Tour 67
TEACHER TOOL KIT
2015–16
List of
TOOLS
Credit: C. Stanley Photography, Tour 67 cast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Section 1: Introduction................................................................................4
Section 2: Shakespeare’s World............................................................9
Section 3: The World of the Play..........................................................18
Section 4: Before the Show.....................................................................40
Section 5: During the Show....................................................................50
Section 6: After the Show.........................................................................52
Compiled by Susanna Pretzer and Brittney Biddle
Editors: Kevin Hasser and Jason King Jones
Lesson Plans: Brittney Biddle and Andy Germuga
Dramaturgy: Susanna Pretzer and Maegan Clearwood
2
1. INTRODUCTION
National Players Tour 67: (back) Beau Harris, Caleb Cedrone, James Sheahan, Marion Grey, Libby Barnard,
Andrew Garrett, (front) Rosie O’Leary, Tina Muñoz Pandya, Mackenzie Devlin, Mitchell Martin,
Credit: Brittney Biddle
How to use this guide.......................................4
Who are National Players?...............................5
Life on the Road..................................................6
3
HOWto use this guide
1. Introduction
What you have in front of you may seem like the largest study guide of all time. In
fact, it’s not a traditional study guide at all! We wanted to blow up any notion of what
a study guide should be and instead give you the power to choose what you want to
teach—we’ve merely assembled the tools you need to teach the subjects you find
most relevant.
This Teacher Tool Kit includes six unique sections. Each section includes context
information, activities, and further reading—all arranged by specific areas of focus. If
Facebook: View archival you want your students to learn about Elizabethan fairies, go to Section 3: The World
photos and share your own of the Play; if you want a simple guide to theater etiquette, you’ll find it in Section 5:
work.
During the Show. Utilize any or all of these tools as you see fit for your students.
Twitter @NationalPlayers: Whether your school employs Common Core standards or other standards specific to
Follow the Players across the your state, within these pages you’ll find a wealth of resources, sample lessons, and
country and use #NPTour67 to substantial historical and literary support material.
engage with other audiences.
With this National Players Teacher Tool Kit, we invite you to build the lessons you
Tumblr: For behind-the- choose. Please contact me at [email protected] with any feedback, questions,
scenes photos and videos of or ideas for other tools we can include in future Tool Kits. Enjoy!
life on the road.
YouTube: Find trailers and
video clips of shows.
Instagram: For fun photos
of life on the road and the
venues we visit.
Email: Contact the Players
using their individual email
addresses, found at www.
NationalPlayers.org.
Send
general educational questions
to
NationalPlayers@
olneytheatre.org.
ENGAGE WITH
THE PLAYERS
- Jason King Jones, Artistic Director of National Players
This Tool Kit includes:
• Essential background on Shakespeare in performance including a playwright
biography, language guide, and Early Modern theatre practices.
• Historical context, with insight into the political, social, and cultural atmosphere
of the world of the play. This section prepares students to thematically engage with
the play and make connections between Shakespeare’s world and their own.
• Selected excerpts from the play that relate to its primary sources and historical
context.
• An in-depth character study, integrating theatre-making, text analysis, and
historical context to help students actively engage with the play.
• Post-show questions and activities used in conjunction with or separate from
National Player workshops.
• Additional resources referencing production of the show and the creation of
this guide.
• Photos, illustrations, and other images providing nuanced, visual insight into
different interpretations of the play.
National Players has a 67-year legacy of making the classics relevant and exciting for
new audiences; we are always looking for the latest ways to engage with students and
audiences. We make our educational and artistic work as accessible and relevant as
possible, from the thematic underpinnings of our texts to the creation of each year’s
national tour. We invite you to engage with us in any way.
Your students are welcome to contact the Players before or after their visits: track the
Players’ travels, share classroom materials, post questions and comments. Also, chat
with the Players about their performances and life on the road! To engage with the
Players via Facebook, Twitter, video and more, contact Education Coordinators, Libby
Barnard ([email protected]) and Andrew Garrett (Andrew@NationalPlayers.
org).
4
WHOare National Players?
1. Introduction
HISTORY
“The sup​​​​​​​​​reme reward is in
the powerful storytelling.
Attention to clarity of
word and action, as
well
as
passionate
characterizations, reaps
the benefit of capturing the
audience’s
imagination
and uniting them in story.​"
—Carole Lehan,
Glenelg Country School,
Ellicott City, MD
Celebrating its 67th season, National Players is a unique ensemble bringing innovative
theatre to communities large and small across the United States. Founded in 1949,
National Players stimulates youthful imagination and critical thinking by presenting
classic plays in contemporary and accessible ways.
National Players is the hallmark outreach program of Olney Theatre Center in Olney,
Maryland. A model for artistic collaboration and national education outreach, National
Players embodies the Olney Theatre Center educational pedagogy: to unleash the
creative potential in our audiences and artists, and to stimulate individual empowerment.
National Players exemplifies these goals by presenting self-sustained productions of
Shakespeare and other classics to learners of all ages and in all environments. Through
performances and integrated educational programs, National Players empowers these
learners to build stronger communities through artistic collaboration.
National Players has
performed in 41 states;
in the White House;
and for American
military in Europe,
Asia, and the Arctic
Circle.
Committed
to artistic excellence
and
community
engagement, National
Players has brought
literature to life for
more than 2.9 million
people.
Credit: C. Stanley Photography, This year’s National Players in Tour
67’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
TOUR 67 National Players offers an exemplary lesson in collaboration and teamwork-in-action:
the actors not only play multiple roles onstage, they also serve as stage managers, teaching
artists, and technicians. This year, the Players consist of 10 actors, traveling across the
country and visiting schools and art centers.
A self-contained company, National Players carries its own sets, lights, costumes, and sound,
meaning that the actors rebuild the set and hang lights for more than 90 performances a
year.
They also memorize lines for three different plays—this year, A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Julius Caesar, and A Tale of Two Cities—often performing more than one each day.
It is a lot of work, but the Players are dedicated to celebrating and teaching literature and
performance to as many audiences as possible.
5
ROAD
Life on the
Rosie O’Leary
1. Introduction
is returning to National Players for Tour 67 after going on the road with Tour 66. In
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, she plays Hermia and Snout. In this interview, Rosie reflects on the entire
experience of life as a Player—from rehearsals and meeting fellow company members to taking each show
on the road. Along with a general timeline of the production process, this section includes jobs descriptions of
each offstage role that the Players fill while on the road.
COMPANY
MANAGER
Schedules regular company
meetings, handles
emergencies on the road,
serves as the point of
contact for venues, and
relays information to
the company’s General
Manager.
Tour 67: James Sheahan
STAGE MANAGER
Runs read-throughs and
rehearsals, maintains the
script and blocking notes,
and calls many of the lighting
and sound cues during
performance.
Tour 67 for A Midsummer
Night’s Dream: Mitchell Martin
PROPERTIES
COORDINATOR
Sets up properties tables
at each venue, oversees
handling and storage
for properties, reports
damages to the stage
manager.
Tour 67: Mackenzie Devlin
TREASURER
Distributes housing
stipends, maintains
possession of Players bank
card, logs incidental costs,
submits weekly petty cash
reports.
Tour 67: Libby Barnard
AUDITIONS
Auditions for National Players were
held January through March. More
than 1,000 young actors vyed for a
place in the company, auditioning in
Maryland, Washington DC, Tennessee,
Boston, Georgia, Chicago, and New
York City.
“In an audition, it is important that I am
not only prepared and relaxed, but in an
environment that feels welcoming, open,
and collaborative. This is exactly what our
Credit: Brittney Biddle, Rosie
artistic director and general manager create
O’Leary in rehearsal
in the National Players’ audition space. They
as Hermia.
create a space that allows you to play. They
not only want to see your work as an actor but
also get to know what type of person you are, and
if this is the type of lifestyle you want for year. It is
not an in-and-out audition process; you share yourself as a human.”
MEETING THE GROUP
For the first half of their contract, all ten players live in residency at
the Olney Theatre Center, where they rehearse, learn about each
other, and prepare for life on the road.
“The first month is a big honeymoon phase. Everyone is excited, get to
know each other, rehearse the shows, and collaborate with a new ensemble. It’s exciting and exhilarating because you are essentially meeting
your new family for a year. We hardly know each other, but in a year we
will learn the ins and outs of each others souls.”
REHEARSALS
Players spend approximately three to four weeks with each director,
analyzing the text, staging scenes, and incorporating design elements on the Olney stage.
“It’s the beginning of the collaborative process and ensemble-building
that we will be doing throughout the year on the road. We dig deep and
discover these stories together and discover how we can tell them across
the country.”
6
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6)
VEHICLES
COORDINATOR
Organizes a driving
schedule throughout the
tour and maintains general
vehicle upkeep.
Tour 67: Beau Harris
EDUCATION
COORDINATORS
Prepares curricula,
coordinates workshop
schedules, communicates
with teachers and
educators prior to arrival.
Tour 67: Libby Barnard & Andrew Garret
WARDROBE
MANAGER
Builds and maintains the
costume inventory, creates
a laundry and maintenance
schedule, oversees repairs.
Tour 67: Rosie O’Leary
1. Introduction
OFFSTAGE
ROLES
In addition to
acting roles,
each Player
takes on at least
one offstage job
in support of the
company, based
“As a theatre artist,
I think it essential to
have a well-rounded knowledge of
all the details that
make theatre happen. It’s not just
about performing.”
Credit: Players’ Achive, The Players’ truck needs to be reloaded
after each production. It contains all of their sets, wardrobe
pieces, and lighting and sound equipment.
TRAVELING
The Players take turns driving the company’s three vehicles: a
truck for their stage equipment, a van, and a car. Last year, they
visited 19 states and 44 cities. Once, they performed five shows
in four days in three different states.
“If you’re in the passenger seat, it’s a chance to get some sleep! But to
pass the time, I color and listen to audiobooks.”
STRIKE COORDINATOR
Conducts the proper order
of striking the set and
loading the truck, maintains
equipment inventory.
Tour 67: Libby Barnard
LIVING ON THE ROAD
Each Player is allowed to bring one large bag and one small
bag for their personal belongings. Without regular access to a
refrigerator or gym, taking care of themselves on the road is
especially challenging.
“It’s an exciting ‘vagabondy’ lifestyle. You get to see so many random
towns you didn’t even know existed and perform for the community
members. In terms of self care, you get creative with making healthy
meals and do your best to find time to workout. But cooking and access
to a gym is definitely what I miss the most while on the road.”
7
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7)
1. Introduction
BEING A TEAM
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Supervises load-in of scenery at each venue and performs upkeep of the set
while on the road.
Tour 67: Tina Muñoz Pandya
Assistant: Mitchell Martin,
Scenic Crew: Marion Grey
TRUCK LOADER
Is responsible for the stability
of items while traveling in the
in truck and how best to ensure their security.
Tour 67: Andrew Garrett
MASTER
ELECTRICIAN
Installs and maintains
all lighting equipment,
determines position for
lighting equipment and
cables, executes focusing.
Tour 67: Beau Harris
Assistant: Andrew Garrett
ACCOMODATIONS
MANAGER
Books hotel rooms for the
company based on preferred accomodations, optimal pricing, and check-in
dates.
Tour 67: Mackenzie Devlin
Working together for an
entire year means that,
despite long hours and
challenging load-ins, all
ten Players need to work
as a cohesive team.
“It’s
about
staying
optimistic and open. You
have to put your own
personal agenda and ego
aside and do what is best
for the group, because being
a functioning ensemble is
what matters the most.”
WORKSHOPS
Credit: Brittney Biddle, The Players work together to load in the sets and equipment before performances. Here, James Sheahan (left)
and Caleb Cedrone (right) set up the speakers and sound equipment for A Midsummer
Night’s Dream.
Along with performing,
the Players host educational workshops for many audiences.
Workshops include improvisation, text analysis, stage combat,
and more.
“They are a great way for us to get to know the community for whom
we are performing. It is also incredibly rewarding to get feedback from
these community members. It helps remind us that what we do can
make an impact.”
KEEPING IT “FRESH”
After presenting three plays dozens of times for dozens of
audiences, the Players work hard to keep their performances
exciting and authentic.
“I try to allow myself to play, to be open, and to be surprised in every
performance. A lot of that requires breathing in my surroundings and
scene partners so that I can be present. If I am honestly present, no
performance will be the same, which keeps it exciting.”
SOUND ENGINEER
Ensures proper placement,
upkeep, and maintenance
of sound equipment, sets
and checks sound levels
and microphone cues.
Tour 67: Caleb Cedrone
Credit: C. Stanley Photography,
James Sheahan (left) and Rosie
O’Leary (right) as Lysander and Hermia in a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
8
2. SHAKESPEARE’S
WORLD
Credit: C. Stanley Photography, Marion Grey as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Early Modern Theatre...................................................................10
Shakespeare’s Life
The Globe Theatre
Performance Practices
Activities.........................................................................................12
Perform with Distractions
Discover Shakespeare’s Stage
Explore Costuming
Shakespeare’s Language...........................................................15
Prose and Verse
Scansion
Activities............................................................................................17
Explore Prose vs. Verse
Identify Your Speech Patterns
9
Early Modern
2. Shakespeare’s World
THEATRE
SHAKESPEARE’S
LIFE
“He was not of an
age, but for all time!”
—Ben Jonson, Preface to
the First Folio
THE GLOBE
THEATRE
Despite being history’s most produced and
studied English playwright, little is known of
William Shakespeare’s life. One of six siblings,
Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon
on or about April 23, 1564. He married Anne
Hathaway in 1582 and had three children. For
the seven years after, Shakespeare fell off all
record. Eventually, he arose in London and
joined The Lord Chamberlain’s Men acting
troupe. When James I took over the throne
following Queen Elizabeth’s death in 1604, the
troupe officially became The King’s Men.
Shakespeare’s professional days are a
mixture of fact and legend. He and his
business partners purchased property on
the south bank of London’s Thames River,
where they established The Globe Theatre.
There, the acting company performed
many of Shakespeare’s 37 plays. Famed for A copper engraving of Shakespeare by
using the iambic pentameter writing style, Martin Droeshout, published on the
Shakespeare’s works are deep in metaphor, title page of the First Folio in 1623.
illusion, and character; sometimes even taking
precedence over plot. He began his career writing historical plays, bawdy comedies,
and the occasional tragedy. Later in life, his plays became more structurally complex,
featuring his iconic Hamlet and Macbeth and the curious tragicomedies Cymbeline
and The Tempest.
William Shakespeare died on or about April 23, 1616, and is interred at a chapel in
Stratford-upon-Avon. Most early modern playwrights did not publish their work, but 18
of Shakespeare’s plays were printed before he died. Luckily, nearly his full collection of
plays survived because friends and colleagues commemorated his life in a publication
known as the First Folio.
A century after his death, questions began to arise; his birthdate, deathdate, and
even the spelling of his name are in question. No definitive portrait exists of the man,
and no government record lists his theatric profession.
