysander (Stephen Simms, right) woos a perplexed and irate Helena
(Sarah Crowden).
Act 3, Scene 2
486. Lysander (Stephen Simms, 3rd left) and Demetrius (Paul Lacoux, far left) intercede in the
quarrel between Helena (Sarah Crowden, far right) and Hermia (Amanda Bellamy).
Act 3, Scene 2
487. Ass’s head worn by
David Troughton as
Bottom in Caird’s 1989
production, designed
by Sue Blane.
488. Titania (Clare
Higgins) and
Bottom (David
Troughton)
accompanied by
fairy attendants.
Act 4, Scene 1
491. The performance of Pyramus and Thisbe, Act 5, Scene 1. The cast, from left to right, is Quince (Paul
Webster), Bottom/Pyramus (David Troughton), Flute/Thisbe (Graham Turner), Starveling/Moonshine
(Dhobi Operei)
492. -1994-
Royal Shakespeare Production, directed by Adrian Noble and
designed by Anthony Ward.
The box set and swing, on which Hippolyta privately mused
in the opening moments, were reminiscent of the set of
Brook’s 1970 production.
This was a surreal dream world, where the mechanicals
reappeared as the fairies attending upon Titania and her new
love.
The bare electric bulb of their village hall multiplied and
transformed itself into myriad glowing points in the darkness
of the mysterious forest.
493. The photograph shows Titania (Stella Gonet), in an upturned umbrella,
surrounded by her fairy attendants.
494. Pink feather dress worn
by Stella Gonet in the
role of Titania, 1994,
designed by Anthony
Ward.
495. Oberon and Puck watch the young lovers, Act 3, Scene 2. The cast, from left to
right, is Oberon (Alex Jennings, on top of door), Hermia (Emma Fielding), Helena
(Haydn Gwynne), Lysander (Toby Stephens, sprawling on floor), Puck (Barry
Lynch, on top of door), and Demetrius (Kevin Doyle).
496. Gold Lurex coat, shirt and
trousers as worn by Alex
Jennings in the role of Oberon,
1994, designed by Anthony
Ward.
497. (1994): Flute/Thisbe (Daniel Evans) attempting to speak to
Bottom/Pyramus (Desmond Barrit) via Snout/Wall (Howard Crossley).
Act 5, Scene 1
498. -1999-
Royal Shakespeare production, directed by Michael Boyd,
designed by Tom Piper.
The winter of Theseus’s bleak court was invaded by the
scarlet flowers of the forest, just as the libidinous fairies
invaded its grey walls.
The fairy king and queen were doubled with their mortal
counterparts. Courtiers and mechanicals danced together at
the end of the play-within-the-play, and Hippolyta
lingeringly handed Bottom a rose after dancing with him, as
though she were somehow remembering and desiring again a
dream of their wild lovemaking in the forest.
499. The court of Theseus. Josette Simon as Hipployta and Nicholas
Jones as Theseus.
500. Josette Simon as Hipployta, Nicholas Jones as Theseus, and Catherine Kanter as Hermia
501. Sirine Saba as a Courtier and Aidan McArdle as Philostrate
502. Sirine Saba as a Courtier
and Aidan McArdle as
Philostrate
As performed in the play, a
female courtier, one of
Hipplyta’s train, is
revealed in the doorway,
wearing full winter garb.
Philostrate follows her in,
stalking her absurdly
through the poppies, and
gooses her.
She reacts by slapping him
and breaking his glasses.
503. Sirine Saba as a Courtier
and Aidan McArdle as
Philostrate
They proceed to rip
each other’s clothes
apart.
What begins as anger
soon turns to increasing
excitement, until they
end in a passionate
embrace, now
transformed into
Peasblossom and Puck.
519. -2002-
A Midsummer Night's Dream was director Richard Jones’s first production for
the RSC. Jones’s experience in directing opera, and his reputation for an
audaciously visceral approach to the stage, resulted in a Dream that delved
into the play’s darker elements.
The set, designed by Giles Cradle, was dominated by its blackness. Hands
appeared from nowhere; one actor dressed as a tree moved between scene
changes; tricks were played with perspective, and large, head-sized flies
populated the set in ever-increasing numbers. The lovers were young and
athletic, and their movements were choreographed as though they were in a
ballet.
When criticized for not producing a more traditional and pastoral Dream,
Jones expressed his right to experiment with Shakespeare:
“There is an absolute obsession with being definitive in the theatre, which I
hate. People think there is some kind of grail, that there is one way for a piece
to be done. I think there is a cultural amnesia about what theatre is for. It
should certainly ask more questions than it gives answers.”
523. Demetrius (Paul Chequer,
right) declares his love for
a perplexed Helena (Nikki
Amuka-Bird, left) while
Puck (Dominic Cooper,
center) looks on.
Act 3, Scene 2
524. The young lovers quarreling.
From left to right, Helena (Nikki
Amuka-bird), Lysander (Michael
Colgan), Demetrius (Paul
Chequer), Hermia (Gabrielle
Jourdan, held aloft)
Act 3, Scene 2
525. The old and the new are captured in this and the following photograph of the Mechanicals. The
classical tableaux of the Mechanicals sitting down and rehearsing their performance of Pyramus and
Thisbe is present, while both the director and designer’s vision also impact the expressionistic style of
staging.
526. The Mechanicals sit on a spotlight-beam/underground tunnel, adding a
surreal, filmic look to the comic proceedings.
