Titania
“Do it in action!”
“Do it in action!” – Your toolkit for
Oberon in Scene Three
“We will do it in action, as we will do it before the Duke.”
– Peter Quince, during the craftsmen’s rehearsal
in the woods in Scene Five (Act 3, scene 1).
The “Do it in Action!” section is your “toolkit” of background information and ideas to
help you get started on putting this scene up
on its feet. If Mr. Shakespeare is too busy this
week to come around and help you, you’re going to have to get it started on your own! We
hope you have some friends or family members who can join you in the fun.
Here you will find a summary of the scene,
suggested ways of experimenting with the
action and language of your character, and
thoughts on the “Shakespeare Kids” approach
to working, playing, and performing. The
toolkit has these sections:
• Step One: Get your hands on the text
• Step Two: Assemble your players
• Step Three: Seeing the big picture
• Step Four: Get the scene on its feet!
• Step Five: Experiment and improvise
• Step Six: Learn your lines
• Step Seven: Final work, and performances!
If you can, print out this section to keep
handy while you are working on the scene.
Dive on in! The stage awaits!
get your text, and what to do once you get it.
“Masters, here are your parts”
When Peter Quince and his intrepid crew of
craftsmen first meet to discuss putting on a
performance of “Pyramus and Thisbe” for the
Duke’s wedding celebration, Quince hands
out texts to each performer, saying:
Masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request
you, and desire you, to con them by tomorrow
night…
I pray you, fail me not.
So the first step is to get your own copy of the
scene, so you can begin to “con” it – that is,
memorize it and learn it inside and out.
A note on this text: What you see here is an
edited and slightly adapted “Shakespeare Kids”
version of the scene, designed for younger
performers. We use this text when working
with students and teachers on Shakespeare at
Winedale Outreach projects. It comes from
various sources, including Internet “collected
works” sites.
Once you become familiar with this edited
version of the scene, you may be interested
in comparing it with the complete text of
the scene. To do that, do a search online for
“Collected Works of Shakespeare,” or go to
your friendly bookseller or public library and
get your own copy of “A Midsummer Night’s
Dream.” You can also get a big copy of the
“Collected Works,” which has all the plays.
Step One:
Get your hands on the text!
Adapting the text for younger players
The goal of “Shakespeare Kids” is to get a
copy of Shakespeare’s words into your hands
as soon as possible. Here are tips on how to
For younger Shakespeare Kids, simply trim
down the scene (use a pencil or marker on
the text) to make it even shorter, or divide the
parts among more players – have two Pucks,
six Fairies, three Oberons, two Titanias, etc.
They can work as groups onstage and stick
together as teams.
This is a fun way to approach the scenes and
allows more people to be involved. Simply
explain to the audience who is who and they
will accept your “fairy teams” as reality.
Step two:
Assemble your players
How many players will you need?
Once you assemble your “company,” you can
choose whatever section of the scene you want
to perform – simply mark on your text once
you’ve printed it out.
You can have any number of players you want
for this scene, from one to 10 or 15!
If you do the entire scene, you will need players for:
1. Puck
“Is all our company here?” Nick Bottom
asks when the craftsmen first gather to begin
working on their play. We get to watch Nick
and his friends have a great adventure as they
put on “Pyramus and Thisbe.” Who will join
you on your “Shakespeare Kids” adventure? If
you are not in school, where you can gather
classmates, perhaps you can enlist friends and
family to join you now!
2. Titania fairy (or 2, or 3, or more… split up
lines as necessary)
Your scene: Scene Three (Act 2, scene 1)
– Titania and the first fairy scene in the
woods
If you have more than six people, you can
have teams of players for each part, taking
turns, splitting the scene in the middle, or
whatever arrangement you can devise. We
have seen the Titania Fairy role divided into
eight fairies before, and you could even do
more than that.
This is the first night scene, and the first
scene in the mysterious, magical woods – the
“haunted grove,” as Oberon calls it.
In Scene Three we meet the main characters
of the fairy world: Puck, a Titania fairy (or
several – you can split the lines up and have
more fairies), Oberon, who is King of the
Fairies, and Titania, the Fairy Queen. We get
a feel for how the “fairy kingdom” is different
than the world of the mortals, or humans. It’s
a wonderful scene with lots of opportunities
for creativity and invention in performance.
