THEATRICAL COMPONENTS FORA MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

BY SHAKESPEARE

Dharwin Jomuad

Director

Dung Nguyen

Lights

Meehui Paik

Sets

Nam Phan

Costumes

DIRECTOR

ENTRANCE OF THE KING

• Hippolyta sits alone in Center of the palace on a throne

• Theseus approaches her from Stage Left. He comes close to Hippolyta and speaks to her in a low voice

• Philostrate leaves palace Stage Right upon Theseus’ command.

DIRECTOR

ENTRANCE OF THE LOVERS

• Egeus, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius enter from Stage Right after Philostrate leaves

• When Egeus begins talking to Theseus Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius stand Upstage Right and wait

• As the three lovers begin their lines, they walk towards Center

DIRECTOR

QUINCE’S HOUSE

• Scene starts with lights off and actors (Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, and Starveling) in a circle in the Center of the stage. Lights turn on to reveal the actors.

• Quince stands on a podium at the center of the circle with a scroll of the actors’ names.

• Actors rise up energetically upon being called• Actors exit one by one Stage Right upon Quince’s dismissal

DIRECTOR

THE WOODS

• Fairy enters from Stage Left• Puck enters from Stage Right• The two meet at Center Stage

and begin saying their lines

• Puck and Fairy step aside and give room in for Titania and Oberon

• Titania enters from Stage Right and Oberon enters from Stage Left

DIRECTOR

THE SINGING FAIRIES

• Fairies begin singing and dancing in a circle around Titania

• Lights slowly fade, fairies sing more softly and dance more slowly

• Oberon walks in sneakily from Upstage and approaches Titania with the flower.• Lysander and Hermia enter the scene from Stage Right. Oberon quietly retreats

to Upstage

DIRECTOR

THE LOVERS IN THE WOODS

• Hermia and Demetrius enter the woods, arguing loudly.

• EXIT Hermia. Demetrius lays down center stage and sleeps

• ENTER Oberon and Puck arguing. EXIT Upstage

• ENTER Helena and Lysander, arguing.• Helena and Lysander find Demetrius waking and Helena becomes woeful over her

situation.

DIRECTOR

THE CONFUSED LOVERS

• Chaos ensues and the lovers attempt to chase their respective interest.

• During the chase, there will be random entrances and exits.

• As the lovers tire out, they rest in Center stage. Oberon finds them and sprinkles the potion on them.

DIRECTOR

RETURN TO QUINCE’S HOUSE

• Quince starts setting up and rehearsing for the play within the play.

• Quince goes over lines and blocking

• The actors begin panicking because they cannot find Bottom. They are yelling and running around in stress.

DIRECTOR

CLOSING SCENE

• The lovers wake up in the forest, stripped of clothing• They part to different corners of the stage and search for their clothes• Upon entering the palace, the lovers come in with their rightful partners.• Oberon and Puck speak to each other on the side, praising their good work.

DIRECTOR

LIGHTS

SETTING THE SCENE

• Athens, (ancient) Greece

• Begins at Theseus’s palace

• Only light at night comes from “stars”

and “fire”

LIGHTS

THE PALACE

• Scene opens at night

• Spotlight in one corner to simulate

moonlight through a window

• Fake fires and soft white lighting

across stage to resemble fires lighting

up palace

LIGHTS

QUINCE’S HOUSE

• Well-lit

• Soft white for more natural, homey

feeling

LIGHTS

THE WOODS

• Trees backlit, dark shadows, simulates

the woods at night

• Spotlight on Titania, Oberon, other

characters

LIGHTS

TITANIA’S LAIR

• Brightly lit and colorful

• Use of different-colored gels for stage

lights

LIGHTS

THE FOG

• The fog that puts the lovers to

sleep

• Highlighted with blue light, the

color of sleep

• Stage lights use blue gel to paint

the stage blue

LIGHTS

THE WEDDING/PLAY

• Lights focused on the actors

• Illuminates the “stage” of the play

within the play

LIGHTS

PUCK’S SOLILOQUY

• Spotlight focused on Puck

• Stage dark as he is delivering the

soliloquy at night

LIGHTS

SETS

STAGE OF CHOICE – PROSCENIUM STAGE

Why? • Ample Room

• Create layers to enhance scenery– density, complexity, depth of field, silhouettes

SETS

DEFAULT BACKDROPOUTDOOR SETTING

• Default backdrop will be placed in

the farthest back of the stage

(example shown above)

• Indicates an outdoor setting

• The actual default

backdrop can be a

vague, forest-green

gradient such as

shown above.

• Other, more detailed

stage scenery

equipment goes in

front

These will be in front of the backdrop as

the silhouette of the trees.

SETS

• Large backdrop printed on a canvas

• Drops over the forest backdrop when needed

• Drawn back up when not needed

• Suggests indoor setting – more specifically,

Theseus’ palace where the Act I Scene I & Theseus’

wedding take place

• The design and walls made of white rubble suggest

the era that A Midsummer Night’s Dream took

place– Ancient Athens.