Many scholars have questioned the ability of a minimally-educated man to create
such challenging writing. Some theorists have long held that “Shakespeare” was a nom
de plume for another playwright, nobleman, or even collection of writers. However,
the vast majority of scholars believe that unofficial documentation provides proof of
Shakespeare’s existence and prolific abilities. Regardless, Shakespeare’s plays have
been translated to 118 languages and are in constant production around the world.
Live theatre was an integral part of popular culture in 16th- and 17th-century England,
drawing citizens from every social and economic level together in an otherwise strictly
hierarchal world. The Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare’s company produced many
of their famous plays, was constructed around 1599 alongside the Thames River on
the Bankside of London. The Bankside provided an escape from the strict, regulated
life by which so many Londoners abided; along with patronizing theatres, Londoners
could participate in bear-baiting, cock fighting, bowling, and many other forms of
entertainment.
The Globe Theatre was a circular wooden structure constructed of three stories of
galleries (seats) surrounding an open courtyard. It was an open-air building, and a
rectangular stage projected into the courtyard. The performance space was backed by
a large wall with doors out of which actors entered and exited. In front of the wall stood
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 11)
10
2. Shakespeare’s World
THE GLOBE
THEATRE
(CON’T)
PERFORMANCE
PRACTICES
a roofed structure supported by two large
pillars, providing a backstage for when not
in a scene. The roof of this structure was
referred to as the “Heavens” and could be
used for actor entrances.
The theatre housed up to 3,000
spectators, mainly because a great number
had to stand. The seats in the galleries
were reserved for the upper social classes
who primarily attended the theatre to be
prominently seen. Sometimes, wealthy
patrons were even allowed to sit on or
above the stage itself. These seats, known
as the “Lord’s Rooms,” were considered
the best in the house despite the poor view
of the back of the actors. The lower-class
spectators stood in the open courtyard
and watched the play on their feet.
These audience members were known as
groundlings and gained admission to the
playhouse for prices as low as one penny.
The groundlings were often very loud and
rambunctious during the performances
and would eat, drink, shout at the actors,
and socialize during the performance. To
keep
the
audience’s
attention,
playwrights incorporated lots of action
and bawdy humor in their plays.
Although there are no surviving illustrations
of the original Globe Theatre, historians
think it looked something like this
description of the Swan Theatre, located
down the road from the Globe.
In Early Modern England, new plays were written and performed continuously. Each
week, a company of actors might receive, prepare, and perform a new play. Each actor
had a specific type of role he played which he could perform with little rehearsal. This
role was known as a “stock character.” Such characters included romantic lovers, soldiers, clowns, and women characters. Because women were not allowed to perform,
young boys whose voices had yet to change played the female characters.
Other than a few pieces of stock scenery, set pieces were minimal. Artificial lighting
coud not convey time and place, so it was the audience’s responsibility to imagine.
Because of this, the playwright described the setting in great detail. For example, in
order to establish weather in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania describes what her
fighting with Oberon has done to the world around them:
“Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have suck’d up from the sea
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land
Have every pelting river made so proud
That they have overborne their continents...
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
That rheumatic diseases do abound:
And through this distemperature we see
The seasons alter...”
The costumes of this period, by contrast, were far from minimal. Rich and luxurious,
Elizabethan costumes were a source of great pride for the performers. However, they
were rarely historically accurate, which again forced the audience to use its imagination to envision the play’s time and place.
11
ACTIVITIES
2. Shakespeare’s World
PERFORM WITH DISTRACTIONS
OBJECTIVE:
• Students understand audience etiquette for live performance.
• Students examine the influences that inspired Shakespeare’s choices.
• Students make adjustments to scene work to better connect to their
audience.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 5 – 8
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Performance space
1. Talk with students about:
• Shakespeare’s audiences (groundlings and members of the upper
class)
• Elizabethan performance style (see “Performances Practices” and
“The Globe Theatre” on pages 10 and 11).
2. As a class, devise a short dialogue of three exchanges (e.g. “Hello,”
“How are you?” “I am well”). Incorporate movement into the scenes.
3. Divide the students into rehearsal groups. Ask each group to imagine they are performing at an Early Modern theatre, while the rest of
the class plays the groundlings.
4. As each group performs their dialogue, encourage the rest of the
class to (as if bored/unengaged) talk to each other, interact with the
performers, etc.
5. After each group performs, ask for feedback, and encourage them
to think of ways to hold the audience’s attention:
• Should they alter the scene to include things that would hold
everyone’s attention better?
Is it worth changing your
play to improve your
audience’s engagement?
• Should they perform for one social class of the audience, rather than another? The upper class are more likely
to fund you, but the groundlings can be more responsive.
• How might they alter their performance style?
• What do they think the audience wants to see?
6. After soliciting suggestions, try incorporating changes. Ask both performers and audience how the performances
differed.
7. Ask students how Shakespeare’s audience shaped his plays’ content.
• What references does Shakespeare make to audience conduct? How does he respond to audience pressures?
• What are audience expectations now? What do audiences gain in modern viewing practice?
• Ask students how live theatre has evolved since that time.
12
ACTIVITIES
2. Shakespeare’s World
DISCOVER SHAKESPEARE’S STAGE
OBJECTIVES:
• Students understand Shakespearian theatrical practices.
• Students explore acting techniques.
• Students describe different theatre spaces.
• Students relate theatre-going to social class.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 5 – 8
SUPPLIES NEEDED: One line from A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
ample space to speak and perform.
1. Ask students where and when they have seen live performances.
• What did those spaces look and sound like?
• What strategies did the performers employ to make sure they
were seen and heard?
2. Pick a line from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, e.g.:
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.” (I.i)
“I am that merry wanderer of the night.” (II.i)
“What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?” (III.i)
“Out of this wood do not desire to go.” (III.i)
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” (III.ii)
“And though she be but little, she is fierce.” (III.ii).
Shakespeare’s Globe in London,
re-creaded in 1997.
3. Have the students say all lines in unison with no emphasis or inflection, as if they were just saying it to a friend. Have them
note natural emphasis on word and syllables and which moments are most clearly heard.
4. Ask students to imagine they are in a theatre, standing on stage to deliver this line to a sold-out crowd. Have them close
their eyes and picture the space.
• Which direction do they have to face?
• How do they have to talk to make sure they are heard?
5. Talk about the theatre structure in which Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed (see The Globe Theatre, page 11).
• What might Shakespeare’s company have considered while performing?
• How were the actors heard?
• How were they seen?
6. Have students picture The Globe Theatre and its various audience members in different locations. Picture the open air
theatre and the acoustics. Have them say the line again, communicating meaning (not just shouting) to as many audience
members as possible.
7. Ask students what has changed.
• Do they hold their head differently?
• Do they use their voice in a different way?
• Do they stand differently?
8. After, arrange students similarly to The Globe, with some students (the upper class) at a higher level and others (the
groundlings and lower class) down below and in the middle of the space. Ask one student at a time to deliver the line and
note the different techniques seen amongst the students.
9. Ask students to think about the theatre where they will see A Midsummer Night’s Dream (show pictures or visit the
theatre, if possible).
• How do they think the actors will adapt to the space?
• What do they think their performance style will be like?
13
ACTIVITIES
2. Shakespeare’s World
EXPLORE COSTUMING
OBJECTIVES:
• Students differentiate between period-specific and nonperiod-specific costumes.
• Students can think critically about costume design.
• Students make connections between different time periods.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 6 – 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Photos of various Shakespeare
productions, costume templates (see Appendix)
Tour 67’s fairies
1. Talk with students about costuming practices of Shakespeare’s theatre
(See Performance Practices, page 11). Note that costumes were not always true to the period they were portraying.
2. Have students research other Shakespearian productions, focusing on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or other Shakespeare plays, calling attention to the differing costumes.
• What place and time do these costumes seem to be evoking?
• What costume elements are similar?
• Where are costumes distinctly different? For what purpose?
3. Have students identify a few costume pieces in their research, and have them answer the following questions.
• Does this costume match the time period in which the play is set?
• Does this costume match the time period in which the play was originally produced?
• What would the equivalent of this costume piece be if the show was performed today?
4. Have students choose a character and decide modern equivalent costumes. Make a sketch of that costume. The
template in the Appendix can serve as a jumping-off point.
5. Share these sketches with the rest of the class. Ask students what they expect from costumes. Revisit these questions the day of the show, before and after.
• Would they expect a lot of costume changes?
• Do they expect it to be traditional Elizabethan dress?
• What relationships and character traits are established with costume pieces?
Tour 55’s fairies
Tour 62’s fairies
14
Shakespeare’s
2. Shakespeare’s World
LANGUAGE
PROSE AND
VERSE
A poet and storyteller, Shakespeare had
an astute grasp of language and sound, and
along with writing 154 sonnets, he moved
interchangeably between verse and prose
in each of his plays. Prose, the unmetered
language of everyday speech, is employed more
heavily in Shakespeare’s comedies; it is often
used to distinguish class, indicate a character’s
disconnect from reality, or identify moments of
comedic relief. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
by contrast, many of the romantic scenes and
interactions among noblemen are spoken in
blank verse; indicating members of the higher
class and moments of deep emotion or wisdom.
Pronouns were also used to distinguish class
and status. “Thou” and “thee” indicated a
closeness among characters. “You,” on the other
hand, was more formal or distant. It was used to
address superiors—children to parents, servants
to masters. Shakespeare uses these words to
establish character, status, and sometimes The title page of A Midsummer
physical proximity. When a form of address shifts Night’s Dream in the First Folio,
in dialogue, it conveys an altered relationship.
published in 1623.
SCANSION
Blank verse is Shakespeare’s standard poetic form, also known as unrhymed iambic
pentameter— a line of poetry containing five iambic “feet”; a foot, in turn, is comprised of two syllables, unstressed and stressed, making each line ten syllables long.
The most common meter in English poetry, iambic pentameter follows the same pattern as the human heartbeat. A complete line can be written as the following:
de DUM | de DUM | de DUM | de DUM| de DUM
The following is an example of Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream using
iambic pentameter in Act III, scene i:
I’ll give the fairies to attend on thee
Scanned, it looks like this:
I’ll GIVE | thee FAIR- | ies TO | a - TTEND | on THEE
However, Shakespeare often breaks from iambic pentameter, changing rhythmic patterns and marking variations in tone and structure. Actors use scansion to trace these metrical patterns throughout the text as they search for clues about meaning and character.
15
2. Shakespeare’s World
SCANSION
(CON’T)
Some of the most common pattern rhythmic and metrical variations include:
SHARED LINES
Shakespeare sometimes splits a line of verse, so that two characters share the ten
syllables. This is called a shared line, and it marks quick thinking or strong emotion,
and also creates a sense of movement and speed. Have a look at these lines, shared by
Oberon and Titania in Act II, scene i:
Shakespeare was deliberate
when he named his
characters; in many cases,
names reveal clues about
characters’
personalities
or histories. A few notable
examples
of
hidden
meanings behind names in
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
include:
Titania: Descendant of
Titans, used to refer to the
Roman moon goddess Diana.
Bottom: In addition to the
obvious, it also refers to a
piece of wood around which
weavers wrap thread.
Quince:
“Quoins”
are
wooden wedges used by
carpenters like himself.
Snug the Joiner: The goal in
crafting wooden joints is for
them to be snug.
OBERON I do but beg a changeling boy,
to be my henchman.
TITANIA
Set your heart at rest.
Together, the shared line scans as:
to BE| my HENCH-| man SET| your HEART| at REST
FEMININE ENDINGS
A feminine ending is a line of verse that ends with an extra syllable. The result is that
the rhythm of the verse is thrown off just enough to indicate that the characters feel
unsettled about something. The following is an example, spoken by Hermia in Act II,
scene ii, of an iambic pentameter line with an additional feminine ending:
Since night you loved me. Yet since night you left me.
Scanned, it looks like this:
since NIGHT | you LOVED | me YET | since NIGHT | you LEFT | me
TROCHAIC VERSE
A trochee is another type of poetic foot. Its pattern of a stressed syllable followed by
an unstressed syllable is the exact opposite of an iamb: DUM da. Compared to an iamb,
this feels surprisingly unnatural to speakers of the English language, so Shakespeare
often uses trochees for his supernatural characters. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Puck uses trochies to address the audience in his epilogue:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended.
Scanned, it looks like this:
IF we | SHAD - ows | HAVE off - | END - ded,
THINK but | THIS and | ALL is | MEN - ded
16
ACTIVITIES
2. Shakespeare’s World
EXPLORE PROSE VS. VERSE
OBJECTIVES:
• Students understand some of the stylistic variations within Shakespeare’s writing.
• Students connect Shakespearian writing with the present day.
• Students can articulate Shakespeare’s writing style.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 6 – 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: “Prose vs. Verse” worksheet (see appendix), writing utensils, extra paper (optional)
1. Ask students differences between poetry and other kinds of writing.
2. Explain the difference between prose and verse in Shakespeare’s writing, noting that both are used throughout
all of his plays and can provide insight into what is happening on a structural and character-based level.
3. Distribute “Prose vs. Verse” worksheet handout and have students work independently or in small groups to
decide what type of writing each scenario calls for.
• Students will likely choose prose for the first scenario because of the informal setting and abundance of
friends, as well as the antics suggested by the phrase “life of the party” that echoes some of the storylines
of Shakespeare’s clowns. Those who choose verse for this scenario will likely center on the fact that there are
people with whom they are unfamiliar at the party, so they want to make a good impression.
• Students will likely select verse for the second scenario, because attempting to make a good impression with
“higher class” people like teachers and new students is when one wants to be on one’s “best behavior.” Students
who choose prose will likely emphasize the “fish out of water” elements of the new location.
• The third scenario will likely be more evenly split, possibly with a shift between the more formal first section
(which would be likely chosen as verse because of the formal religious aspects) and the more informal second
section (prose for the easygoing conversation).
4. Have students share and explain their answers. If there is time, have them come up with some rough dialogue
that falls under the category they have chosen and expresses their intended style.
5. Follow up questions:
• Can you think of any similar differences in style within contemporary TV, movies, books, or theatre?
• What about the way you use social media? What causes you to use Twitter over Facebook, or Instagram over
Tumblr?
• The medium used is part of the message. When you contact someone, how does the message change when
you receive it by letter, phone call, email, or text message, even if the exact same words are used?
• If you were performing Shakespeare, do you think you would prefer to work with verse or prose? Why?
17
ACTIVITIES
2. Shakespeare’s World
IDENTIFYING YOUR SPEECH PATTERNS
OBJECTIVES:
• Students identify patterns in Shakespeare’s verse.
• Students recognize formal versus informal writing styles.
• Students connect Shakespearian dialogue to their own style of speech.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 7 – 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: “Identifying Your Speech Patterns” worksheet (see appendix), writing utensils, sound recorder
(optional)
1. Explain the difference between stressed and unstressed when it comes to Shakespearian language, identifying the
different patterns of speech, emphasizing that Shakespeare’s verse was meant to imitate real speech patterns.
