Download A Midsummer Night`s Dream

THE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER
Touring Troupe 2006-07 Season
Study Guides
Julius Caesar
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Cyrano de Bergerac
The following materials were compiled by the Education and Research Department of the American Shakespeare Center. Special acknowledgement to: Colleen Kelly, Director
of Education and Research; Ralph Cohen, ASC Executive Director; Jim Warren, ASC Artistic Director; Jay McClure, Director of Theater Operations; Audrey GuengerichBaylor, Henrico County Schools; ASC Actors and Staff: Aaron Hochhalter, David Loar, Alvaro Mendoza, Anna Marie Sell, Matthew Sincell, Jeremy Fiebig; Education Artists:
Robert Gibbs, Sarah Henley, Camille Mustachio; and ASC Interns: Cassie Ash, Erin Davis, Heidi Grumelot, Becky Kemper, Donald Osborne and Katherine Robbins
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YOUR ROLE AS AN AUDIENCE MEMBER
1. In Shakespeare’s day, attending a play was an exciting community event. While waiting for the play to begin and
during intermission, audiences would eat, drink, visit with friends, and enjoy specialty acts featuring jugglers,
clowns, dancers, and musicians.
• At the Blackfriars, we offer the same kind of experience during our pre-show and
intermission entertainments. If you want to join in the pre-show fun, arrive up to a half
hour early. During intermission there will be more entertainment, but this is also the time
when you can stretch your legs, use the restroom, and purchase souvenirs and
refreshments (no outside food or drink allowed). At most modern theatres you are asked
not to bring food or drink back in the theatre with you, but this is permitted at the
Blackfriars.
2. In Shakespeare’s day, plays were performed either outdoors in the middle of the afternoon or indoors under
candlelight. This means that the actors could see the audience, the audience could see the actors, and the members
of the audience could see each other.
• At the Blackfriars, we perform with the lights on. As an audience member, you feel like
you are in the same room with the actors—like you are actually part of the play. This is
very different from seeing something at the cinema or in a theatre where the actors are lit
and the audience sits in the dark. You get the feeling that at any moment the actors might
start talking with you, and sometimes they will.
3. In Shakespeare’s day, there wasn’t such a pronounced division between the actors and the audience. The theatres
were small, and audience members sat close to the stage. Sometimes, in theatres like the Globe, they stood in
front of the stage in the pit. At other theatres they could sit on the stage itself.
• At the Blackfriars, there are many different places to sit (for some performances this
means different prices). Wherever you sit, let the action of the play draw you in. We have
benches that can be occupied as is or, for comfort, can include cushions and seat backs.
There are Lord’s Chairs and on-stage Gallant Stools very close to the action, and upper
balcony seating which may require you to lean forward to look over the rail. Do be
considerate, however, of others who are also trying to see.
4. In Shakespeare’s day, there were no electronic devices.
• At the Blackfriars, no electronic devices should be used by the audience during the
performance. Please don’t take pictures during the show. If you have cell phones, video
games, CD players, walkmans, or MP3 players please turn them off so that they don’t
distract the other audience members or the actors. No text messaging during the
performance. Remember, this is a live event, so don’t be a distraction. Part of your role as
an audience member is to make sure that seeing a play is an enjoyable community event
for everyone in attendance.
5. In Shakespeare’s day, the audience often changed seats, mingled, and walked in and out of the theatre (much like
a modern sporting event), but they always knew what was going on in the play—they knew the score. Who’d
want to miss the best part? The swordfight, the kiss, the bawdy joke…a new word that Shakespeare invented.
• At the Blackfriars, you may leave the theatre during intermissions and interlude
entertainments. Return to your seat before the play resumes--you don’t want to miss the
best part (or perhaps the part that might be on your exam). Unless it is an emergency, do
not leave the theatre during the play itself.
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6. In Shakespeare’s day, plays were meant to be seen and heard rather than read. In comparison to today,
Elizabethans spent more time speaking and listening to language rather than reading and writing language.
Figures of speech, for example, were more than a dramatic writing tool; they were meant to be spoken.
• At the Blackfriars, actors create stories through speaking words and embodying actions.
Attending a play is different than reading a play. We invite you to experience the play
through listening, seeing, feeling, thinking and imagining. Even if you know you are
going to have to write a paper or take a test about the play, don’t take notes and stay in
your brain. If you do, you really haven’t experienced what it’s like to attend a play.
7. In Shakespeare’s day, audiences were asked to use their imagination. There certainly were theatrical events that
used elaborate and expensive technical elements, but Shakespeare’s plays keep scenery, props, costumes, lighting
and special effects to a minimum. Instead of a cast of thousands, Shakespeare’s actors played multiple roles—
including young men playing all the female parts.