The first half of the scene deals with the fairy
world only; but about halfway through, two
young Athenians, Demetrius and Helena,
come crashing through the woods. Oberon
observes them, and this chance encounter sets
into motion many of the magical and wild
events to follow.
3. Oberon
4. Titania (yourself )
5. Demetrius (if you do the second half of the
scene)
6. Helena (if you do the second half )
If, on the other hand, you only have a few
other people, or only yourself, then you’ll have
to play more than one part, switching quickly
back and forth!
There is a great model for doing it that way.
The legendary AFTLS (Actors from the London Stage) performers who tour the United
States each year – including a trip to the
University of Texas each fall – do entire Shakespeare plays with five people playing multiple
roles and sometimes playing two people in
conversation with each other. They use very
simple costumes (a hat, a scarf ) for each character, and change their voice and posture as
they switch back and forth. It’s a joy to watch.
You can do that too. It takes practice, but it’s
great fun. Soon, like Nick Bottom, you won’t
be satisfied with only one role – you’ll want to
play them all!
Step Three:
Seeing the big picture
What’s happening in your scene? Who is doing what, and why? It can take a while for it
to make sense when you’re just reading it on a
page, instead of seeing it onstage at the Globe
or the Winedale Theater Barn, where Shakespeare at Winedale students perform. Here is
a summary of your scene’s action if you need it.
Read the “Who is Titania?” page
For more background information specifically
about Titania, see the “Who is Titania?” icon
on this page, next to the book of text.
What happens in Scene Three (Act 1, scene 2)
It is finally night. Titania’s fairies (let’s imagine more than one of them, though it’s fine to
have only one) appear for the first time. They
enter to do their nightly work for Titania,
sprinkling dewdrops and hanging them in the
“ears” of flowers.
Suddenly, Puck, also appearing for the first
time, encounters them and asks what they are
up to – “How now, spirit, whither wander
you?”
Titania’s fairies tell him how they’ve been
“over hill, over dale” doing their nightly ritual
for the Fairy Queen. Then they tell Puck
that Titania is on the way and that they must
return to her.
Puck quickly responds that they should
beware – Oberon is nearby, and is angry,
because Titania won’t hand over the lovely human “changeling boy.” (In English folklore,
a changeling boy was a child raised by fairies – sort of like the old stories of kids being
raised by wolves). Oberon wants the boy to
be “knight of his train,” but Titania “withholds the loved boy, crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy.” So the royal
couple fights every time they meet, and they
make such a racket that the fairies all jump
into acorn cups and hide.
The fairies respond by saying, in effect, “Say,
you look like that Robin Goodfellow we’ve
heard so much about – are you the prankster
himself?” Puck says he is, and tells a bit about
what he loves to do to amuse Oberon. Puck
is in the middle of cataloguing his favorite
pranks when Oberon and Titania appear, each
with their train (more fairies, if you have extra
performers – or they can come in alone). The
fairies zoom to huddle behind their respective
masters.
Oberon icily demands the boy from Titania
again, and Titania refuses, telling the story of
the boy’s mother, who was a “votress” of her
order – devoted to Titania – and a friend. The
boy’s mother died, perhaps in childbirth, it’s
not clear, and Titania is raising the boy “for
her sake,” and will not give him up. The argument ends in a stalemate, and Titania sweeps
off with her fairies.
Oberon vows to get her back for “this injury,”
and comes up with a plan to squeeze love juice
from a magic flower on Titania’s eyes, so that
when she awakes, she will fall in love with
“the next live creature” she sees. While she is
distracted, he will take the boy.
He sends Puck to find the flower. Oberon
then witnesses Helena chasing Demetrius,
who spurns her. Demetrius is looking for
Hermia, because Helena told him about her
running away. Helena hopes Demetrius will
change his mind and fall back in love with her,
but he doesn’t, and runs away to avoid her.
Feeling sorry for the human girl, Oberon decides to help her turn the tables on Demetrius.
When Puck returns with the flower, Oberon
takes it, but gives Puck “some of it” back,
and instructs his servant to find an Athenian
couple in the woods and put some of the juice
on the “disdainful youth,” who was so rude to
the lady, so that the man will wake up, see the
lady, and fall madly in love with her!
Oberon and Puck then split up to do their
“love juice” missions!
Of course, Puck doesn’t know that there is
another Athenian couple in the woods at that
very moment – Hermia and Lysander….!