2. One of the tools many actors use when preparing to perform Shakespeare is scansion, or analyzing the text using
symbols to identify stressed and unstressed syllables. One pair of symbols that can be used are a slash (/) for stressed
and a “u” (U) for unstressed.
• Demonstrate these marks on a simple two-syllable word, like “Hello,” “Skylight,” or “Complete.”
• Indicate what that word would sound like if the markings were reversed.
3. Distribute the “Identifying Your Speech Patterns” worksheet to students. Read the sentence at the top of the page
naturally and have students mark the syllable-divided version with which are stressed and which are unstressed.
4. Either distribute recording devices to students or divide them into pairs. Have them answer one of the four suggested
questions (or another one of your choosing), either into the recording device, or with the partner transcribing their
answer.
5. Have students mark up the transcript with their pattern of speech, noting where they stress syllables and where
they do not.
6. Students can trade transcriptions and attempt to mimic each other’s speech patterns, noting where individual
idiosyncrasies differ from what comes naturally to them.
7. Repeat with other questions, while introducing other elements, such as speaking with an accent, whispering, or
speaking to someone over the phone. Identify where the stresses fall throughout these speeches.
8. Ask if any student’s speech is falling into more formalized patterns.
• Do any of them have a lot of iambs or trochees?
• Who is the most rhythmic in their speaking?
• Who is the most erratic?
9. Ask students:
• What is the effect of writing in a formal style with rules for stressed and unstressed?
• What would this do to the style of dialogue?
• What does that do to the sound of the lines?
• How would it affect the actors’ process?
18
3. THE WORLD OF THE PLAY
Credit: Jason King Jones. Nick Bottom(Beau Harris) as Pyramus Credit: Jason King Jones, featuring Oberon(Andrew Garrett).
and Starveling(James Sheahan) as Mooneshine in the Mechanical’s play, “Pyramus & Thisbe”.
Elizabethan Fairies....................................................................................20
Folklore
Courtly Sprites
“What fools these immortals be”
Metamorphoses
Further Reading............................................................................22
Excerpt from The Faerie Queene
The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot & Deomonology by James I
Companion Scenes: Romeo & Juliet’s Queen Mab speech
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act V, scene i and Act II, scene i
Activities...........................................................................................26
Debating Values of the Fantasy Genre
Devise Your Own Adaptation
Dreams and the Woods..........................................................................28
Excerpt from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act V, scene i
Activities...........................................................................................29
Find Opportunity in Dreams
Gender and Marriage..............................................................................30
“Chaste, Silent, and Obedient”
Courtship and Love
The Virgin Queen
Further Reading.............................................................................32
Excerpts from: “The Duties of Children Before Marriage”
A Godly Form of Household Government
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I, scene i
Activities..............................................................................................36
Examine Oppression
Metatheatre...............................................................................................37
Pyramus & Thisbe: excerpts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, and Ovid
Companion Scenes: excerpts from As You Like It, Othello, Golding’s Metamorphoses
translation, A Midsummer Night’s Dream epilogue, and the Mechanicals’ prologue
Activities............................................................................................41
Explore Metatheatre
19
3. The World of the Play
Elizabethan Fairies
FAERIE
FOLKLORE
Collier, John Payne. The Mad
Pranks and Merry Jests of Robin
Goodfellow. 1628.
COURTLY
SPRITES
Fairies exist in the folklore of many cultures, and by Shakespeare’s era, their
existence fell into the realm of popular superstition. Robin Goodfellow (Puck) has
been found in few sources before A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a mischievous
hobgoblin, but those references allude to him as a widely-known folk character. Of
those who believed fairies once inhabited the British countryside, some theorized
that they had been driven out by the spread of Christianity.
In Shakespeare’s depiction of fairies, he combined the fairies of folklore
with allusions to classic and chivalric literature. The fairies of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream shape many characteristics that we associate with fairies today; for example,
Shakespeare’s fairies are not just the size of small humans, but are small enough to
hide in acorn caps. Shakespeare drew on known fairy motifs, including changelings
and the blessing of christenings and applied them to a wedding in Midsummer.
Prior to Midsummer, the rural folklore fairies were grouped with demons
as creatures whose interactions centered around black magic and trickery. In Joan
of Arc’s trial, her prosecutors questioned her about interaction with fairies, in the
hopes of strengthening their case that she was a witch. Geoffrey Chaucer , author
of The Canterbury Tales, connected fairies with the spirits of the dead, equating
the king and queen of the fairies with Pluto and Proserpina, the Roman gods of
the Underworld. In Midsummer, Shakespeare also alludes to witches and the
Underworld, but only vaguely; Puck calls Oberon “king of shadows,” like Pluto, and
refers to Titania as Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. While Shakespeare’s fairies
remain tricksters, they also divert from black magic, towards the benevolence we
attribute to them today.
Shakespeare was also influenced by chivalric literature, and by the court
structures of his time. The quintessential chivalric hero, King Arthur is associated with
the fairies’ fantastical court, attributing his strength to fairy gifts at his christening.
Oberon’s is structured as a chivalic contemporary model. Puck, traditionalkly a free
agent, owes allegiance to his master King Oberon. The role of Titania’s offstage
changeling boy, too, is described in medieval terms, as “page,” “squire,” and, in
Oberon’s hopes, “knight.”
Shakespeare was also influenced by royalty, including Queen Elizabeth I.
Puck’s magical ointment, love-in-idleness, exsists because “a fair vestal throned by
the west” is immune to Cupid’s arrow, which falls on a flower instead; the fair vestal
refers to the virgin queen and gives her a place inside Midsummer’s fairy mythos.
About the same time that Shakespeare was writing A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the
first installment of Edmund Spenser’s epic poem The Faerie Queene was published.
Spenser’s poem is a layered allegory, commonly read as praise for Elizabeth I as
the faerie queen of the title. The name “Titania,” not a part of pre-Shakespearean
folklore, is a rare epithet Ovid uses for Diana, the Greek mythic figure for Artemis;
Diana, in turn, was commonly used in poetry of the time to refer to Queen Elizabeth
I.
20
3. The World of the Play
WHAT
FOOLS THESE
IMMORTALS BE
METAMORPHOSES
Puck in Tour 62’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Like many writers of his time, Shakespeare drew on Classical mythology,
and blended folklore and chivalric influences with stories of Greco-Roman gods
and goddess to create his Oberon and Titania. Titania alludes to being an Indian
goddess, but the petty quarreling of Oberon and Titania resembles that of
Jupiter and Juno. When Titania and Oberon discuss their affairs, they combine
their mythos with Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s; they are part of the same web of
heroes, Amazons, gods and goddesses, reaching back thousands of years.
The fairy magic seen in Midsummer mostly centers on transformation,
drawing from Ovid’s collection of myths. Metamorphoses—which Shakespeare
apparently read both in the Latin and in Arthur Golding’s 1567 translation—is
the best known of many Classical sources for tales of transformation. Echoes of
Ovid are evident in the metamorphosis of Bottom’s head into a donkey’s; the ears
of a donkey are also a punishment that King Midas receives in Metamorphoses.
Shakespeare makes this allusion not only by giving Bottom the head of a donkey,
but also by placing Titania in Midas’ position, praising a crude song to excess.
Metamorphoses’ influence goes past the magic of the fairies and into
the life of Midsummer’s common people in the mechanicals’ performance of
“Pyramus and Thisbe.” Ovid tells the story much as the mechanicals intend to,
as a tragedy of doomed love that gives bloody color to the mulberries. For
his “lamentable comedy,” however Shakespeare expands on the over-the-top
aspects of Ovid and Golding’s versions, which was considered antiquated even
in Shakespeare’s time.
Image: Publius Ovidius
Naso, The XV bookes
of P. Ovidius Naso,
entituled Metamorphosis.
Translated out of Latine
into English meeter, by
Arthur Golding, Imprinted
at London by W. W[hite],
1603.
21
Further READING
3. The World of the Play
from The Faerie Queene
by Edmund Spenser, 1590
Edmund Spenser (1552–99) wrote the most famous poem associating Queen Elizabeth I with a faerie queen,
whom he called Gloriana. The epic poem is firmly rooted in chivalric and religious traditions, featuring Merlin,
King Arthur, saints, and angels as well as fairies.
Till now, said then the knight, I [knew] well,
That great Cleopolis, where I have been,
In which that fairest Faerie Queene doth dwell,
The fairest City was, that might be seen;
And that bright tower all built of crystal clean,
Panthea, seemed the brightest thing, that was:
But now by proof all otherwise I [know];
For this great City that does far surpass,
And this bright Angel’s tower quite dims that tower of glass.
Most true, then said the holy aged man;
Yet is Cleopolis for earthly frame,
The fairest piece, that eye beholden can:
And well beseems all knights of noble name,
That covet in the immortal book of fame
To be eternized, that same to haunt,
And do their service to that sovereign Dame,
That glory does to them for guerdon [reward] grant:
For she is heavenly born, and heaven may justly vaunt [boast].
And thou fair imp, sprung out from English race,
How ever now accounted Elfin’s son,
Well worthy doest thy service for her grace,
To aide a virgin desolate, foredone.
22
Further READING
3. The World of the Play
The Discoverie of Witchcraft
by Reginald Scot, 1584
Reginald Scot (1538–99) published the first strong
argument against the existence of all magic, including
fairies and witchcraft. His unpopular position forced
him to publish independently.
... certainly, some one knave in a white sheet hath cousened
and abused many thousands that way, especially when Robin
Good-fellow kept such a coile in the country. But you shall
understand, that these bugs especially are spied and feared
of sick folk, children, women, and cowards, which through
weakness of mind and body, are shaken with vain dreams
and continual fear. The Scythians, being a stout and a warlike
nation (as diverse writers report) never see any vain sights or
spirits. It is a common saying; a lion fears no bugs. But in our
childhood our mother’s maids have so terrified us with an
ugly devil having horns on his head, fire in his mouth, and a
tail in his breeches, eyes like a bason, fangs like a dog, claws
like a bear, ... and a voice roaring like a lion, whereby we
start and are afraid when we hear one cry Boo: and they
have so fraied us with bull beggers, spirits, witches, urchins,
elves, hags, fairies, satyrs, pans, fauns, sylens, kit with the
cansticke, tritons, centaurs, dwarfs, giants, imps, calcars,
conjurors, nymphs, changelings, incubus, Robin Good-fellow,
the spoorne, the mare, the man in the oak, the hell waine, the
firedrake, the puckle, Tom Thumb, hobgoblin, Tom tumbler,
boneles, and such other bugs, that we are afraid of our own
shadows: in so much as
some never fear the devil,
but in a dark night; and then
a polled sheep is a perilous
beast, and of witchcraft.
Daemonologie
by King James I, 1597
King James I composed his treatise against magic
of all kinds before his ascension to the English
throne. A self-proclaimed scholar and writer, James
led a widespread persecution against witchcraft
while Scotland’s monarch. Daemonologie includes
dialogues about James’ beliefs about the association
between fairies and the devil.
EPI. That fourth kind of spirits, which by the Gentiles was
called Diana, and her wandering court, and amongst us
was called the Fairy (as I told you) or our good neighbours,
was one of the sorts of illusions that was rifest in the time
of Papistry: for although it was holden odious to Prophesy
by the devil, yet whom these kind of Spirits carried away,
and informed, they were thought to be sonsiest [most goodnatured] and of best life. To speak of the many vain trattles
founded upon that illusion: How there was a King and Queen
of Fairy, of such a jolly court & train as they had, how they
had a tend, & duty, as it were, of all goods: how they naturally
rode and went, ate and drank, and did all other actions like
natural men and women: I think it liker VIRGIL’S Campi Elysii,
nor any thing that ought to be believed by Christians, except
in general, that as I spoke sundry times before, the devil
deluded the senses of sundry simple creatures, in making
them believe that they saw and heard such things as were
nothing so indeed.
PHI. But how can it be then, that sundry Witches have
gone to death with that confession, that they have been
transported with the Fairy to such a hill, which opening, they
went in, and there saw a fair Queen, who being now lighter,
gave them a stone that had sundry virtues, which at sundry
times hath been produced in judgment?
EPI. I say that, even as I said before of that imaginary
ravishing of the spirit forth of the body. For may not the devil
object to their fantasy, their senses being dulled, and as it
were a sleep, such hills & houses within them, such glistering
courts and trains, and whatsoever such like wherewith he
pleaseth to delude them. And in the meantime their bodies
being senseless, to convey in their hand any stone or such
like thing, which he makes them to imagine to have received
in such a place.
23
Further READING
Romeo and Juliet
Act I, scene iv
When Romeo tries to tell his best friend, Mercutio,
about a dream he had, Mercutio cuts him off to
tease him about the focus of dreams on wishfulfillment. He predicts that Romeo’s dream was
about his current obsession, Rosaline.
MERCUTIO. O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Over men’s noses as they lie asleep;
Her wagon spokes made of long spinners’ legs,
The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;
Her traces, of the smallest spider web;
Her collars, of the moonshine’s wat’ry beams;
Her whip, of cricket’s bone; the lash, of film;
Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid;
Her chariot is an empty hazelnut,
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o’ mind the fairies’ coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love;
O’er courtiers’ knees, that dream on curtsies straight;
O’er lawyers’ fingers, who straight dream on fees;
O’er ladies’ lips, who straight on kisses dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,
Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are.
Sometimes she gallops o’er a courtier’s nose,
And then dreams he of smelling out a suit;
And sometimes comes she with a tithe-pig’s tail
Tickling a parson’s nose as ‘a lies asleep,
Then dreams he of another benefice.
Sometimes she driveth o’er a soldier’s neck,
And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,
Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon
Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes,
And being thus frighted, swears a prayer or two
And sleeps again. This is that very Mab
That plats the manes of horses in the night
And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which once untangled much misfortune bodes.
This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,
That presses them and learns them first to bear,
Making them women of good carriage.
This is she!
3. The World of the Play
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act V, scene i
After hearing the lovers’ story, Theseus tells Hippolyta
that lunatics, lovers, and poets are governed
by their imaginations. Their vivid imaginations
can determine their perception. For example,
if someone perceives he is loved, regardless of
whether it is true, he believes it and acts accordingly.
THESEUS. More strange than true. I never may believe
These antique fables nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold—
That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.
The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven.
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy.
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
24
Further READING
3. The World of the Play
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act II, scene i
In this scene, a fairy of Titania’s court discusses with Puck her duties, as well as the conflict between Titania and Oberon
over a changeling boy.
FAIRY. Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon’s sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be:
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours:
I must go seek some dewdrops here
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I’ll be gone:
Our queen and all our elves come here anon.
PUCK. The king doth keep his revels here to-night:
Take heed the queen come not within his sight;
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
Because that she as her attendant hath
A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling;
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild;
But she perforce withholds the loved boy,
Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy:
And now they never meet in grove or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,
But, they do square, that all their elves for fear
Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there.