• At the Blackfriars, you will also need to use your imagination. Shakespeare’s words are
as powerful today as they were four hundred years ago. They tell stories that engage and
challenge all of the senses. We limit technical elements so Shakespeare’s words can
shine. Music and sound effects are always created live and in the moment of the action.
Actors play multiple roles and often those roles are cross-gender cast.
8. In Shakespeare’s day, people loved talking about where they’d been, what they’d seen, who they saw, and what
they thought about the plays—they voiced their likes and dislikes about the story and the actors.
• At the Blackfriars, you will have an opportunity to take a peek behind the scenes. After
the show you can talk with the actors about the story of the play, the characters, the
actor’s process, and anything else you might want to know about theatre, Shakespeare,
or the American Shakespeare Center.
“The Laughing Audience”
by William Hogarth, 1733.
Note the lighted sconces
that permit socializing and
a more communal response
to the show. The man at the
far right on the second row,
for example, appears to be
laughing at the laughter of
his fellow audience members,
while the gentleman in the
row above is clearly annoyed
with the shenanigans going
on behind him.
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STAUNTON’S BLACKFRIARS PLAYHOUSE
In 2001 the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia, the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s original indoor
theatre, opened its doors to the public. To commemorate this historic occasion, Shenandoah Shakespeare (now the
American Shakespeare Center) published Blackfriars Playhouse, a series of short essays by internationally renowned
scholars about the history, construction, and function of the London and Staunton Blackfriars, as well as the
companies that called them home. The following excerpt by Andrew Gurr, Professor of English at the University of
Reading in England and former Director of Research at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, is from that collection:
LONDON’S BLACKFRIARS PLAYHOUSE
The story of the original Blackfriars is a chapter—or rather a book—of accidents, a large volume that tells us about
the evolution of London’s first theatres. It is a story that runs alongside and ahead of Shakespeare’s Globe. The
Blackfriars was built in 1596, three years earlier than the Globe, and if Shakespeare’s company had been allowed to
use the Playhouse immediately, they would never have bothered to build the open-air theatre. Despite the depiction in
Shakespeare In Love of Queen Elizabeth attending the Rose Theatre, it was the Blackfriars that received the first-ever
visit by a reigning queen; Henrietta Maria, Charles I’s French spouse, went four times to see a play at the
Blackfriars.
By the 1620s and 1630s the Blackfriars had become the place for England’s high and mighty to see the best plays, in
the best society, complete with sea-coal braziers in the boxes alongside the stage to keep them warm. The Lord
Chamberlain himself, the Privy Councillor responsible for plays and court entertainment, had a personal key to one
of the boxes beside the Blackfriars stage.
After the long closure of theatres between 1642 and the restoration of a king in 1660, it was the idea of the indoor
Blackfriars that lived on rather than Shakespeare’s Globe. The Blackfriars’s chief imitator, the Cockpit, even
reopened briefly during the Restoration for use as a playhouse, but by then the need for the French type of theatre—
with a proscenium arch and a picture-frame stage—made the new players close off the boxes and tiers above the
stage, leaving the theatre’s capacity so small that it could not thrive. Only now, 405 years after it was first created,
and 392 years since Shakespeare’s company first started to use it, can the original Blackfriars once again come into
its own, as the best playhouse of Shakespeare’s time.
--Andrew Gurr
ACTOR TALKBACK SESSIONS AT THE BLACKFRIARS
At the end of each school matinee performance at the Blackfriars Theatre, the audience will have the opportunity to
meet a few of the actors and ask questions. During this twenty minute session, actors will be glad to discuss a range of
topics. They enjoy sharing their ideas about plot points and character relationships. You can also ask them about
costumes, props, or other elements that might not be in the written script, yet are important to the performance.
Perhaps you would like to know about the rehearsal process or how an individual actor made a specific choice about a
character. You may ask behind-the-scenes questions and discover how a quick change of clothes was handled or a
sound effect was made. Curious about the life of an actor? Go ahead and ask about how they got their start, where
they studied, or what other roles they’ve played. This is your time to find out anything you want to know about the
play, the actors, theatre, and the Blackfriars.
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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:
BACKGROUND AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
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•
Based on baptismal records, most biographers agree that William Shakespeare was born on April 23,
1564, in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
•
William, the son of wealthy shop owner John Shakespeare, received a traditional education: up to ten
hours a day studying grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. He also
studied Greek and Latin on a daily basis. Although we have little proof of Shakespeare’s academic
career, the plays are evidence enough that Shakespeare was well versed in the language passed down
from the ancient classicists.