Step Four:
Get the scene on its feet!
Now it’s time to take the scene from “page” to
“stage.” Here are some tips on how to begin
to really perform your character “in action!”
Take turns reading different parts
The first time through, sit in a circle and take
turns reading different characters. This is a
good way of getting familiar with who says
what and when.
Stop and discuss any new and unfamiliar
words. Have a dictionary handy and use it!
Read in a loud, firm voice, without shouting
or screaming. Make sure everyone can hear
you clearly.
Then, when you’re ready, go ahead and choose
parts for the time being. Then hop up on
your feet. Time to do it in action!
Find your “empty space” in which to work
Find a space where you can work. Any open
space is fine for a beginning. In the words of
one famous Shakespearean director, “Give me
an empty space, and I can call it a stage.” Peter Quince says the same thing when his crew
meets in the woods: “This green plot shall be
our stage.” It can be especially fun to work in
a big open space outdoors, such as a back yard
or a park.
At first you will be performing with a text
in hand, but as you learn the lines, you can
gradually free yourself from having to look at
the paper while doing the scene. Even when
you have the script in hand, try to perform
with full energy and excitement. Remember
Peter Quince’s charge to us all – even in the
woods at night, we must “do it in action, as
we will do it before the Duke!”
Try the scene four or five times, getting a bit
bolder and more confident with each time.
At this point, you might begin to want some
ideas about how to help the scene really come
to life…
Step Five:
Experiment and improvise
When working at Winedale, we find that it’s
so much fun to “play out the play.” We truly
“play” with the scene, with all the energy and
spirit we might have in playing tag, or basketball, or capture-the-flag. We throw ourselves
into it, and the scene gets better each time.
Here are some ideas on ways to go beyond
your “first draft” or “rough sketch” and develop a living, breathing scene.
Take your time!
You might want to set aside 30 minutes just to
work on the first encounter between Oberon
and Titania. Sometimes young players of
Shakespeare will run through a scene a few
times, then say, “We’re done!” That scene is
usually not very strong when performed. Take
your time and use some of the ideas below
to inspire variations and new approaches. If
you do this, you’ll really notice it beginning to
come to life.
If the time flies and you realize you’ve worked
on the scene for an hour without realizing it,
that’s a great sign – that means you’re really
getting into it!
Six ways to “do it in action!”
Here are some questions to explore and some
ideas to play with:
1. Movement and sound -- How do Titania
and her fairies move as they speak, and as they
listen? Each time you try it, do it a new way
– skipping, swaying, slinking around, spinning… Try taking on the qualities of different
types of animals – especially powerful, regal
animals such as a swan or a lioness. When
you begin speaking as Titania, use your natural voice but slowly try to find ways to bring a
sense of “command” to how you say your lines.
2. Entrances – Try something new each time:
come in slowly and smoothly, then rush in
angrily. Switch sides and enter from opposite ends of the stage, then try coming from
far away and starting your lines in different
places. Try not to “settle” on one entrance
right away – challenge yourself to come up
with new and surprising ones.
3. Interaction and emotion – Oberon and
Titania have been fighting for some time now,
according to Puck. Having lived among the
“mortals” for some time now yourself, you
have plenty of observations to draw upon as
you think about how to perform this scene.
You’ve had arguments before with friends, and
you’ve seen others – both kids and grownups
– have disagreements.
In this case, the problem has not been resolved, so it’s just growing stronger. How do
people look and act when they still feel hurt
and angry from an argument? Titania seems
to be the more patient and calm of the two,
but she still calls Oberon “jealous” with her
first line. She is very firm about her refusal
to give up the boy, then says, “We shall chide
downright if I longer stay,” meaning, if I stay
here any longer, I’m going to lose my patience and we’re really going to fight! See if
you can bring any observations you’ve made
of arguments into how Titania speaks to and
responds to Oberon during the scene.
4. Physical distance and eye contact – Use as
much as the stage space as you can. When do
Oberon and Titania come close to each other,
and when are they distant? Which lines bring
them closer? On which lines do they make
eye contact, and when do they look away?
Where does Titiania look during Oberon’s
response to her?
5. Different spaces – Once you’ve worked
in one space a while, try a new one. Take it
to a new terrain and see what new possibilities emerge. Try a playground, or a park with
trees, or a room with bunk beds…
6. Costumes – Keep it simple. Start with
materials you find at home. We have no idea
what Shakespeare’s original players wore for
the fairies, so we have a wonderful mystery
and plenty of room for your own invention.