FAIRY. Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Call’d Robin Goodfellow: are not you he?
PUCK. Thou speak’st aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
25
ACTIVITIES
3. The World of the Play
DEBATING VALUES OF THE FANTASY GENRE
OBJECTIVES:
• Students form arguments and rebuttals.
• Students articulate thematic arguments of literature.
• Students understand the tropes of the fantasy genre.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 9 – 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Knowledge of the story of A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
writing utensils, separate paper for notes
1. Discuss ideas and information about what it means for a work to be fantasy.
• How is fantastical fiction different from the rest of the fiction genre?
Does the story need magic to be fantasy?
• Could the play have the same effect if the story was changed not to include magic?
Synetic Theater’s Puck
played by Alex Mills
2. Read how historical sources viewed magic in Shakespeare’s time (pages 22-23).
• Why would Shakespeare chose to use magic and fairy presence so clearly in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, rather than
allow the audience to doubt its existence, like in Macbeth or Hamlet?
• The play is set in Greece; why would Shakespeare choose fairies over Greek gods? What is their allure? Consider the
Elizabethan time period?
3. Inform students that they will be debating for or against using the fantasy genre, specifically the presence of magic
in stories, in groups. Is magic a valuable tool in storytelling or a device that over-simplifies the moral and makes the tale
unrelatable?
4. Divide students into two groups, one arguing in favor of the presence of magic in stories, the other against. Have each
group brainstorm three or four arguments, influenced by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the information in this Tool Kit, or
from their own research and modern examples. Students should also try to anticipate the other group’s arguments and
prepare counterarguments.
• The pro-magic group may focus on the strength of message via fantastical metaphor and, in the end, that fantasy is richer and more complicated than we realize. Fantasy stories allow the viewer to avoid real life problems by allowing viewers
to process emotion in helpful ways.
• The anti-magic group may theorize that magic reduces believability and emotional connection to a story. They may also
point out that magic solves a play’s structural problems, taking agency away from characters, which leaves the audience
without a moral conclusion. Some argue that fantasy allows the viewer to avoid real problems and feelings.
5. Have groups determine the order in which they will present their arguments and a lead speaker for each of those
arguments. Encourage as many students as possible to speak, research, and build arguments.
6. Select a group to present first. The opening group has two minutes to frame their first argument. The next group has one
minute to respond, and then the initial group can respond to the rebuttal for one minute. Next the second group makes their
first argument, and the debate carries on until the allotted time has run out or the groups have exhausted their arguments.
7. Make a conclusion about what the students have uncovered and highlight what they may want to discuss in the future.
8. Dissolve groups and have a discussion about the style of the debate and how it affected their approach to the discussion.
• Would the debate have gone differently if the focus was not on A Midsummer Night’s Dream?
• In plays like Macbeth or Hamlet, where the existence of magic is under discussion, would this debate have gone the
same way?
• What extra perspective comes from this kind of debate?
• What has changed about this content since Shakespeare’s time? What differences can be seen?
26
ACTIVITIES
3. The World of the Play
DEVISE YOUR OWN ADAPTATION
OBJECTIVES:
• Students partake in the process of adaptation.
• Students understand the origins of Shakespeare’s plays.
• Students compare and contrast artistic work.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 6 – 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Material to adapt (found in Tool Kit or independently),
writing utensils, paper
1. Discuss the idea of adaptation with students:
• What do they know about it?
• What sorts of things have they seen adapted from one form to another?
• What tends to happen to things when they are adapted?
Movie posters from film
adaptations of the play.
2. Share information about how Shakespeare often freely and loosely adapted existing stories and characters for his own
plays. As far as we know, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is not an adaptations, but the story of Pyramus and Thisbe is. Highlight
how Shakespeare altered the original text, using it both here and in Romeo & Juliet. Call attention to the difference between
the mechanicals’ play, a close adaptation, and Romeo & Juliet, for which it was more of an inspiration (page 38).
3. Select a text for students to adapt as a class (suggestions include Shakespeare’s source material on page 25 or Edmund
Spenser’s poem on page 22). Work with students to understand and interpret the essence of the work:
• Who is present?
• What happens?
• What is the sequence of events?
• What is the tone or mood?
4. Instruct students that they are going to adapt this work. To do this, they must select
what elements of the work are essential and what can be altered or removed.
5. Divide students into groups. They can rewrite the original work in a
totally different format, make it into a performance piece, or adapt it into a new artistic
medium. Encourage students to be creative with their adaptations, adding
characters or changing the time period or setting.
6.Students can share their concepts with each other and
exchange feedback. Ask students to identify commonalities among their adaptations and observe which elements tend to
be adjusted and which tend to stay the same.
7. Bonus Activity: Take a look at others who have been inspired to film adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• A Midsummer Night’s Rave (2002): “Life begins when the sun goes down for a group of party-prone friends attending
an L.A. rave. The music starts and the dream begins as party-goer Puck gives them each a sample of his “love potion.”
This glowing green liquid fuels their inner desires and allows the friends to connect with their long-secret loves during
this night of dancing, lights, and unadulterated fun. The weather is hot, the music is pounding, the mood is electric and
the stakes are high in this modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s most popular play.”
• Were the World Mine (2008): “If you had a love-potion, who would you make fall madly in love with you? Timothy, prone
to escaping his dismal high-school reality through dazzling musical daydreams, gets to answer that question in a very
real way. After his eccentric teacher casts him as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he stumbles upon a recipe hidden
within the script to create the play’s magical, purple love-pansy. Armed with the pansy, Timothy’s fading spirit soars as
he puckishly imposes a new reality by turning much of his narrow-minded town gay, beginning with the rugby-jock of his
dreams. Ensnaring family, friends and enemies in this chaos, Timothy forces them to walk a mile in his musical shoes.”
• Are these adaptations? How can we judge that? Do they share the same themes?
• What are the major differences between these and the original? What are the benefits to adaptations?
• Who do these stories relate to that the original may not?
27
3. The World of the Play
Dreams and the Woods
SUBCONSCIOUS
WILDERNESS
Throughout literature, from The Epic of Gilgamesh to The Bacchae to Little Red
Riding Hood, the woods have provided a space outside the reach of rigid social
structures. Forests are wild, governed by nature rather than by humans. They exist
on the edge of society, allowing a place for escape and playfulness, on the outskirts
of civilization.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the woods defy not only convention, but also
logic. They are beyond reality, where magic exists, but can be explained away as
dreams. Both the title and Shakespeare’s choice of imagery highlight to the role
of dreams and the subconscious. The woods serve as a place of metamorphoses,
where snakes shed their skins and identities shift and get lost in illusions. In the
woods, the lovers face their dreams and their nightmares, and Oberon and Titania
face the physical manifestations of their internal conflict. The internal heart and
imagination comes out to play.
In the play’s epilogue, Puck layers more exploration to dreams and reality. He
offers that the audience, like the characters, can view the events of the play as a
dream. Like dreams, plays are works of imagination, but can emerge to reflect and
touch our lives. Puck asks us to question not the distinction between reality and
imagination, but the meaning of that border, and where truth might live in each.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act V, scene i
In this scene, Titania describes to Oberon what their conflict over a changeling boy has done to the world around them.
TITANIA. These are the forgeries of jealousy:
And never, since the middle summer’s spring,
Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead,
By paved fountain or by rushy brook,
Or in the beached margent of the sea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturb’d our sport.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have suck’d up from the sea
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land
Have every pelting river made so proud
That they have overborne their continents:
The ox hath therefore stretch’d his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn
Hath rotted ere his youth attain’d a beard;
[... Even] the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
That rheumatic diseases do abound:
And thorough this distemperature we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Far in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,
And on old Hiems’ thin and icy crown
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.
28
ACTIVITIES
3. The World of the Play
FIND OPPORTUNITY IN DREAMS
OBJECTIVES:
• Students understand the literary connection between dreams and nature.
• Students identify how a cultural trope evolves through different literary interpretations.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 6 – 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Dreams and the Woods (see page 28), various speeches throughout the tool kit, extra paper,
writing utensils, art supplies (optional)
1. Ask students what they know about the woods/nature as a cultural presence, highlighting the concepts of communing
with nature and escaping society.
• What are the important aspects of this trope that survive today?
• Create a list.
2. Distribute Titania’s monologue (page 28). Read aloud with students or have students work in groups to identify the
scene’s events. Analyze what troped are present in this monologue. What is missing from your list?
3. Discuss the presence of dreams in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, specifically Bottom’s “dream,” Hermia’s dream of a
serpent eating her heart, the Lovers waking from their “dream” as they leave the woods, and the audience after Puck’s
epilogue.
• Where do these dreams take place? [the woods, the theatre]
• Are dreams more prevelant in the city or the country? Where are they most powerful?
• Are the elements in these dreams the same elements on your list?
• List some differences between the world of the court and the fairies’ world.
4.
•
•
•
•
Ask students to pay special attention to the rules that Puck creates in his epilogue (page 40).
What type of world is he trying to create?
Does it matter if the play was a dreamto the viewer? Does that change how you think about the play or its meaning?
Why would Shakespeare allow for doubt at the end of the show? Puck says it is to avoid offense; is it?
Why is it better to believe it is a dream? For Demetrius and Lysander? For Hermia and Helena? For Bottom? For
the audience?
5. Have students read about the world that Theseus describes in his monologue (page 24).
• What connections exist between his speech and the act of seeing a play?
• Is theatre meant to be a spell over audiences? What about the Mechanicals’ play; what value can be found in it?
6. Have students consider everything they have read and brainstorm what their ideal dreamland society might be like.
• What elements of the “real world” might they like to change?
• What rules would they create and enforce in this new society to make these changes?
7. After agreeing to these rules, have each student decide their role and identity in the forest. Draw a picture or write a
story of their life in the woods. How would they be transformed to reveal their true self? These characters can be shared
with the rest of the class.
8. Have students reflect on the exercise.
• What trends emerge among these different societies?
• Would the world they created be preferable to the rules of society?
• Would their rules work realistically?
• What Puck-type figures would they expect to encounter in the woods?
• What would they be leaving behind in the real world?
• What is the appeal of exploring this concept of escapism in fiction?
29
Gender and
3. The World of the Play
MARRIAGE
“CHASTE,
OBEDIENT,
SILENT”
COURTSHIP
AND LOVE
“Ye are the head, she is
the body; it is your office
to command, and hers to
obey; but yet with such
a sweet harmony, as she
should be ready to obey,
as ye to command.”
—King James I on the
importance of a husband’s
authority, 1611
Although Shakespeare’s plays feature a variety of strong female characters, Elizabethan England was a patriarchal society. Women were considered lesser than their husbands and fathers in all capacities: morally, spiritually, mentally, even phsyically. At the
time, biological differences between the sexes were used to defend the notion that
women were meant to be dominated by men. Elizabethans believed that physical appearance was a reflection of inner condition, leading to the maxim that “a woman in the
temperature of her body is tender, soft, and beautiful, so doth her disposition in mind
correspond accordingly; she is mild, yielding, and virtuous.”
Being virtuous, was a trait to which women were expected to adhere. Before marriage,
a woman’s most important asset was her virginity; after marriage, it was her fidelity.
Popular handbooks for women, virtually always written by men, spelled out the ideals
of femininity and marriage, to be “chaste, silent, and obedient.”
Before marriage, a woman obeyed her father or the family patriarch. After her wedding, she was considered the property of her new husband. Inheritences passed solely
from father to son, and the family was considered a miniature commonwealth, with
the father as king and his family as his subjects. To that end, marrying a daughter to a
suitable husband was the equivilant of making a new political ally.
Marriage, therefore, was the focal point of a noblewoman’s world. Women’s access to
education increased siginificantly during this era—those from wealthier families were
often tutored in the classics and languages—but schooling was still mostly limited to
preparing for domestic married life. When women were educated beyond their station,
they were compared to men rather than praised for their intelligence, like one succesful
noblewoman who was remembered after her death as “a woman of most masculine
understanding.”
The tradition of
“Courtly Love” began in early medieval
literature
among 11th-century French poets writing about
love-struck knights.
In these early stories, the central
lovers are always
of royal lineage,
and the woman is
worshiped as the
paragon of female
perfection. Her and
the knight’s love,
while pristine, is
unattainable: the
woman is usual- 16th-century woodcut of a lord wooing a gentlewoman.
ly married or betrothed to another, and the impossibility of the knight’s affections make his love all the
more pure. Although he displays gentlemanly courtesy, humility, and service, his desire
includes an element of desperation or despair. These themes reflected the medieval,
secular view of marriage as an economic, social contract between families.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 31
30
3. The World of the Play
COURTSHIP
AND LOVE
(CON’T)
THE VIRGIN
QUEEN
“I know I have the body
but of a weak and feeble
woman, but I have the
heart and stomach of
a king and of a king of
England too.”
— Queen Elizabeth I,
to the troops at Tilbury
before the Spanish
Armada, 1588
These conventions found their way into English literature through the influence of
Italian poetry. Petrarch, a renowned Italian poet, was acclaimed for his love sonnets; he
famously wrote 366 poems about his unrequited love for an exquisite yet unattainable
woman named Laura. Although Renaissance English poets emulated Petrarch’s work
through sonnets of their own, shifting notions of love and marriage altered the focus
of these later sonnets. Marriage in Elizabethan England remained heavily contingent
on parental influence, particularly among the higher social classes, but the church
emphasized the binding power of two consenting individuals. Sonnets, therefore, evolved
into more nuanced narratives about a variety of love-related themes and reflected
the timely conflict between romantic love and familial obligation. In Shakespeare’s
154 sonnets, he explores the emotional and social intricicies of love, diverging from
Petrarch’s fatalistic, often melodramatic format.
Over the course of her 44-year reign, Queen
Elizabeth I (1533–1603) defied various
societal conventions of gender. A lifetime
of hardships prepared her for the political
and social challenges specific to a woman
governing a patriarchal society. The youngest
daughter of King Henry VIII, Elizabeth was
declared illigitimate after her mother’s
beheading in 1533. During her half-sister
Queen Mary’s five-year reign, Elizabeth was
forced to convert to Catholocism, and because
her popularity with the public was deemed a
threat to the monarchy, she was imprisoned
in the Tower of London briefly.
After Mary’s death and her coronation,
Elizabeth was constantly bombarded with
advice from noblemen hoping to impart their
own ideas on this member of the “weaker
sex.” Most notably, members of Parliament
were determined to marry the Queen and
secure an heir to the throne. Parliament even
threatened to cut government funds until
she agreed to wed. Elizabeth, in response, Princess Elizabeth, c. 1546, by
declared that “In my end, this shall be for me
sufficient, that a marble stone shall declare thatWilliam Scrots
a queen, having reigned such a time, lived and
died a virgin.”