• The quality of the palace lets the audience know

that Theseus was of wealth

SECONDARY BACKDROPINDOOR SETTING

SETS

BI-LEVEL SET

• First Level

Contains the characters in focus

(sleeping characters, humans aloof of

fairies)

• Second Level

Contains characters in the background

who are also important to the scene

(fairies who are unseen by humans, like

Puck’s anonymous encounter with

Bottom). Offers more complexity to the

play.

Second Level

First

Level

The second level will be on wheels for convenient mobility, and smooth transitions

between scenes. The rest will be the default backdrop and burlap foliage.

SETS

LARGE SYMBOLS TO SUGGEST OUTDOOR SETTING

The play will contain realistic and abstract elements, so there will be silhouettes and

shapes to suggest the settings as well as some detailed backgrounds to suggest location.

• Furthest away on stage for

depth

• When present with a bit of

dark lighting: suggests night

time

• When absent in combination

of good lighting: suggests day

time

• Abstract - Simple shape

(circle) creates silhouette/line

• Center stage

• Focus in between 2 trees

• Suggests outdoor setting for

the scenes that take place in the woods

• Will be on WHEELS to roll in

and out for easy transitional

movement

• Creates texture & color

Green Burlap will be

spread on the floor to

signify grass/ground-

foliage

Trees to further indicate an

outdoorsy setting

SETS

LARGE SYMBOLS TO SUGGEST INDOOR SETTING

Floor will be white to signify Theseus’

Palace– white symbolizes cleanliness

and royal upkeep

Basic columns and prop urns will

be placed on either side of the stage

to signify the time and place

(Ancient Athenian Palace)

SETS

SAMPLE OUTDOORS SET

Center Stage

SETS

SAMPLE QUINCE’S HOUSE

• Natural wooden floor is okay

• Turn all lights off of backdrop so

the audience focuses solely on

Quince, Flute, Snout, Starveling, and Bottom

SETS

DISTINGUISHING DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WOODS

• Much of the play takes place in the woods.

However, they do not occur in the exact same part

of it.

• To help the audience distinguish that the scene is

occurring in a different part of the woods, there

will be sound effects and subtle stage details (for

example, a stream of water to signify that they

are closer to the bank, or more colorful flowers

and leaves on the ground).

• There will be more colorful plants and beds of

leaves for Titania’s sleeping scene.

SETS

COSTUMES

STYLE• Simplistic Style as per Ancient Athens’ era (16th century)

• Very functional mobility

• Leverage simplistic design of era’s clothing to emphasis

character’s state through colors

• Clothed Vs. Non Clothed

• Clothed for the civilian cast

• Sparsely clothed for the ‘enchanted’ cast

COSTUMES

THE COLORS

• Use colors to show character’s

state

• The costumes color will change

• To change colors either will put on

before next scene, or tear off

• Since the Athens style is simple

layered Tearing off is easy

Affected by the

Love Juice

• Lysander

• Titania

Enraged

• Hermia

• Helena

Neutral

COSTUMES

MALE AND FEMALE ATHENIANS

• Males wear Chitons

• Females wear Stola

• Although historically

females also wore Chiton

we’ll have the actors wear

stolas for clarity

• The difference is in the

pleats

COSTUMES

THE MALE VARIATION

• All the Athenian males will

wear Chitons save for

Theseus

• He will wear a himation, a

much more easier and

leisurely garment to wear

• This is to distinguish

Theseus to a different class

COSTUMES

HIPPOLATYA

• Hippolatya dress will be

much fancier than the

other female Athenians

• She will also carry a

parasol because she is

wealthy

COSTUMES

SWORDS

• Only Lysander, Demetrius, and

Theseus will wear swords tucked into

their the belt of their Chitons or in the

folds of the Himation

• These will be drawn when Lysander

and Demetrius chase each other

• Theseseus will never be drawn as he

has laid his down for Hippolyta

COSTUMES

NATURE’S ACCOMMODATIONS

• Some of the enchanted beings’ costume

are a tad risqué. Actors should have

the option of wearing a skin colored

leotard to accommodate.

COSTUMES

OBERON

• Oberon’s Costume should

be fairly sparce yet regal

• He will wear a leafy loin

cloth and a cape of silk

COSTUMES

PUCK

• Puck’s costume should be similarly

sparce but in addition he ought to wear

a clumsily worn wreathe to represent

his status as a joker

• He should also wear a flowered fool’s

crown

COSTUMES

TITANIA

• Titania’s costume will be simply be only a

leotard with a stola made of viel-silk, the same

kind for weddings.

• The color of the silk will be green when she is

netural, and purple when she is under the

influence of love juice

COSTUMES

THE FAIRIES

• The Fairies will wear long ribbons similar to

this child’s dress, but sliced up and flowing.

• LED lights will be embed so that the ribbons

glow representing the faeries ephemeral

nature

• LED lights are not hot

COSTUMES