Any way you see the character is worth a try.
We often simply begin with strips of fabric,
and twist and wind them in certain ways. Do
the fairies have bits of flowers or ivy wound
into their clothes? Are they barefoot? How
does their hair look? Does Titania have some
kind of crown? Is it a regular crown, or one
made out of elements from the forest (ivy,
flowers)?
Step Six:
Learn your lines
When Peter Quince hands out parts in Scene
Two, he asks his players to “con” – or learn
– their lines by the following night. This
is vital, because they only have four days to
work on their play. And Quince knows that
the sooner you get “off book” and learn your
lines, the sooner the scene can become as good
enough to “do it before the Duke.” Here are
some thoughts on learning your lines.
Practice makes perfect
“Take pains, be perfect,” Nick Bottom exhorts
his fellows. To “take pains” means to make
real effort, even if it’s a bit painful. But the
goal is noble one: perfection, knowing all
your lines with absolute confidence.
You can do that. But it takes time – at least 20
to 30 minutes a day, depending on how many
lines you have, and how fast you memorize.
Important: As you learn your lines, continue
to experiment. Sing the lines. Stomp around
as you say them one time, dance as you say
them another time, run in circles another
time. Whisper them once, then shout them
from the top of a high place. The more fun
you have learning your lines, the more fun
you’ll bring to the stage with your group.
Working with your natural voice
Always begin without doing a funny voice or
accent. You can experiment with those later.
Many young students come down with a bad
case of the dreaded “British Accent Disease”
– or BAD – and inflict this horrible ailment
on others. They have seen movies, perhaps,
of British actors doing Shakespeare, or they’ve
caught the disease from someone else. Avoid
this like the plague!
A fake accent kills the energy of the language
and distracts the audience. Just speak as if
you were the character, and find your own
range of expression. We all have a wide range
of voices, we’re just not aware of them. Think
of times you’ve been angry, times you’ve
jumped for joy, times you’ve yelled across the
playground, times you have whispered – these
are all voices you can use in your work on the
character.
Then, once you’ve established your own voice
in the part, you can play with adding “shades”
of accents for fun – different colorings. But
always come back to your natural voice.
Learn the lines “in action” too!
The way you learn the lines at home is usually
the way they will come out on stage.
Important: As you learn your lines, continue
to experiment. Sing the lines – first as an
opera singer, then a country balladeer, then
a rock and roller. Stomp around as you say
them one time, dance as you say them another
time, run in big loops the next. Whisper
them once, then shout them from the top of
a high place. The more fun you have learning
your lines on your own, the more fun you’ll
bring to the stage when you work with your
group.
Beware of sitting at home “learning lines” by
quietly mumbling through the words – because if you do this, you won’t be ready to leap
up on stage with real Shakespeare Kids energy.
You’ll also probably get stuck, as many kids
do the first time, into a mechanical, boring,
sing-song delivery of the lines, and you will
have a very hard time snapping out of that.
And it will be pretty boring for you, and for
the audience!
So always “act it out” at home while working
on lines. Even if you’re working on them in
your room at home, imagine the other characters and move around as if they were there.
Make “eye contact” with these characters.
Then say their lines out loud too, so you’ll
know your “cues” – the lines before yours.
Highlight key words, verbs, and rhymes
The more you dig into Shakespeare’s language,
the more fun and interesting it becomes.
Here are some ideas that will take you up to
the next level in your preparation for performing. Follow these steps, and you’ll be doing
the kind of sophisticated text work done
by university students in the Shakespeare at
Winedale program!
First: Read your text with a pencil in hand,
and a highlighter too if you have one. As you
go along, highlight or underline key or important words. What words are really important
to your character? Give these words a special
emphasis. When Titania says, “The fairyland
buys not the child of me,” what happens if he
gives “not” a special emphasis? Or “child”?
What about “me”?
Then… see if you can give a special oomph to
each one of these key words, but in a different
way!
This is called inflection. Our goal is to be able
to inflect several different words in a line, and
thus make the line feel and sound really alive.
Next: go through and highlight all of the
verbs. These are the little energy boosters in
the speech. Make sure the verbs are given full
energy and a special inflection when you say
them.
Finally, look at any rhymes at the end of lines.