Although her gender certainly presented challenges, Elizabeth also recognized the
power that such a unique situation offered. Crowned at the age of 25, the young queen
had a variety of suitors during her monarchy—a position that she used to her full
advantage. She regularly dangled the prospect of marriage in the face of domestic and
foreign nobles, never committing to an agreement, but often using these relationships
to foster and break political alliances.
By the second half of her reign, when she was beyond the age of childbearing,
Elizabeth fostered the image of herself as the Virgin Queen. In contrast to this pristine,
feminine representation, Elizabeth was often compared to an Amazon warrior by her
subjects. While Hippolyta spends A Midsummer Night’s Dream conquered and bound
to Theseus, the Amazons generally represented the opposite situation. As a society
of warrior women from Greek mythology who used men solely for procreation, they
completely refuted societal notions of femininity and were regarded with a mixture of
fascination and disdain. These two contradictory images of Elizabeth I—the delicate,
maternal virgin and the brutish, masculine warrior—exemplify the careful balance that
Elizabeth struck between conforming to and diverging from patriarchal gender norms.
31
Further READING
3. The World of the Play
“The Duties of Children Before Marriage”
By Thomas Becon, 1564
Thomas Becon (1512–67), a Protestant minister, wrote
one of the earliest influential guide books for women
after the Reformation. His advice remained relevent
into the 17th century. In this excerpt, he emphasizes
the popular Renaissance view that women were to
be chaste, silent, and obedient. He also expresses his
view on marriage, strongly recommending that young
men and women ensure that they have approval of
their parents or others in authority before commiting
themselves to one another.
From Silence in a Maid is Greatly Commendable
This also must maids provide, that they be not full of tongue,
and of much babbling, nor use many words, but as few as
they may, yea, and those wisely and discreetly, soberly and
modestly spoken, ever remembering this common proverb:
A maid should be seen and not heard. Except that the gravity
of some matter do require, that she should speak: or else an
answer is to be made to such things as are demanded of her:
let her keep silence. For there is nothing that doth so much
commend, advance, set forth, adorn, deck, trim, and garnish
a maid as silence. And this noble
virtue may the virgins learn of
that most holy, pure, and glorious
virgin Mary: which when she
either heard or saw any worthy
and notable thing, blabbed it not
straightaways to her gossips, as
the manner of women is at this
present day, but being silent,
she kept all those sayings secret
and pondered them in her heart,
saith blessed Luke.
From Children Ought Not to Contract Matrimony Without
Consent of their Parents
Finally, when the time cometh, that they feel themselves
apt unto marriage, that they may avoid all uncleanness
and bring forth fruit according to God’s ordinance, as their
parents have done before them: they must diligently take
heed, that they presume not to take in hand so grave, weighty
and earnest matter, not entangle themselves with the love
of any person, before they have made their parents, tutors,
friends, or such have governance of them privy to their
intent, yea and also require their both counsel and consent
in the matter, and by no means to establish or appoint any
thing in this behalf without the determination of their rulers.
For this part of the honor that the children owe to their
parents and tutors by the commandment of God, even to be
bestowed in marriage, as it pleased the godly, prudent, and
honest parenets or tutors to appoint: with this persuassion,
that they for their age, wisdom, and experience, yea and
for the tender love, singular benevolence, and hearty good
will that they bear toward the children, both know and will
better provide for them, than they be able to provide for
themselves. The children which presume
to marry without the counsel of their
parents, do greatly offend God, and are
fallen away from the obedience, which
they owe their parents or tutors in this
behalf, by the commandment of God. Let
all godly maids take heed therefore, that
they snarl not themselves with the love
of any other, nor marry with any person
before they have the good will of their
parents.
32
Further READING
3. The World of the Play
A Godly Form of Household Government
By John Dod and Robert Cleaver, 1598
One of the many popular conduct books written after
the Reformation, John Dod and Robert Cleaver’s
book is typical in its stance on marriage contracts.
It differs from others, however, in that it takes into
consideration the desires of the couple as well as the
views of the parents.
A Contract is a voluntary promise of marriage, mutually
made between one man and one woman, both being meet
and free to marry one another, and therefore allowed to do
so by their Parents.
...We call this promise of marriage, voluntary, because it
must not come from the lips alone, but from the well-liking
and consent of the heart: for if it be only a verbal promise,
without any will at all, (and so mere hypocritical and
dissembled) though it bindeth the party that promiseth, to
the performance of his promise, made before God and man:
yet if the Parents afterwards shall certainly know this, and
that there was no will, nor unfeigned meaning at all in the
party, neither yet is, but rather a loathing and abhorring of
his spouse betrothed, though he be not able to render just
and sufficient cause thereof, they may upon this occasion,
either defer the day of marriage the longer, to see if God
will happily change the mind of the party, or utterly break
and frustrate the promise...Wherefore this promise must be
in this respsect, at least, willing and voluntary. For...if it be
voluntary and unfeigned, it is enough, and fully sufficient,
to make a true contract in the Lord...Secondly, we call it
voluntary, in respect of constraint and compulsion, contrary
to a free consent: for if either party be urged, constrained,
or compelled, by great fear of their Parents, or others, by
threatening of loss or preferment, of health, of limb, of
life, or of any such other like, by any other violent manner
of dealing whatsover, to yield their promise clean contrary
to the motion of good liking of their hearts. This kind of
promise, as it doth not bind the party to keep it: so it ought
to be frustrated and broken by the Parents themselves, or by
such masters as may and ought, to command and rule them
in such cases.
But if a marriage contract be mutual, then it doth mutually
and inviolably bind both: so that in this regard, neither
Parent, Magistrate, nor any other, can or ought to break
it. For this being fully performed and accomplished, is one
principal cause of making two one flesh.
It is a calamity infernal to be in company with those that a
man would not be withall, and yet cannot be separated nor
depart from them. Hereof cometh, as we do see in some
marriages, so great ruins, so wicked and vile deed, as mains,
& murders committed by such desperate persons, as are
loath to keep, and yet cannot lawfully refuse, nor leave them:
Therefore young folks ought not to be too rash and hasty
in their choice, but to have the good advice and direction
of their parents and trusty friends in this behalf, who have
better judgment, and are more free from the motions
of all affections, than they are. And they must take heed,
lest following the light and corrupt judgment of their own
affections and minds, they change not a short delectation
and pleasure, into a continual sorrow and repentance. For
we do learn, by great and continual use and experience of
things, that the secret contracts made between those that
be young do seldom prosper, whereas contrariwise, those
marriages that are made and established by the advice of
wise and religious parents, do prosper well.
33
Further READING
3. The World of the Play
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act I, scene i
In this excerpt, Egeus comes to Duke Theseus to invoke his right to force his daughter to marry the man of his
choosing, Demetrius, or be killed.
EGEUS. Full of vexation come I, with complaint
Against my child, my daughter Hermia.
Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,
This man hath my consent to marry her.
Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke,
This man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child;
Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
And interchanged love-tokens with my child:
Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,
With feigning voice verses of feigning love,
And stolen the impression of her fantasy
With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers
Of strong prevailment in unharden’d youth:
With cunning hast thou filch’d my daughter’s heart,
Turn’d her obedience, which is due to me,
To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,
Be it so she; will not here before your grace
Consent to marry with Demetrius,
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,
As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Which shall be either to this gentleman
Or to her death, according to our law
Immediately provided in that case.
THESEUS. What say you, Hermia? be advised fair maid:
To you your father should be as a god;
One that composed your beauties, yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax
By him imprinted and within his power
To leave the figure or disfigure it.
Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
HERMIA. So is Lysander.
THESEUS. In himself he is;
But in this kind, wanting your father’s voice,
The other must be held the worthier.
SEE MORE:
HERMIA. I would my father look’d but with my eyes.
THESEUS. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.
HERMIA. I do entreat your grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold,
Nor how it may concern my modesty,
In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;
But I beseech your grace that I may know
The worst that may befall me in this case,
If I refuse to wed Demetrius.
THESEUS. Either to die the death or to abjure
For ever the society of men.
Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires;
Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
Whether, if you yield not to your father’s choice,
Watch a
rehearsal of National Players
performing this scene at
the following YouTube link:
https://youtu.be/etZHivgYtNw
CONTINUED ON PAGE 35
34
Further READING
3. The World of the Play
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 34
You can endure the livery of a nun,
For aye to be in shady cloister mew’d,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
But earthlier happy is the rose distill’d,
Than that which withering on the virgin thorn
Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.
HERMIA. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
Ere I will my virgin patent up
Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
My soul consents not to give sovereignty.
THESEUS. Take time to pause; and, by the next new moon—
The sealing-day betwixt my love and me,
For everlasting bond of fellowship—
Upon that day either prepare to die
For disobedience to your father’s will,
Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;
Or on Diana’s altar to protest
For aye austerity and single life.
DEMETRIUS. Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield
Thy crazed title to my certain right.
LYSANDER. You have her father’s love, Demetrius;
Let me have Hermia’s: do you marry him.
EGEUS. Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love,
And what is mine my love shall render him.
And she is mine, and all my right of her
I do estate unto Demetrius.
LYSANDER. I am, my lord, as well derived as he,
As well possess’d; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank’d,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius’;
And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
I am beloved of beauteous Hermia:
Why should not I then prosecute my right?
Demetrius, I’ll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar’s daughter, Helena,
And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
THESEUS. I must confess that I have heard so much,
And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
But, being over-full of self-affairs,
My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come;
And come, Egeus; you shall go with me,
I have some private schooling for you both.
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To fit your fancies to your father’s will;
Or else the law of Athens yields you up—
Which by no means we may extenuate—
To death, or to a vow of single life.
35
ACTIVITIES
3. The World of the Play
EXAMINE OPPRESSION
OBJECTIVES:
• Students connect Shakespeare’s writing to present-day cultural and societal issues.
• Students understand Elizabethan societal customs.
• Students write their own adaptations.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 9 – 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act I, scene i, (pg. 34-5) The Duties of Children Before Marriage (pg.
32), A Godly Form of Household Government (pg. 33), ability to research instances of oppression/subversion.
1. Talk with students about Elizabethan gender roles and marriage customs using information found in “Gender and
Marriage” section of Tool Kit (pg. 30).
2. After reading The Duties of Children Before Marriage (pg. 32) and/or A Godly Form of Household Government (pg. 33)
have students come up with a list of rules and guidelines that were upheld then, but that we see as outdated today.
3. Ask students where they see parallels throughout history:
• How and when have people been treated as objects and not individuals?
• Where does this still persist today?
• What sorts of actions are being taken by people to stop or circumvent these injustices?
4. Distribute Act I, scene i, and read it as a class with the overall question in mind:
• How does Hermia attempt to overcome her status as an unmarried woman and gain control over her future?
• How does she conform to and reject Elizabethan gender roles, both when she is at the court and after she flees to the
woods?
5. Ask students to think about different contexts where this sort of scene would take place.
• What are some other potential instances of oppressed people overcoming that oppression in different ways? For
example, women have increasingly been speaking out about facing street harassment, and some have even attempted
to avoid being catcalled by changing their style of dress, even if it means being less comfortable.
• Does the above scenario seem fair?
• What is it about society that makes women have to make these sorts of adjustments to their daily lives?
6. Instruct students to draft their own rewritten version of the scene in a new context.
• Who is the Hermia equivalent?
• How is that person dealing with the rules that have been placed upon them?
7. Share, read, or perform the new scenes. Have a discussion about how possible these sorts of subversions are in the real
world. What are the alternatives to create change in society?
RESEARCH TIP: Check out these websites for information about
street harassment, sexual oppression, and movements for gender
equality in the 21st century:
• http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/our-work/nationalstudy/
• http://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/gender-equality-andwomens-empowerment
• http://www.summer.harvard.edu/blog-news-events/genderinequality-women-workplace
36
3. The World of the Play
METATHEATRE
“All the stage’s a
stage...”
“Entire worlds can be
characterized
by
their
attitudes
toward
roleplaying, as a fruitful tension
develops between the
rigidities of … Theseus’s
court and the more fluid
role-changes of … the
Athenian Woods.”
— Michael Shapiro ,”Roleplaying, Reflexivity, and
Metadrama
in
Recent
Shakespearean Criticism.”
“Metatheatre” refers to the parts of a play or musical that draw attention
to the fact that it is theatre and not reality.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, perhaps the most obvious way that
Shakespeare reminds us that we are watching a play is by having Bottom and
the rude mechanicals rehearse and perform their own play. The play-withina-play of Pyramus and Thisbe has parallels to the lovers’ own foolishness, but
by layering theatre within theatre, the implications extend to us. In his essay
“What Is The Dream in A Midsummer Night’s Dream?” Robert Crosman
writes that the mechanicals’ play “offers [the characters] the opportunity to
see what fools they are, but they entirely miss the point.” Simultaneously, by
placing Theseus, Hippolyta, and the lovers in the audience, the connection is
drawn to the real audience. Will we have the realization that the fictional audience
misses? Are we fools in a play we can’t understand or control, too?
Another form of metatheatre that Shakespeare often uses is direct address
to the audience, or “breaking the fourth wall.” As scripted, Midsummer’s
play-within-a-play never breaks the fourth wall to address us, but within the
world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the mechanicals do use metatheatre
by addressing their audience directly. The mechanicals’ breakage of the
fourth wall is comical in part because it is redundant; their performance is so
inelegant that they never manage to establish a theatrical illusion.
Shakespeare does break the fourth wall in the epilogue, spoken by Puck,
transitioning the audience from the world of the play to reality. He uses an
epilogue to end not just the story, but the
play as a performance. Puck invites any
disapproving audience members to dismiss
the play as a dream, as the characters do. In his
layered approach, Shakespeare might suggest
that if we dismiss the play as a dream, we are
as foolish as the characters we watched, but
how can we accept the play as something
more real when he reminds us throughout
of its unreality? As Alvin Kernan writes in The
Playwright As Magician, the metatheatrical
techniques suggest that “If all the world is a
play, then one play may be as true as another.”
37
Further READING
3. The World of the Play
Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo & Juliet in the same period, and the parallels between the plots of
Romeo & Juliet and the Pyramus and Thisbe story, which he adapts from Ovid, are notable. Shakespeare uses the same elements
to dramatically different effect, using the play-within-a-play’s metatheatricality to highlight the comic absurdity of the story.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act V, scene i
By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.
This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,
The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,
Did scare away, or rather did affright;
And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall,
Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,
And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain:
Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
He bravely broach'd is boiling bloody breast;
And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,
His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,
Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain
At large discourse, while here they do remain.
Romeo & Juliet
Act I, Prologue
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
Excerpt from Arthur Golding’s
translation of Ovid’s
“Pyramus & Thisbe”
They did agree at Ninus’ tomb to meet without the town,
And tarry underneath a tree that by the same did grow;
Credit: National Players’ Archive, Tour
Which was a fair high mulberry with fruit as white as snow,
55’s lion and Thisbe in “Pyramus and
Hard by a cool and trickling spring. This bargain pleased them both,
Thisbe”
And so daylight (which to their thought away but slowly go’th)
Did in the Ocean fall to rest, and night from thence doth rise.
