A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
A Lyric Hammersmith and Filter Theatre production
at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
'The course of true love never did run smooth'
Young lovers collide with warring fairies in a magical, irreverent and music-filled retelling of Shakespeare’s
most loved comedy. Celebrated for their unique take on classic texts, Filter and Lyric Hammersmith Artistic
Director Sean Holmes reunite, following the success of THREE SISTERS and the smash-hit TWELFTH
NIGHT, to remix and rework Shakespeare’s magical exploration of the disruptive power of love.
We are proud to present this production as part of our continuing collaboration with the Lyric following the
success of PUNK ROCK and MOGADISHU.
INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR SEAN HOLMES
This production has gone through many
stages, how did you develop it from a
festival environment to a proscenium arch?
The point of making it was that we had 10 days to
rehearse it in before taking it to Latitude Festival
last summer. 10 days is not enough time to
rehearse anything in, this meant that choices were
made that wouldn’t have necessarily been made in
a normal rehearsal period, which took us on quite
a journey. We had one week last summer
developing it with a one-off showing at the Lyric
before a six week UK tour with no set design. The
show has been marinating. It came back to the
Lyric with the introduction of a design element; it
is unusual to design for a show that already exists
but if we hadn’t introduced a design, the stripped
back festival feel would have been too exposed in
the proscenium arch setting. The design creates an
environment for the play to take place in.
What challenges did you face when redirecting a piece that has already had a life
outside of your rehearsal room, did you want
to take a different journey or perhaps
highlight things that had previously been
over-looked?
Challenges, some actors changed through out the
process which meant there were different levels of
knowledge of the play. The question is how do you
Rhys Rusbatch as Demetrius (left) and John Lightbody as Lysander
(Photo - Jonathan Keenan)
keep the sense of invention with something that’s
been done a lot, and when you have to think
about setting things so that an audience can see
and hear them? Mess and chaos.
Filter have a unique approach to working,
how does this production compare to how
Shakespeare would have rehearsed it?
This is the second Shakespeare we’ve done; we
made it in a similar way. Though on the surface
this is different to how Shakespeare would have
staged Dream, it is I feel, a 21st Century version of
how he would have worked; everyone is part of a
company where they are all familiar with each
other, everyone learns the script before turning up
to rehearsals, it’s written for this, a pre-rehearsal
theatre, they didn’t have a director. I am a skill in
the room, sometimes hours will pass where I don’t
do anything.
Not all of the cast are professional actors,
how did you find all the members of the
company?
The band is made up of three members of the
London Snorkelling Team, which is great because
they play the mechanicals who are meant to be
the non-professionals. It creates a genuine
awkwardness.
What is a typical day in rehearsals for
Dream?
The actors turn up, often late. We threaten to
rehearse, but always find reasons not to. There
will be a burst of activity. When sound and music
is involved everyone gets more enthusiastic and
interested. It is hard to carry on rehearsing when it
feels like no one is paying attention to you. There
is a morass of different energies, something
intense seems to happen. If you try to control it
too much it will collapse, you sometimes have to
direct something out of the corner of your eye, like
you don’t want to look at it straight on. It’s a fine
line between inspiration and rubbish, closer to
inspiration I hope.
WHY NOT? Explore further...
Ferdy Roberts On... Filter-ing
Shakespeare's Dream
Whatsonstage.com interview with Ferdy Robert,
one of Filter's three Artistic Directors
Exeunt Magazine feature
From chaos comes… Filter Theatre’s A
Midsummer Night’s Dream
ayoungertheatre.com feature article
Ferdy Roberts as Puck (Photo - Jonathan Keenan)
RESOURCE EXTRA: PRIMARY ACTIVITIES
Help… I’ve Lost The Plot!
William Shakespeare has been receiving a lot of letters asking for his help. He hasn’t got time to answer
them all - he’s decided instead to put all his friend’s problems into a new play he’s writing. It’s called A
MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM...
WHY NOT?
Can you help William out by writing replies to some of these letters?
Dear Agony Aunt,
In four days time I am to marry a wonderful man called Theseus, but the quarrels
of some young people have cast a shadow over the whole thing. I am very worried
about the wedding being spoiled. What can I do?