The fairies and lovers especially have rhyming
verse, so be aware of the rhyme. You don’t
want to over-emphasize it, in a sing-song way.
Instead, let the rhyme emerge naturally – but
be aware that it is there.
All of this can take about 30 minutes or so,
but it is well worth it and will vastly improve
your performance in the end. As you learn
the lines, be sure to keep experimenting
with the inflections of key words, verbs, and
rhymes; you’ll probably miss a few each time,
so look for those highlighter marks.
Step Seven:
Final work, and performances!
The founder of the Shakespeare at Winedale
program, Dr. James Ayres, always instructed
his classes: “No rehearsals, only performances.” This means giving it your all, as if you
were on the stage of the Globe or the Winedale Theater Barn – even if you’re only in your
backyard with friends, or by yourself in front of
the bathroom mirror. This is the approach we
must take to make our scene the best it can be!
In the home stretch, make each time count
Sometimes “rehearsal” can mean for some
people “running through it,” which can mean
lazily accepting “the way we did it before.” If
you fall into this trap, look for ways to snap
out of it. Try something completely different
with the scene. Switch characters for a while.
Try new costumes and props to shake things
up. You never know when you might come
up with an idea that will make the scene twice
as good.
No rehearsals, only performances. Even when
Peter Quince uses the word “rehearsal,” he
makes it clear to his friends that he doesn’t
mean to do it halfway: “Do it in action, as
we will do it before the Duke.” Quince says
those lines to cheer on his company of craftsmen-turned-players at midnight in the woods
and charge them to not simply “rehearse,” or
run through it, but to perform with full energy and passion, as if the Duke himself were
watching. We must do the same. Anything
less, and we won’t get up the airspeed needed
to make the scene soar.
Take risks. Take chances. Make it an adventure. Make it great, not just good enough!
You will learn so much more about the amazing qualities of Shakespeare’s plays if you
choose to take it to this level.
Once you’ve reached this level, you are ready
to perform for others.
Find your own Globe stage
Peter Quince says, “This green plot shall be
our stage.” He finds a clearing in the woods,
an empty space, and he and his fellows transform it into a stage through their imaginative
energy. So that’s what we need to do. You
may not get a chance to work on this scene
up on the Globe’s boards, or on the boards of
the Theater Barn at Winedale. You may be in
a classroom, or a hallway, or a backyard, or a
park. Wherever you are, make that space your
stage, and give it 100 percent. If you believe
it, your audience will too.
Do a play, not a show
When you are ready to perform your scene,
gather an audience. Ask a parent or teacher
to help. Your audience could be classmates,
friends, family members, or neighbors – you
can even start your own neighborhood Shakespeare festival and give performances in a
nearby park! (Get a grown-up to help with
setting that up.)
As you prepare to perform, it’s good to keep
in mind another thing Doc Ayres taught his
students at Winedale:
“We do plays here, not shows.”
Take a moment to look at the word “play”
– and think of all the associations that come
up when you hear that word. We play games,
we play sports, we play house or make-believe, we play dress-up, we play music… It
is a very active word, very energetic. When
we play, we are having fun, but often in a
very concentrated and absorbed way. We are
completely focused – mind, body, and spirit
are all involved, all exercising, all engaged in
learning. And we usually do it as a group,
working together as a unit, rather than trying
to be the star.
Play is energizing and life-giving – and isn’t it
perfect that these creations by Mr. Shakespeare
are called “plays”?
Now let’s look at “show.” When we “show”
something, we usually stand passively by and
point at it while others gaze. We show someone a collection, bring something to school
for show and tell, show off for our own personal ego, show up for a meeting. We can talk
of “putting on a show,” but even that seems
less active than playing – “putting on” as in
putting on clothes, or putting something on a
stage for others to see.
So let’s do a play, not a show! Do it in action
as if Duke Theseus and Mr. Shakespeare himself were there watching.
A true beginning!
Okay, Shakespeare Kid: You have enough to
keep you busy now. Go, have fun, play out
the play! Once you’ve learned this scene, take
on a new one. Find an audience where you
can, and have a great time. This is only one
scene, out of one play – and there are so many
other great Shakespeare plays to explore.
Oh, and one more thing – now that you’re in
the Shakespeare Kids, Mr. Shakespeare expects
you at the Globe theater at 7 tomorrow morning, with lines conned… see you then!