As soon as darkness once was come, straight Thisbe did devise
A shift to wind her out of doors, that none that were within
Perceivéd her; and muffling her with clothes about her chin,
That no man might discern her face, to Ninus’ tomb she came
Unto the tree, and set her down there underneath the same.
Love made her bold. But see the chance, there comes besmeared with blood
About the chaps, a lioness all foaming from the wood,
From slaughter lately made of kine to staunch her bloody thirst
With water of the foresaid spring. Whom Thisbe, spying first
Afar by moonlight, thereupon with fearful steps gan fly
38
And in a dark and irksome cave did hide herself thereby.
Further READING
3. The World of the Play
The Audience’s Presence
As You Like It
Act II, scene vii
The Duke Senior, exiled to the Forest of Arden by
his usurping brother, has just met Orlando and thus
discovered that he and his men are not the only ones
who have fled to the woods. Without breaking the
fourth wall, Shakespeare not only reminds us that we
are watching a play, but points out the theatricality of
life offstage.
DUKE SENIOR. Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy:
This wide and universal theatre
Present more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in.
JACQUES. All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Othello
Act II, scene iii
Cassio, out of favor with his general, Othello, receives
advice from Iago to speak with Desdemona, Othello’s wife,
on how to get back into favor. However, Iago has actually
insinuated that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona,
hoping that Othello’s jealousy is eventually stoked into
homicidal rage. Shakespeare breaks the fourth wall and
has Iago speak his thoughts directly to the audience,
helping us forget we are watching a play and inviting us to
insert ourselves to the world of the play.
CASSIO. You advise me well.
IAGO. I protest, in the sincerity of love and honest kindness.
CASSIO. I think it freely, and betimes in the morning I will
beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me. I
am desperate of my fortunes if they check me.
IAGO. You are in the right. Good night, lieutenant, I must to
the watch.
CASSIO. Good night, honest Iago.
CASSIO EXITS
IAGO. And what’s he then that says I play the villain?
When this advice is free I give and honest,
Probal to thinking and indeed the course
To win the Moor again? For ‘tis most easy
The inclining Desdemona to subdue
In any honest suit: she’s framed as fruitful
As the free elements. And then for her
To win the Moor—were’t to renounce his baptism,
All seals and symbols of redeemed sin,
His soul is so enfetter’d to her love,
That she may make, unmake, do what she list,
Even as her appetite shall play the god
With his weak function. How am I then a villain
To counsel Cassio to this parallel course,
Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
When devils will the blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
As I do now: for whiles this honest fool
Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes
And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear,
That she repeals him for her body’s lust;
And by how much she strives to do him good,
She shall undo her credit with the Moor.
So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
And out of her own goodness make the net
39
That shall enmesh them all.
Further READING
3. The World of the Play
Ovid’s Metamorphoses
translated by Arthur Golding, 1567
Preface
I would not wish the simple sort offended for to be,
When in this book the heathen names of feigned Gods they see.
The true and everliving God the Paynims did not know:
Which caused them the name of Gods on creatures to bestow...
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Epilogue
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act V, scene i
Mechanicals’ Prologue
If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good will. To show our simple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Consider then we come but in despite.
We do not come as minding to contest you,
Our true intent is. All for your delight
We are not here. That you should here repent you,
The actors are at hand and by their show
You shall know all that you are like to know.
40
ACTIVITIES
3. The World of the Play
EXPLORE METATHEATRE
OBJECTIVES:
• Students understand metatheatrical techniques and differentiate between breaking and maintaining the
fourth wall.
• Students compare and contrast varying forms of metatheatre.
“Write me a prologue, and let the
• Students analyze the use of metatheatre within dramatic work.
prologue seem to say we will do
• Students form arguments clearly and suscinctly.
no harm with our swords, and that
Pyramus is not killed indeed. And
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Metatheatre page from Teacher Tool Kit (pg. 37), excerpts
for the more better assurance,
on pages 39 and 40.
tell them that I, Pyramus, am not
1. After reading the Metatheatre page, ask the class to describe what metatheatre is. Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver.”
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 6 — 12
• Why would Shakespeare choose to use this so prevalantly in his writing? Think
about the varience of audience in his day (see page 11).
- Nick Bottom, Act III, scene i
• Is it necessary to the story, or will the story be the same without it? What about
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream?
2. To learn about the various forms metatheatre can take, have the students either as a class, or in small groups:
• Compare and contrast Iago’s (page 39) and Puck’s (page 40) monologues as characters who speak directly to the
audience.
• Compare and contrast mechanicals’ prologue (page 40) and their “Pyramus and Thisbe” play within a play to
Jacques’ monologe (page 39), as characters who talk about theatre within the context of the play.
3. Next, have the students consider the following questions:
• What is the effect of these different forms of metatheatre?
• Does it make the audience trust a character more? Or create doubt in what else might be hidden from the
audience?
4. Have the students decide which of these two different types is most effective individually. Ask the students to form
two parallel lines, with the individuals who favor the characters who speak directly to the audience on one side and
those who favor characters who talk about theatre within the context of the play on the other. Have the lines face
each other.
5. The teacher will now act as an impartial judge in the upcoming debate. He or she will walk slowly between the
two lines. As the teacher passes, each student must speak out an argument for why their side is the most effective.
Students may re-arrange their lines strategically, but every student must speak. Students may use whatever tactics
(bribery, logic, degrading the other side, empathy) they can think of to make their point.
6. After the the teacher reaches the end of the line, he or she will reveal the
winning side and the arguments that were most effective.
7. Have a follow-up discussion as a class:
• What is still valuable about the losing side?
• Where do you see metatheatre in modern storytelling?
• Is Puck the narrator of A Midsummer Night’s Dream? If so, is he a reliable
narrator, “an honest Puck”?
• The Players embrace metatheatre in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the
costumes and set. They change characters/costumes in front of the
audience, and open and close curtains to designate changing location.
What effect do you think this will have?
Credit: National Players’ Archive, The Rude Mechanicals
in Tour 62’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
41
4. BEFORE THE SHOW
Credit: Brittney Biddle, (left to right) Caleb Cedrone. Tina Muñoz Pandya, Beau Harris, Rosie O’Leary, James Sheahan,
Libby Barnard, Andrew Garrett, Marion Grey, Mitchell Martin, Mackenzie Devlin.
Getting to Know Puck............................................................................43
Further Reading....................................................................................42
Q&A with Marion Grey from National Players Tour 67
Critical Responses to Puck
Companion Scene: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act III, scene ii
Activities.............................................................................................49
Create a Character
Discussion Questions
About the Play.......................................................................................51
Meet the Characters
A Brief Synopsis
42
Getting to Know
PUCK
Early Productions
& Drolls
1600–1840
Puck
by Joshua Reynolds, 1789
Musical Spectacle
1840–1895
Ellen Terry, age 9
1856
4. Before the Show
The first recorded performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is suspected
to have been in 1604, but little is known about it. Another suspected performance
was in 1631 at the home of the Bishop of Lincoln, John Williams. It was the source
of scandal when the Puritans, growing in power, made the actor playing Bottom sit
in costume for 12 hours in public, with a sign shaming him for playing the role.
During the Puritan Interregnum (1642–60), theatres were closed, but the
subplot of Bottom and the rude mechanicals was performed as a comic playlet
called a droll. Drolls were part of performances including acrobats and jugglers
to avoid the ban on theatre productions. In 1660, when the theatres reopened,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was performed in an adapted form, which was
common for Shakespeare plays at the time. It was adapted many other times, but
not performed in anything close to its original form until 1840. In 1853, Douglas
Jerrold wrote about the common perception that the comedy was “especially
unactable ... It was a fairy creation which could only be acted by fairies, it was
a dream of the imagination that admitted of no other play than that of one’s
imagination.”
This perception started to shift with the success of Madame Lucia Vestris’
1840 production at Covent Garden. It was the first to put the pieces back together
and present the play as a cohesive whole. It also set the trend for the next 70
years of casting Puck—as well as Oberon—as a woman. Puck entered sitting on
a mushroom and, in keeping with the production’s emphasis on spectacle, flew
on and offstage throughout the show. The production continued the approach to
the play as almost an opera with ballet, but based its spectacle around the script,
influencing later productions to return to Shakespeare’s words.
The 1856 production directed by Charles Kean similarly used flying
effects—including a flying dummy—with Puck, played by nine-year-old Ellen
Terry. This production is also notable for establishing Mendelssohn’s music as the
conventional choice for music-focused productions, with fairies played by women
and/or children. Augustin Daly’s 1895 production in London used special effects
by Martinka Magic Company, with portable lights on each of the fairies. In a
review, George Bernard Shaw was especially harsh on Lillian Swain as Puck. He
wrote that Daly trained her “until it is safe to say that she does not take one step,
strike one attitude, or modify her voice by a single inflexion that is not violently,
wantonly and ridiculously wrong and absurd.” Shaw found her too elegant and
solemn for Puck, in the misguided service of “what Mr. Daly no doubt calls ‘the
legitimate.’”
illustration by Lucy Fitch Perkins
1907
43
Getting to Know
PUCK
Rejecting
Conventions
20th century –
Present
Douglas Calthrop
The Savoy, 1914
4. Before the Show
In his 1914 production, Harley Granville-Barker returned to casting a male
actor as Puck. The production was revolutionary for its return to the full text and its
abandonment of realism. Granville-Barker’s Puck, played by Donald Calthrop, wore
a wild wig decorated with scarlet berries, a contrast to the painted gold of the other
fairies. Puck and the other fairies were given stylized movements, distinct from the
mortals. Then, in Act III, Granville-Barker used Puck in a way considered daring in his
time—to break the traditional theatrical illusion and highlight the play’s metatheatre,
by giving Puck the role of an onstage stage manager, gesturing for changes in lighting
and set to happen.
Even after Granville-Barker’s production, traditional balletic approaches to
the play continued for the most part. For the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1954,
George Devine eschewed the “conventional prettinesses” and created fairies that were
feathered and birdlike, while Puck’s movements were inspired by chimpanzees. This
production was notable for its sinister undertones, which were increasingly popular
from Devine’s production into the 1960s, moving the show away from its perception
as a spectacle appropriate for children.
In a sense, the heir to Granville-Barker’s 1914 production was Peter Brook’s
for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1970. This production was radically original
and not only exposed, but celebrated, the mechanisms of theatre. Brook’s production
reconceptualized much of the show, emphasizing the fairies as masculine and
threatening. This was a huge departure from the small, feminine casting of fairies
stemming from the 1800s. John Kane wore a yellow jumpsuit from a Chinese circus
as Brook’s Puck. Kane bridged the gap between the audience and cast, leading the
actors to shake hands with audience members at the epilogue.
This production was pivotal in freeing Midsummer from the preconceived
notions that artists and audiences had about it. Productions since 1970 have
increasingly explored sexuality in the script, highlighting the contrast between the
rigid hierarchies of Athens and the unrestrained woods, both liberating and terrifying.
In 1992, Robert Lepage threw his fairies into the mud, focusing on movement and
the increasing power of the earth. Puck was played by an acrobat and contortionist,
Angela Laurier. Although some critics found her French accent difficult to understand,
her agile physicality created an androgynous non-human creature, an appropriate
Puck for the bold production.
Just as its lovers reject their society’s conventions in their flight to the woods,
recent interpretations of Puck often reject whatever trends they perceive. Michael
Grandage’s 2013 West End production chose a rather human Puck, a hippie weaving
hallucinations more than dreams.
David O’Brien
RSC, 1954
Richard McCabe
RSC, 1989
Gavin Fowler
West End, 2013
44
An Actor’s
4. Before the Show
PERSPECTIVE
For Tour 67, Puck is played
by Marion Grey. Marion
is from Roanoke, VA and
received her BA in Theatre
and Dance from James
Madison University. Her
other onstage roles for
Tour 67 include Portia
in Julius Caesar and the
Judge in A Tale of Two
Cities. Offstage, she serves
as Stage Manager for A
Tale of Two Cities, and on
the Stage Crew.
Tell me about the first time you read or
saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What
were your first impressions of Puck?
The first time I read A Midsummer Night’s
Dream was after I got the job to be a National
Player. My first impression of Puck was that
she was a creature who loved having a lot of
fun! I did do Romeo and Juliet in college. I
was a servant. I think I had two lines.
Did you do any specific research before
Credit: Heather Andrews, Marion
you jumped into the role?
I searched and read about the history and Grey as Puck
various manifestations of Puck (a.k.a. Robin
Goodfellow or Hobgoblin). I read a lot of articles and searched for a lot of images, just
to see the many interpretations of Puck.
How did you physically discover Puck?
I knew that Puck was a very physical character, but I had a difficult time finding her
movement in rehearsal. I started dancing to various pieces of movement to begin to
build a physical vocabulary that I could play with and potentially build from.
What gender is your Puck? Do you think that it makes a difference based on the
world in which Puck lives?
My Puck is a girl. It can very much make a difference depending on each productions
approach. When I am Puck her gender is not the focus; it is more about her desire to be
delighted (which is a universal characteristic quality regardless of gender). Our version
of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is focusing a lot on women and faithfulness. For Puck,
we are asking, what does that mean for her to be a girl? Traditionally, it’s not a great
play for women speaking out, because the men have such a dominant voice. We are
finding strength and qualities in all the women, both the fairies and the humans.
How do you relate to Puck?
Puck’s favorite thing in the world is nightfall and the silence that accompanies it. I
share in that love! In addition to that, I love to smile and laugh and I believe at the
heart of her, that is what Puck loves to do too.
Why is she so interested in causing trouble?
It goes back to her insatiable desire to have fun and be delighted. It just so
happens that her favorite way to have fun is to cause a bit of trouble.
What is the nature of Puck’s relationship to Oberon?
She serves Oberon and is faithful to him as a leader and a friend. Puck loves
Oberon, and she loves working for him. She often tries to get him to enjoy
her shenanigans as much as she does, but he does not really love her tricks.
Puck often navigates a fine line of having fun and staying out of trouble with
Credit: Brittney Biddle, Marion Grey as Oberon.
Puck and Andrew Garrett as Oberon in
rehearsal.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 44
45
4. Before the Show
AN ACTOR’S
PERSPECTIVE
(CON’T)
What have you discovered about her character that most surprised you?
Puck has shown me how simple and straightforward a character can be. Puck
loves having fun. Everything she does extends from her desire to be delighted.
Plain and simple.
What is your favorite part of playing Puck?
Freeing myself to play and just enjoy inhabiting that world.
What are your Puck’s distinctive features?
Our costumes have a bit of an Edwardian influence. My clothes are very loose
and playful, and ready for whatever I need to do, and I think that is very much
Puck: she is always up for anything.
Credit Brittney Biddle, Marion Grey
as Puck in rehearsal.