Hippolyta
Dear Agony Aunt,
Me and my mates are doing a play. We have to perform it for the Duke and his
new wife at their wedding. I’m a bit scared that we’ll frighten all the ladies because
I play a lion. What if the Duke gets really cross? What shall I do about it?
Snug the Joiner
Dear Agony Aunt,
Recently I was turned into a donkey by a mischievous fairy. While I was in this
state the Fairy Queen fell in love with me. Now she realises her mistake and has
gone back to her husband Oberon. I feel a fool. Please help me.
Nick Bottom, the Weaver
Dear Agony Aunt,
My daughter Hermia never does what I tell her to. I am sick of it! I want her to
marry Demetrius, but she wants to marry Lysander. I spoke about it with the Duke
Theseus, and he gave her a choice. Either she can marry Demetrius or I’ll have to
send her to a nunnery, or have her killed, for her cheekiness. Am I being fair?
Egeus
Dear Agony Aunt,
I am in love with Helena. She is beautiful and lovely in all ways, but for some reason she thinks that I am making fun of her. What can I do about it?
Demetrius
Dear Auntie,
I made a bit of a mistake at work. My boss gave me some instructions to put
magic love juice in the eyes of an Athenian youth called Demetrius who was roaming through the woods. I got it a little bit wrong and put the juice in the eyes of
the wrong youth Lysander. When he woke up he fell in love with Helena. The trouble is that he was already in love with Hermia and they are supposed to be getting
married – now he can’t stand the sight of her. My boss is really angry. So you see,
I’m in a bit of a pickle. Help!
Puck
Dear Agony Aunt,
I have a problem. I am in love with this boy Demetrius, but he hates me and fancies my best friend Hermia. In Athens, where I live, everyone thinks that I’m as
pretty as she is, so why does everyone fancy her? Lysander and Hermia are going
to run off to the woods and get married. I think that if I tell Demetrius, he might
love me back. Do you agree?
Helena
Dear Agony Aunt,
A terrible thing has happened. My boyfriend Lysander has stopped loving me and
has fallen in love with my best friend Helena. At the same time Emetrius, who was
madly in love with me, now says he loves Helena too. They nearly had a fight over
her. I am very confused and upset.
Hermia
WHY NOT?
Try to piece together the story of the play from
the clues given here. In no more than 90
seconds, tell a partner the plot of A
MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM from beginning to
end.
WHY NOT?
Choose 3 of these letters and turn them into
short scenes that you can act out or mime OR
Make a one minute improvisation of the whole
story of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.
“How now, Spirit; whither wander you?”
The fairies are very important characters in A
MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. The way that a director
interprets them can shape what the production will be
like.
In this Lyric Hammersmith and
production the fairies are created
sound through a microphone. This
sense of their magical quality and
suddenly appear out of nowhere.
Filter Theatre
using amplified
helps create a
how they can
In our minds we might think of fairies as creatures that
dance at the bottom of the garden, or as friendly
beings who leave money under our pillows for teeth…
but this isn’t the whole truth! Fairies can also be seen
as supernatural creatures who are scary or
mischievous, with dangerous and exciting magic
powers.
Over the years, different productions of A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM have presented the fairies in very
different ways. They can be played by boys, girls,
women or men. In this production Puck is played by a
man, but many other productions have had a female
Puck. In last Royal Exchange Theatre production of A
MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM the fairies were played
by older adults. They were very wise and presented as
the keepers of the forest.
WHY NOT?
Have a class discussion about what you think
fairies are. Maybe you think that they are
non-human spirits; a way of bringing on
stage a world of fantasy and imagination or
perhaps they signify magical and spiritual
forces in human lives. Maybe they are even
figments of the character’s imaginations. You
decide.
WHY NOT?
In groups of four discuss the existence of
fairies - do you believe in the supernatural or
do you think that it’s a load of old nonsense.
It might be fun to argue the opposite of what
you really believe and see if you can
convince the rest of the group that you are
right. Try improvising a scene of people
leaving the theatre being interviewed about
what they thought of the play - pretend that
some of them believe in fairies and some of
them don’t. Does this make a difference to
their attitudes about the production?
