A Midsummer

Night’s DreamBY: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Direct: Miranda Hooper

Set Design: Allen Brown

Costume Design: Sarah Prince

Lights: Lester Johns

Group 62

Miranda Hooper

Choosing a script

When choosing the script,

my team and I considered all choices and the possible

ideas we could do to

produce the play.

We chose the script that

stood out the most to us

and that seemed to have

the most interesting

storyline as well as the most

audience interest.

Choice of Style

The style I’ve chosen is naturalism.

It will be very realistic in production

and will mimic reality as much as

possible.

The play will accurately depict the

era that the play was originally

written in.

Casting

Casting is a very important aspect of a play’s production.

You have to find someone who will fit the persona and

actions of the characters in the play.

The actors being chosen must be similar in character to be

able to accurately portray the characters’ motives.

This creates a better, more realistic production that has

more audience appeal and creates a more believable

scene. Audiences can become more connected to the

play when the actions and emotions coming from the

actors are real.

Casting

Josh Dallas as Lysander and

Ginnifer Goodwin as Hermia

Colin O’Donoghue as Demetrius and Jennifer

Morrison as Helena

Casting

Evan Peters as the young Puck

Jennifer Aniston as the

Fairy Queen, Titania.

Jim Carrey as the Fairy

King, Oberon.

Casting

Adam Sandler as the

laborer and leader,

Bottom.

John Goodman as

Hermia’s father, Egeus.

Casting

Tommy Lee Jones as King Theseus

Sigourney Weaver as the

Amazonian Queen, Hippolyta.

The “Spine” of the Script

The “spine” of a script is the

overall theme or main

concept of a play.

Though there were many

aspects of the play that

provoked insightful ideas,

the main theme, that I

believe is the “spine” of the

play, is that love is a

complicated endeavor.

Set Design ALLEN BROWN

Environment

The way that I will set the environment:

Since the play starts off in a palace and later switches

to a forest and then back to the palace I will make

the walls of the set two sided.

On one side will be the wall of the palace.

On the other will be made to look like a forest

This way both of the scenes can be designed into the

plays set.

Mood and Style

Naturalism

This means that the scene that is set in the

palace will literally be the interior of a palace.

Same goes for the forest scene the walls will turn

and will make the persona of a forest.

Realistic or Non-realistic

Realistic

In our play the realistic aspect will

be the sets

The forest and palace setting are

made to look real.

Non-realistic

The non-realistic aspects of this play

would be the characters

There are fairies and a character that

has his head turned into a donkey

Locale and Period

Play takes place in a palace and a forest

You can tell from what is said that the play is set in the past because

of how they speak and what they will be wearing.

The setting will also have things that will help the audience in

placing a date on the play.

One of those things will be a old statue like you would have seen in

a palace of that time period.

Design Concept

In A Midsummer night’s dream the set changes

from the palace to a forest and back to a

palace.

This was a key focus of the plays design concept

Had to make sure that the focus of the play

would be able to notice a specific transition

between scenes when they switched

Central image/ visual metaphor

This can be an object that has a thematic

representation

In A midsummer nights dream rather an object

it’s two characters that server as a visual

metaphor

Theseus and Hippolyta represent order and

structure when things go wrong.

How Is the scenery working?

The scenery in this play switches from being in a palace

to being out in the forest.

The palace will look like a plain palace, with grey stone

styled walls and the stairs that blend into the walls of the

theatre.

Solving design problems

The design problems that were introduced from this play are is the need for different sets.

This was solved by making the walls double sided so we can switch them from showing stone to trees.

Lights LESTER JOHNS

Lights

Act. I

The scene: Dim moonlight shines down from the new

moon comes down Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s shoulders

as they discuss their wedding alone.

The setting calls for dim blue moonlight shining

overhead, well lit enough to see the characters well yet

dim enough to show that it is a new moon

Act I

The main focus of the lighting should be soft and focused on the

two characters in the center on the stage. It should also emphasize

the mood of late night activities.

Act II

The scene: A forest with trees of course and fairly spacious opening

in the center.

Since the scene is outdoors it should be well lit but spotty enough to

give the illusion that it is a forest and there are trees

The lights should still be relatively dim.

Act II

The trees in the forest should create enough contrast to give the

illusion that they are actually there.

Act III

The scene: The woods where the craftsmen will rehearse

their play.

Everything should be pretty well lit but bluish for them all

to rehearse and see each other it is morning.

The contract from the trees should still be there but more

because of the sunlight

This is the longest act so the lights should end up getting

dimmer by the end of the scene

Act III

The trees should create contrast but you should still be

able to see the craftsmen very well.

Act IV

The scene: The Athenians lie asleep in the grove

the light should be dimmed but not in excess the

scene needs to still be visible

This is the shortest act in the play and serves as

an transition so the lighting is the same

throughout

Act IV

This visible lighting is very focused and consistent throughout this

scene

Act V

The scene: Inside of Theseus’ palace, the lighting should

reflect that of royalty with a more yellowish tone.

this scene has a mix of emotions but excitement is

among the most dominant, all of the characters reflect

this emotion

This is the final act of the play and is being set for the

final scene

The lighting should be easygoing and gentle to match

the mood of a happy ending

Act V

There should be much more focus on the characters

and the joyful mood of the play

Costume Design SARAH PRINCE

Style

The style is the classical Shakespearean with the aspects of

English Renaissance

This will be seen mostly through the costumes they will be

wearing

It can also be seen in the way the play will be run through

how the language is presented

Historical Period

London 1594 to 1595

Athens forest outside the walls

English Renaissance

Costumes will be Shakespearean with a

heighten since of English clothes

Relationships

Major Characters

• Puck (Robin Goodfellow)

• Nick Bottom

• Helena

• Lysander

• Demetrius

• Hermia

Minor Characters

• Oberon

• Titania

• Laborers

• Theseus

• Egeus

Contrasting Characters

Main characters:

Clothing will pop out having brighter clothing

Will be nicer and fancy English clothing

Minor characters:

Lighter coloring clothes

Will not stand out as much as main characters

Fairies

Following cloths

White to use the lighting on stage as an accent

Laborers

Clothing will be ragged

Makes it seem that they do much work and are not as wealthy as the others

Symbolic significance

Symbolic Significance- abstract ideas such as shapes

or fantastic creatures

In the play there is a play where there

is a wall

Instead of a real wall they use a

person

Therefore the costume must be able

to move in but look like a wall

Tom Snout (The Wall)

When Bottom’s head becomes a

donkey head there has to be a

special mask

This mask will be in the shape of a

donkey head with cotton that comes

off it too look like donkey hair

Hair will be long so may be seen from

all seats

Nick Bottom (Donkey Head)

Individual performers

Individual Performers

Athenians• Must be practical for actors/actresses to move around

• Fight

• Dance

• Ability to remove rapidly and change in to a new custom

• Costumes must be able to fit any setting it is in though out the play

Individual Performers

Fairies and Humans

• Each of the characters making the transformation back and forth must have a costume that is primarily white. In this case “white” means a range

of colors that may indeed be pure, bleached white or possibly as dark as

unbleached natural fibers

• To this each fairy will add a small coverlet or poncho of sheer fabric which may possibly have embellishments such as sequins.

• The clothing should allow for movement as fairies

• the humans an elevated or even have a formal look