“When you see my Puck,
I hope that you find her
enchanting. A lot of people
see Puck as being a trickster
and being mischievous, and
she is all of that, but she is
very true to herself. She likes
to have fun, and there may
be expenses to be paid for
that fun, but it always works
out in the end.”
What do you think happens to her after the play ends?
She runs back deep within the forest, climbs up her favorite tree and naps on her
favorite branch overlooking all the forest, her work being done for now. And when
she wakes, she searches for new adventures.
What is Puck’s general attitude towards the world?
The world always works itself out, and it’s okay if you have some fun while it
happens.
If Puck existed in contemporary times, what do you think she would be doing?
I think Puck would be some myth that people spoke of, but no one was entirely
sure if she was real or not. People would find her footprints or see her shadow but
never get a full glimpse of her. And she would still pull pranks on as many other
people as possible.
What is her biggest strength and her weakness?
Her biggest strength is she is so self-assured and confident and knowing of who
she is in herself. Her biggest weakness may be that she gets so caught up in being
entertained that she may not allow herself to empathize.
—Marion Grey, Tour 67
Credit: C. Stanley Photography, Marion Grey as Puck
(left) and Beau Harris as
Nick Bottom (right)
46
Further READING
4. Before the Show
Critical Responses to Puck
Various writers, 1957–2005
“... Puck, who provides the polar zenith of fantasy to
balance the blunt nadir of Bottom and Peter Quince.
The activity of Puck represents both a unifying and
transforming power which changes the wood into the
depths of a Midsummer-night’s dream. ... Puck’s part has
been that of the old trickster of folklore and mythology
who spreads strife that he may evoke understanding. The
wisdom of Puck surpasses any man-made values, and
discloses to the indignation of the moralist the cult of strife
inherent in elemental nature.” ... His next task, however,
is to evoke out of his dialectic of deceit and discord a new
realization and harmony.”
“At the threshold of his ambiguous kingdom stands a
‘puck,’ Robin Goodfellow, a figure with long folkloric
associations and thought of by many in his original
audience as a large, rough hairy devil with a delight in
disorder. … Brought to our stage at adult human size,
and sometimes smaller, Puck’s main pleasure in life seems
to be discomforting the vulnerable, booby-trapping old
ladies and confusing weary travelers. The inspirational
ass’s head is his initiative, not Oberon’s, and he would
regard it as the best service he does his difficult master.”
—Michael Pennington, 2005
—Peter F. Fisher, 1957
“Puck, himself, is less ogreish in disposition—despite his
bloodcurdling descriptions of the summer night—than
mischievous. His sense of superiority over his human
victims is human in its pettiness.”
—Michael Taylor, 1969
“It seems to me that Shakespeare’s Puck is deeply
imbued with dark conceptions of devilish sprites.
Shakespeare knowingly plays on and against the older
tradition when he has his character affirm in a somewhat
intricate conditional sentence ‘as I am an honest Puck …’
(V.i.341). With the implied supposition that there may
be dishonest pucks, poukes, encoded in a linguistic form
… Shakespeare invokes traditional modes of thought still
common among Elizabethans.”
—Winifred Schleiner, 1985
“I suggest that Puck’s sacred sweeping links good
housewifery with dramatic closure and political authority
and, for the brief moment that it does so, allows a glimpse
of an Englishness founded on principles that the play
has not generally endorsed—the vernacular broadly
defined. As Puck assumes the part of the very English
Robin Goodfellow, the exotic mythological realm to which
he is attached expands to include local and domestic
associations that reverberate oddly with the flexible civic
monarchy that founds social order in Dream.”
—Wendy Wall, 2001
Rendering by costume
designer Eric Abele.
47
Further READING
4. Before the Show
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act III, scene ii
Oberon has sent his henchman Puck to place the love-in-idleness flower on Demetrius’ eyes so he falls in love with
Helena. However, Puck mistakenly places it on Lysander’s eyes, who falls out of love with Hermia and into love with
Helena. After the ensuing lovers’ fight, Oberon must direct Puck on how to rectify the wrong.
OBERON. What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite
And laid the love-juice on some true-love’s sight:
Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
Some true love turn’d and not a false turn’d true.
PUCK. Then fate o’er-rules, that, one man holding troth,
A million fail, confounding oath on oath.
OBERON. About the wood go swifter than the wind,
And Helena of Athens look thou find:
All fancy-sick she is and pale of cheer,
With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear:
By some illusion see thou bring her here:
I’ll charm his eyes against she do appear.
PUCK. I go, I go; look how I go,
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar’s bow.
PUCK Exits.
OBERON places the juice in DEMETRIUS’ eyes.
OBERON. Flower of this purple dye,
Hit with Cupid’s archery,
Sink in apple of his eye.
When his love he doth espy,
Let her shine as gloriously
As the Venus of the sky.
When thou wakest, if she be by,
Beg of her for remedy.
Re-enter PUCK
PUCK. Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand;
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover’s fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
Puck and Oberon in a 2004 production at
the Stafford Festival Shakespeare.
OBERON. Stand aside: the noise they make
Will cause Demetrius to awake.
PUCK. Then will two at once woo one;
That must needs be sport alone;
And those things do best please me
That befall preposterously.
48
4. Before the Show
ACTIVITIES
CREATE A CHARACTER
OBJECTIVES:
• Students create differing interpretations of a character.
• Students understand part of the costume design process.
• Students think and talk about the physical elements of acting.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 5–12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Body outlines, coloring supplies, Puck information (pg. 43–4), Puck quotes/scenes
1. Work through the stage history of Puck (see pages 43–4) and talk about the nature of the role with students,
explaining that Puck has been played by men, women, and children.
2. Have students research other interpretations of Puck and note trends.
• Is there any change in her action or speech in the scenes where Puck is invisible or when she breaks the
fourth wall?
• Is Puck truly an “honest” character as she claims?
3. After collecting information from the text and from other sources, have students—individually or in groups—
come up with their own design concept for Puck.
4. Distribute blank body outlines and have students fill it in with their costume design concept. Surrounding the
drawing, have them write in the quotes that most influenced them in the forming of their design.
5. Share these designs with each other. Note similarities and differences.
• Are there broad groupings they tend to fall under?
• Or are they all fairly unique?
• What do they expect to see in National Players’ depiction of Puck?
Design by C. Wilhelm
Design by Sarah Lewis
Design by Caitlin Ayer
Design by Rosie Lubianker
49
Design by Vágó Nelly
Design by Wes Jenkins
ACTIVITIES
4. Before the Show
DISCOVER PUCK: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
GETTING TO KNOW PUCK
1. After studying A Midsummer Night’s Dream, what do you think made it a candidate for adaptation into a droll or an
operatic production with ballet? Do you think those changes were successful? What is it about the original version that
makes it the most prevalent today?
2. Would you want to see Puck played by a child resonate? What would that suggest about the character?
3. What does George Bernard Shaw’s comment about Lillian Swain being too elegant and solemn indicate about his impression of the role?
4. What trends do you notice from the pictures of early Pucks? What sort of performances would you expect from those
actors?
5. When reading about Harley Granville-Barker’s approach to Puck, why do you think his take was so controversial? Would
it ignite the same controversy today?
6. What is the effect on the audience of Puck breaking the traditional theatrical illusion in the Granville-Barker’s production?
7. Would the “conventional prettiness” of Puck as a fairy play well today? Why or why not?
10. Both George Devine in 1954 and Roger Lepage in 1992 made Puck a creature of the earth, while Charles Kean in 1856
made Puck a creature of the air. What differences in physicality, movement, and voice are needed by an actor to make this
believable?
11. After reading the quotes from various critics and scholars about Puck, what do you think people look for when seeing a
new performance of Puck?
12. What do the pictures of the more contemporary Pucks say about changing performance styles?
ACT III, SCENE ii
1. What do we learn about Puck from this short excerpt of text from this scene (p. 45)? What seems to drive him?
2. Is there anything unique or different about the way he speaks?
3. What is his relationship with Oberon? The four lovers? What is it in the text that illustrates your point?
AN ACTOR’S PERSPECTIVE
1. How does Marion’s interpretation and performance of Puck differ from those highlighted in the character’s stage history? How is it similar to other performances?
2. What do you think it is like to present a totally new version of a part that has seen many interpretations?
3. How would you imagine the collaboration between a director and an actor works for a part like Puck?
CRITICAL RESPONSES TO PUCK
1. Which of the quotes about Puck speaks to you the most? Which the least? Why?
2. What do the responses to Puck say about her purpose in the story? Is she purely there for comic relief?
EPILOGUE
1. What is Puck’s demeanor throughout the epilogue (p. 38)? What message is she trying to impart upon the audience?
2. How does this epilogue resonate differently if the audience believes this has been a dream?
3. Why do you think Shakespeare chose this approach for the last moments of the play?
4. Think of other examples of epilogues from books, film, and theatre. What did those epilogues accomplish? How is
Puck’s epilogue similar? How is it different?
50
Lysander
Friend
of
Demetrius
Hermia
Father
of
Egeus
CHARACTERS
Meet the
Helena
Puck
Snug
Starveling
Titania
Hippolyta
Queen of the Fairies
Flute
Bottom
Quince
Snout
the Amazons
Rude Mechanicals
Duke of Athens
Married
to
Performing
at their
wedding Captured queen of
Engaged
to
Oberon
King of the Fairies
Theseus
Servant
to
Moth
Cobweb
Mustardseed
Peaseblossom
Titania’s Fairies
4. Before the Show
A Brief
SYNOPSIS
4. Before the Show
As the play begins, Hermia refuses to marry her father Egeus’ chosen suitor,
Demetrius, because she is in love with Lysander. Egeus’ brings the matter before Duke
Theseus, invoking an ancient law that a daughter must marry as her father wishes or
die. Theseus tells Hermia that she could also devote herself to the goddess Diana and
live as a chaste nun. Hermia and Lysander plan to run away together, meeting in the
woods at night. They share the plan with Hermia’s friend Helena, who unrequitedly
loves Demetrius.
Meanwhile, a group of working-class men—the “rude mechanicals”—led by Peter
Quince prepare to perform a play for the wedding of Duke Theseus to the Amazon
queen Hippolyta. Their play is the “lamentable comedy” of Pyramus and Thisbe, with
the enthusiastic and arrogant Nick Bottom as Pyramus.
Image: Hermia and
Lysander by John
Simmons (1870)
In the forest, the king and queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania, have come
near Athens for Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s wedding. They are at odds over an Indian
changeling child, the son of one of Titania’s worshippers, whom Oberon wants to be
his knight. Upset that Titania will not yield, Oberon calls upon his servant Puck to
use the magical love-in-idleness juice on Titania’s eyes to make her fall in love with a
creature in the woods and shame her into giving up the changeling.
Hermia and Lysander flee to the forest, hoping to elope. Helena
tells Demetrius, hoping to gain his favor, and they follow, with
Demetrius continually rejecting Helena’s advances. Oberon sees this
and tells Puck to apply the love-in-idleness to Demetrius so that he
will love Helena. However, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius,
and when Helena wakes Lysander, he is in love with her. Oberon is
angry to see Demetrius still following Hermia, and sends Puck to get
Helena while he enchants Demetrius’ eyes. As a result, both men are
pursuing Helena, who thinks they are mocking her. Hermia, confused
by Lysander’s behavior, blames Helena for stealing him. Their
arguments lead towards a duel between Lysander and Demetrius
before Oberon and Puck intervene. Puck removes the charm from
Lysander, so that he reverts to his love for Hermia, but Demetrius
continues his pursuit of Helena.
While this is happening, the rude mechanicals rehearse in the
forest, and when Puck spots Bottom, he magically gives him the
head of a donkey. His appearance scares away the other men, and
he sings, awakening Titania—who is under the influence of lovein-idleness. She falls in love with Bottom, instructing her fairies to
pamper him. Oberon takes advantage of the opportunity to take the
changeling from her. He then removes the magic from Bottom and
Titania and enchants the lovers to believe that they dreamed the
events of the night.
Returning to Athens, Theseus overrules Egeus now that Demetrius does not want to
marry Hermia. They arrange a group wedding. Along with the lovers, Bottom imagines
that he must have been dreaming. The mechanicals present their play for Theseus and
Hippolyta and their guests, who offer snarky commentary on it. Afterwards, the fairies
bless the home and Puck addresses the audience, offering to make amends for any
offense and suggesting that the whole play could have been a dream.
52
5. DURING THE SHOW
Credit: C. Stanley Photography, (left to right) Snug(Caleb Cedrone), Nick Bottom (Beau Harris) and Peter
Quince (Tina Muñoz Pandya) as the Rude Mechanicals.
Q&A with Scenic Designer, John Traub................55
Activity: Observe..........................................................56
Theatre Etiquette..........................................................57
53
A Designer’s
5. During the Show
PERSPECTIVE
John Traub is the set
designer for all three
Tour 67 shows. He
received his BA from
Colorado College and
MFA from Boston
University. Along with
set designing for various
regional theaters, he
currently serves as
Professor of Production
Management
and
Technology at The
George
Washington
University.
What are a set designer’s main responsibilities?
The Scenic Designer is primarily responsible for the visual world created onstage.
This includes the physical scenery, as well as the Paint treatments and Properties
(hand props, furniture and the like.) They also collaborate with other Designers
(Lighting, Costumes, Sound, and sometimes Video) to create a unified design.
Additionally, the Scenic Designer is often concerned with practical and logistical
considerations - how scenery is built, how actors are able to work onstage, and
(especially important on a National Tour) how everything fits into a truck!
What is it about set design that is powerful? What draws you to this job again &
again?
Scenic Design is a powerful medium because people are highly visual creatures.
Using light, color, shape and other design tools we can help our audiences access
these stories in deeper and more meaningful ways. I’m drawn to Scenic Design
because its such a great way to collaborate with other artists—and I get to engage in a variety of different disciplines. There’s nothing like seeing your finished
work onstage. When everything comes together across the board and just clicks,
its electrifying—you can feel the energy in the room! Additionally, I truly enjoy
being a part of the National Players team. This is my second year as Scenic Designer (Tours 66 and 67) plus three years as Technical Director for the Olney Theatre
Center (Tours 58, 59 and 60) so I have a deep respect and love for the Players
organization and mission. Some of my favorite collaborators come to the Players
sandbox every year. Its incredibly satisfying.
How would you describe the National Players’ aesthetic?
One of the things that makes the National Players so unique is the manner in
which they approach their art. They possess such a strong workmanlike ethos—no
matter the task, they take to it passionately and with gusto. It’s inspiring to be a
part of. Everything they need is essentially packed in a large rolling box—and every night, they get to open that box and share their particular brand of magic with
the world.
What was the most challenging space to try to create for the play?
The Players will travel to a variety of locations, all of which are different and have
their various quirks. The challenge lies in creating believable, functional spaces
that are flexible enough to accommodate those locations. We all have our parts to
play, but at the end of the day our job is to tell stories. Part of our responsibility is
making sure they have the tools they need to succeed at doing just that.