“I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.”
Throughout the play the lovers do a kind of a dance - falling in and out
of love with each other. This map might help you to remember what’s
going on:
ACT ONE:
Hermia
Demetrius
Lysander
Helena
ACT TWO:
Hermia
Demetrius
Lysander
Helena
ACT THREE:
Hermia
Demetrius
Lysander
Helena
ACT FOUR:
Hermia
Demetrius
Lysander
Helena
ACT FIVE:
These characters marry each other in a joint
ceremony with Theseus and Hippolyta
Hermia
Demetrius
Lysander
Helena
WHY NOT?
Act out a television news report
where several of the characters
from the play are interviewed
about their strange experiences
in the wood.
WHY NOT?
Imagine the fuss that the modern
media would make over so many
grand weddings and strange
goings on. Imagine that you are
a journalist for a magazine like
Heat or Now. Create a gossip
column based on the events of
the play. Try to imagine what
kind of background details a
journalist would be interested in?
Use quotes from the play. If you
like, you could even do drawings.
RESOURCE EXTRA: SECONDARY ACTIVITIES
A Sense of Space
The first performance of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S
DREAM is thought to have taken place as part of a
wedding celebration (although it was not expressly
written for the event) in the Southampton family’s
palace on the corner of Chancery Lance and
Holborn in London. The building had a series of
galleries from which the spectators looked down
into a central garden where the play took place.
This production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
(a Lyric Hammersmith and Filter Theatre
production) has had an interesting journey through
a range of different spaces. It began life as part of
Latitude Festival, transferred to the proscenium
arch space of The Lyric in Hammersmith and has
been developed again to play our in-the-round
space here at the Royal Exchange.
WHY NOT? Make a list of what changes you
think might have been made at each stage of
this production’s journey through different
spaces? What things would the designer,
director, musicians and actors have to consider
for each different space? Are there aspects of
the production that you think haven’t had to
change and would work in all three settings?
WHY NOT? Think of other places where you
might stage a production of A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM. Be brave in considering how or
where you could stage this play. It does not
have to be a theatre, or necessarily in a
building. Describe how you would use the place
you have chosen and what atmosphere you
would want to create for your audience. You
might even choose to stage the action in a
promenade style so that your audience are
moved from one situation to another to share
different moments of action.
“My gentle Puck, come hither”
In this production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S
DREAM the role of Puck is played by Ferdy Roberts
who at first sight you might assume is playing
Oberon with his tall, robust and commanding
presence. Similarly, Oberon played by Johnathan
Broadbent, has often played Puck in other
productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. By
making a bold and somewhat surprising choice
with the casting a new aspect of Oberon and
Puck’s relationship is unlocked. Roberts who plays
Puck describes how: “usually Puck is played in
quite a sprightly way but I’m playing him a bit
more like Ferdy in his darker moments – a but
jaded and p****** off with the world. There’s the
sense Puck’s fed up with Oberon and wants him to
grow up so he can stop running around on errands
and become a proper fairy.”
WHY NOT? Choose two other characters from
the play who have an onstage relationship, for
example, Titania and Bottom or Helena and
Hermia. Use the internet to find photographs
from other productions of these characters. How
have different directors and designers chosen to
represent them? Now draw up a list of the
qualities you would be looking for in an actor
both in terms of their look and their presence on
stage? What has led you to make these choices?
What are you hoping to discover or reveal about
their relationship?
Sounds like…
Sound and live music often play a central role in
Filter’s work. In this production the Mechanicals
are played by musicians who are present in the
space creating live music and sound to create
atmosphere and support the storytelling.
WHY NOT? Look at the moment at the end of
Act III, Scene 2 that starts with Puck:
Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down;
I am feared in field and town.
Goblin lead them up and down.
Puck conjures a fog and disguises his voice to
imitate Lysander and Demetrius so that he can
separate them in the forest and put right the
mistakes of the evening. Using instruments and
voice find ways to create different atmospheres
to support the action. Look for clues in the
language as to what the ‘feel’ should be. Is it
sleepy, confusing, threatening?