Staging A Midsummer Night's Dream With an Emphasis on the Influence of the Spirit World on the Human World

Staging A Midsummer Night's Dream With an Emphasis on the Influence of the Spirit World on the Human World

Note: My essay is going to explore the ways of staging this scene in

the Globe, London.

At the start of this scene, the conflict between Titania and Oberon

over the Indian child has made Oberon embarrass Titania by magically

making her fall in love with bottom. Puck had earlier turned Bottom

into an ass to make an even bigger fool of Titania.

For this scene I will drape brown and green cloth down the rear of the

stage to create an image of a forest. I will also have two very tall

and wide wooden pillars. These will be painted to look like trees and

decorated with similar, but glittering, cloth towards the top. These

will be the platforms for some of the fairies later in the scene.

I will launch the scene with Bottom sitting at the front-right of the

stage with Titania and the other fairies around him. Puck, who cast

the spell on Titania and Bottom, is up on the right pillar looking

down on them. The flower he used should be prominently displayed on

stage when characters under its spell are performing.

On stage, Titania should be dressed in a long shimmering dress,

possibly in shades of purple and red to portray her as a regal but

magical character. She should, in addition to this, be acting at a

higher level than the fairies to symbolize her authority over them.

The fairies in this scene should also be wearing clothing that catch

the natural light in the theatre, but should not be wearing clothes as

beautiful or as colorful as Titania's, again to create the image of

different power levels.

As a contrast, Bottom must be wholly different to the others around

him as he is a mortal. And I think should sit where I have positioned

him, so that the groundlings can almost see him as if he were there

among them. Simply having an unusually long grey goatee and ears