How is the collaborative nature of National Players unique?
It’s incredible. It’s so rare to find a company where every individual is working in
tandem towards a common goal. It’s an ideal scenario to create theater—every
idea is focused into a metaphorical melting pot that energizes our work.
54
5. During the Show
A DESIGNER’S
PERSPECTIVE
(CON’T)
What sort of research did you do to prepare for your design process?
I always begin by reading the play several times—the first time, I read just for enjoyment. After, I begin to dive in for details: Who are the characters? What are their
motivations? What kind of locations are present in the play? How does the story
and pacing flow? I usually follow with visual research, sparks that help support our
big ideas. While all of this is going on, I’m collaborating with the directors on their respective productions—
making sure their vision is realized and can become a reality. I’m a very tactile designer—I think better in a
physical space—so I’ll usually make a rough scale model and start working with it early on. It’s a great way to
see how things actually look in space
Can you walk us through a brief timeline of your design process? What were early conversations with the
director like, and how did your designs evolve throughout the pre-production and rehearsal process?
Early conversations usually revolve around the big ideas—themes, motifs, the mythos of the worlds we’re
inhabiting—and are refined over time. We threw a lot of proverbial paint on the wall to see what would
stick. There was a fair amount of evolution in regards to mechanics—how scenery functioned, transitions
between scenes—but the core concepts remained the same throughout. It’s expected that there will be
some evolution during rehearsals—that’s a good thing. An organic process is a valuable tool for polishing a
show. Getting locked into ideas too early can be detrimental to the artistic process.
What is it like seeing your design realize itself onstage?
It’s a great feeling—its a mixture of happiness, pride and relief, with a small dose of wistful sadness. Happy
and proud of the results, relieved we successfully made it, and sad the process is over.
If I want to be a set designer, what skills should I work to cultivate?
My three main recommendations: first, open yourself up to as much art as possible. Not just Theatre—
Opera, Dance, Visual Art, Music—you never know where or how you will find inspiration. It all taps into a
deep well that can be of great use to you. Secondly, find people you want to work with. Not just people you
like (although that helps) but people you can collaborate with, who want to work hard and make great art.
Finally—always bring something to the table. Even a terrible idea is better than no idea at all, and can often
kick start a great conversation or spark elsewhere. Follow the “yes, and” philosophy—“yes, we can do that—
AND think about this other cool idea...” Nothing kills a great conversation like hearing “No.” If you can follow
these three guidelines, the rest tends to fall into place.
“All three of our plays this summer have different thematic qualities. A Midsummer
Night’s Dream deals heavily with the Natural vs. Mechanical world; Julius Caesar on betrayal and the folly of power; A Tale ofTwo Cities on the role of family, statehood and the
rapidly changing industrial world (to name only a few!) Each of these is powerful in their
own right. The trick is to find a through line amongst all three. In my court, the visual
continuity is through sleek, linear lines—the “Cage” (as it is affectionally known) in Midsummer and Two Cities, and the Rolling Panels in Caesar. All lend a modern, minimalistic
quality to the visual world we’ve created, and give a chance for the costumes and lights
to really pop. Its a great foundation for these stories and its fun to explore how they
evolve over time.”
- John Traub, Scenic Designer
55
OBSERVE
5. During the Show
National Players tours all of the country, performing its three productions on a variety of
stages. How does this photograph of Tour 67’s first venue compare with your performance
space? Are there elements of metatheatre to be found here?
What do you notice about
the two curtains? How
could they be used? What
could they represent?
How do you think the lighting
and sound equipment will What could the colors
be used, judging by the
and textures in the floor
arrangement? Why do
represent?
you think it is visible to the
audience?
The first venue included
strings of lights for when
it grew dark. How might
this affect a magical show
like this one?
What items do you notice
onstage? What do you think
these set pieces represent,
and how might they be
used? What difference would
it make if an actor speaks
from the ground, as opposed
to from above?
56
BEFOREyou watch
THEATRE
ETIQUETTE
5. During the Show
Coming to the theatre involves a more active form of participation than other
types of entertainment, such as film or television. Theatre is a two-way art form: the
performers and audience feed off of each other, so the more energy coming from the
spectators, the greater the experience will be for everyone. That said, a certain degree
of respect and decorum is necessary for the actors to perform their very best. This
list of etiquette rules is designed to help you enjoy this artistic experience as much as
possible, whether you are a regular theatre-goer or this is your first time watching a
live performance:
DO respond to the onstage action with applause and laughter. Performers feed
off your energy, so feel free to engage with them as much as possible.
DON’T speak aloud or whisper to your neighbor during the show; there will
be plenty of time for discussion after the performance, and you run the risk of
distracting the actors from their work.
DO turn off your cell phone and similar devices before the performance begins.
DON’T check your phone during the performance. Even if you have your device
on silent, the bright light can be a distraction for the performers.
DO use to the restroom before the performance. If you must leave the theatre
in the middle of the show, be as quiet and respectful as possible.
DO take notes. Jot down ideas, connections, and opinions that come to you
during the performance. If you are attending a talkback, brainstorm some
questions you have for the actors, either about the play itself or about the
experience of being a National Player.
HEARING
SHAKESPEARE
Although Shakespeare’s language can sometimes seem difficult to understand, a bit
of practice and preparation can help you follow the story as easily as possible. Here are
some tips to help you enjoy and appreciate the onstage action:
• Relax. You do not have to understand every word in Shakespeare’s lexicon to
understand his plays. Instead, just try to grasp the gist of what each character is
saying, and before long, the rhythm and sound of the language will feel secondnature.
• Watch the performers’ body language, gestures, and facial expressions. In
terms of storytelling, body language is just as important as the text, and actors
employ a variety of performance techniques to make their dialogue as clear as
possible.
• Although he uses prose as well, Shakespeare often uses verse in his plays,
a metrical form of poetry called iambic pentameter. This rhythm, which uses
stressed and unstressed syllables, makes it easier to both understand and to
learn Shakespeare. The rhythm guides the ear to the important parts of each
phrase.
57
6. AFTER THE SHOW
Credit C. Stanley Photography, National Players Tour 67: Mitchell Martin, Libby Barnard, Beau Harris, Tina
Muñoz Pandya, Rosie O’Leary, Mackenzie Devlin, James Sheahan, Andrew Garrett, Marion Grey, Caleb Cedrone
Activities and Prompts...............................................58
Discussion Questions
Write a Review
Stage Your Own
Get Inspired
Write Your Own Epilogue
Thematic Essay
58
ACTIVITIES
6. After the Show
ACTIVITIES AND PROMPTS
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Summarize A Midsummer Night’s Dream in three sentences.
2. What elements of the show stood out to you?
3. Why do you think Theseus did not allow Hermia to marry
Lysander in the beginning? Are there other instances in which a
woman’s opinions or decisions are disregarded?
4. What role does music have in this production? What mood or
tone did the musical sequences evoke? How did they impact
your viewing experience?
5. What happens when the mechanicals perform their show at the wedding? How were they treated? In what other ways
are the divisions between social classes present in the play?
6. What was the most interesting relationship in the play? How would you characterize that relationship?
7. Was there a specific moment when you identified with one of the characters? What was it that made you feel that way?
8. Who do you think had the most power in the play? Can you name a specific moment when he or she used this power?
Or when she or he lost it?
9. How would you describe Oberon and Titania’s relationship? Hippolyta and Theseus’? Helena and Demetrius’?
10. What do you think about the setting of the play? What does the idea of the forest or the court in Athens mean to you?
WRITE A REVIEW
Critical analysis is an important part of theatre world, giving artists insight into how well their work comes across to patrons,
and allowing audiences to respond to their experiences in a professional manner. Most shows are reviewed in some form,
whether by professionals in newspapers or amateurs posting on Facebook. We encourage students to write their own
reviews of their experience seeing our show. You can even share these reviews by emailing them to nationalplayers@
olneytheatre.org or posting them online and sharing them with us on Facebook (Facebook.com/NationalPlayers) or Twitter
(@NationalPlayers).
Some guidelines on how to approach writing a review:
• The best reviews first identify what the production was attempting to achieve. Consider what you think the director,
actors, and designers wanted to create through the show as a whole, as well as the intended effect of individual
elements. From there, base your review on how well the show achieved those goals.
• “I didn’t like it” or “It was cool” is not a useful critique. Be sure to go into specifics, identifying why things did or did
not work for you.
• Remember your intended reader: other prospective audience members. Think about who the ideal audience member
for this show might be, and think about what that person would or would not like.
• Don’t forget that there are many separate elements within the show, and many different people contributed to the
final product. Try to attribute elements to the different people who worked on the show whenever possible (reference
the program for a full list of the artists who contributed to the production, from acting and directing to lighting and
sound design).
• Some plot summary is useful for providing context, but a review is not meant to just describe what happens. If there
are things in the performance that work best as a surprise, avoid revealing them in your review.
59
ACTIVITIES
6. After the Show
ACTIVITIES AND PROMPTS
STAGE YOUR OWN
One of the best things about theatre is the enormous number of valid and interesting interpretations of great plays. Have
students pick a favorite scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, like the scene in which Puck’s reputation is revealed (p.
25) or when Puck and Oberon realize they have created conflict among the lovers (p. 48) and have them create their own
interpretation of the scene. What is happening at this moment? How do you want to present it in a theatrical way? What
resources are available to you? Assign different roles to students and work together to make a version that is your own. Take
a video of your work and share it with National Players online; we’d love to see what you do.
GET INSPIRED
Often, when directors are preparing for a show, they look for outside inspiration to guide them. Find another work of art
(painting, picture, song, poem, novel, TV show/episode, movie) or person, place, or theme that you think represents this
play well. Write about the connections you see between your inspiration piece and the play. If you were directing your own
production, how would you use this inspiration piece to guide your team toward your own vision of the final product?
WRITE YOUR OWN EPILOGUE
Think about where the play leaves all of the characters at the end. What do you think would happen to them in the future?
Write a speculative scene featuring some of the characters down the road. What are they doing? How do they feel about
it? How have they changed? With whom do they still interact? How have their relationships with other characters changed?
You do not have to write in dramatic format; this can be a short story or even a comic book. Alternatively, can you think of
any scenes within the play that are referenced or described that you did not get to see? Create a “fill in the gaps” scene in
the same way, filling in things before or during the play that are not depicted in the script.
THEMATIC ESSAY
Think about some of the themes of the play (listed below) and write
an exploration of how you see the play treat that topic. Think of other
works you’ve read in school, or other movies or TV shows you’ve seen,
that deal with this topic and compare what you saw in the play with
what those other works have.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Love (Friendship vs. Romantic)
City vs. Country
Dreams vs. Reality
Transformation
Class/Social Hierarchy
Escape from/Return to Reality
Hermia and Demetrius in Tour 62’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
60
5. After the Show
APPENDIX
Credit: Kevin Hasser, Tour 67’s A Midsummer Night Dream at its first venue.
The following pages include companion worksheets for Tool Kit activities,
as well as a comprehensive list of further print and online resources.
You are welcome to make copies of these pages and use them in your
classroom, either alongside other Tool Kit resources or in other capacities.
Worksheets:
Prose vs. Verse
Identify Your Speech Patterns
Costume Design Template
Further Resources
Reading Companions
Online Resources
61
PROSE VS. VERSE
What if Shakespeare scripted your life? Where would you speak in verse? Where prose?
Read each scenario and consider whether each character would speak in the more formal and heightened verse style,
or the more relaxed and familiar prose style. Give your reasoning in each instance.
SCENARIO 1: You are at a backyard barbecue kicking off the beginning of summer. You and your friends don’t know
everybody, but you are excited. Your parents are in charge of the food, but you are in charge of the good times.
PROSE OR VERSE?
WHY? SCENARIO 2: You’re in a new school. You have just moved to a new city and don’t know many people, and you are slightly
uncomfortable in your school uniform. You run into your English teacher in the hallway, introduce yourself, and ask for
directions to your next class.
PROSE OR VERSE?
WHY? SCENARIO 3: You are with a friend at the service for a religion other than your own. Afterwards, you greet the service
leader and thank him/her for allowing you to observe. You and your friend then get something to eat and talk about some
of your favorite memories together.
PROSE OR VERSE?
WHY? SCENARIO 4: Create your own.
PROSE OR VERSE?
WHY? IDENTIFYING YOUR SPEECH PATTERNS
Good Morning, everybody! Please take a seat and take out a pen or pencil.
Good
Morn
ing,
eve
ry
bo
dy!
Please
take
a
seat
and
take
out
a
pen
or
pen
cil.
Question A: What is your ideal morning ritual?
Question B: How do you get to your favorite restaurant from here?
Question C: Where does your name come from?
Question D: Describe the plot of the most recent book that you read.
COSTUME DESIGN TEMPLATE
Further
RESOURCES
READING
COMPANIONS
ONLINE
RESOURCES
Brooks, Harold F. The Arden Shakespeare Edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Along with an extensive introduction to the play’s cultural, stage, and textual history, the Arden edition of the text also includes pages of footnotes and additional information.
Garber, Marjorie. Shakespeare After All.
A unique guide through all of Shakespeare’s plays, this is an accessible and
comprehensive text for both beginners and scholars.
Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare.
A descriptive, engaging biography of William Shakespeare, Greenblatt includes
information on Elizabethan life and culture, entertaining anecdotes, and clever
storytelling to paint an entertaining and educational picture of the playwright’s
life.
Holzknecht, Karl J. and Raymond Ross. Outlines of Shakespeare’s Plays
Act-by-act synopses of each play with helpful character descriptions and
relationship information, this collection also includes relevant background
material.
Kott, Jan. Shakespeare our Contemporary.
One of the most influential Shakespeare criticism works of the 20th century, Kott’s
selection of essays includes provocative analyses on all of Shakespeare’s plays.
Sarrazin, George and Alexander Schmidt. Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary.
A comprehensive collection of definitions, phrases, terms, and locations, as well
as more than 50,000 exact quotations.
Wells, Stanley. Shakespeare: A Life in Drama.
Along with a concise biography of the playwright, Wells provides an intriguing
portrayal of Shakespeare’s character.
shakespeare-literature.com and absoluteshakespeare.com
The complete texts of Shakespeare’s plays as well as links to study resources.
shakespeare-online.com
An excellent, regularly updated repository of information on Shakespeare.
folger.edu/Home_02B.html
The website of the Folger Shakespeare Library, with study guides and primary
resources.
globelink.org
A website maintained by Shakespeare’s Globe in London with links to resources,
archives, and information about the Globe’s current season.
opensourceshakespeare.org
An online library of Shakespeare’s texts, including advanced search options and
a concordance.
ShakespeareinAmericanLife.org
A project of the Folger Shakespare Library, with visual, textual, and video companions to Shakespeare’s plays.
pbs.org/wnet/shakespeare-uncovered
A series of films and educational companions to the historical and artistic impact
of Shakespeare’s plays.