•
In 1582, when he was eighteen, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. He had three children: Susanna
and twins Judith and Hamnet. Although no conclusive documentation remains about his whereabouts
between 1582 and 1594, we do know that by 1594 Shakespeare had left his family in Stratford and was
living in London.
•
Throughout history, theatre companies have seldom enjoyed a good reputation. In early 16th Century
England, actors and their companies were thought of as lazy and dishonest:
o lazy because plays were performed during the day, which meant that a percentage of those
attending were “absent without leave” from work;
o dishonest because an actor on stage was pretending to be someone he was not, which meant that
he was lying.
•
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, however, there was a growing interest in play-going, so actors
were given the right to organize themselves into troupes under the protection of a royal patron or
sponsor. Shakespeare’s troupe secured the patronage of the Lord Chamberlain, therefore they became
known as The Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
•
Patronage changed after the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland became King
James I of England. During the reign of James I, and continuing to 1642 when the Puritans closed the
theatres, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men were recognized favorites of the crown and known as The King’s
Men.
•
Shakespeare often visited Stratford and bought a house there for his family. Unfortunately, his son
Hamnet died in 1596 at the age of eleven, possibly of the plague. At the age of 47 in 1611, Shakespeare
retired to Stratford, ending his tenure as a resident writer and actor with the company he helped form.
William Shakespeare died on his birthday on April 23, 1616. His wife, Anne, lived until the age of
sixty-seven. His two surviving children, Susanna and Judith, both married but left no family.
•
Although Shakespeare’s family tree ended, his plays continue to carry his memory, and will do so well
into the future. Shakespeare wrote 35-37 plays, 154 sonnets, and contributed over 2,000 words to the
English language. Today his plays are performed in many languages including German, Russian,
French, and Japanese. As Ben Jonson, a contemporary of Shakespeare once wrote, “…he was not for an
age, but for all time!”
STUDY GUIDE INDEX
This study guide packet has been created to accompany the productions in the current season at The American
Shakespeare Center. Each play has its own separate guide with a number of resources, activities, and assignments created
specifically for that play, offering a broad range of materials for you to choose from as you plan your classes. Please feel
free to reproduce these pages as needed. Some activities and assignments can be completed after reading the text of the
play while others are based on specific choices in the ASC productions. Most activities can be adapted to serve either
individual or group assignments. Answer keys appear at the end of each guide. The following is a list of the materials you
will find in the study guide for each play.
Stuff That Happens In the Play
This is a description of the major events in the play to help guide students through general plot points.
Who’s Who
This is a list of the characters in the play, along with a short description of who they are and what they do.
Director’s Notes
This is a short essay written by the director of each ASC production for the season program, in which they give their
thoughts on the play.
Discovery Space Scavenger Hunt
These simple questions are to be used in conjunction with the ASC performance. Before attending the play, teachers
should assign each student one of the twenty questions to help them become more active viewers at the performance.
Rhetoric and Figures of Speech
This section focuses on the use language in the play. Examples of a particular rhetorical device or linguistic feature in the
text are followed by an activity that relates to the particular rhetorical device or figure of speech.
Viewpoints
This section of the guide contains activities and information built around a particular aspect of each play. A short
examination of a theme or topic is followed with a related assignment.
ShakesFEAR Activity
These classroom teaching ploys are excerpts from ASC Co-founder and Executive Director Ralph Alan Cohen’s book
ShakesFEAR and How to Cure It. Cohen developed these activities to help overcome students’ feelings of intimidation
toward Shakespeare’s plays.
ABC’s
This is a fill-in-the-blank assignment that tests students’ knowledge of the text. Answers can be drawn from a word bank
containing twenty-six words related to the play, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet.
Crossword Puzzles
The study guide contains a crossword puzzle for each play with answers taken from the text.
Actors’ Choice
These thoughts and observations made by ASC actors about their performance choices can either be used as prompts for
written responses or classroom discussion.
Getting Technical
This section of the guide is for use after the students have attended the ASC performance. It helps students to examine
how technical aspects of the production help to tell the story of the play, and prompts them to consider what technical
choices they might make if they were putting together their own performance.
Quizzes and Essay Questions
Each study guide contains one or more quizzes that teachers can use to test their students knowledge of the play, as well
as prompts for essays in response to the production and the text.
Answer Keys For Various Activities and Quizzes
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
THE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER
Touring Troupe 2006-07 Season
Study Guide
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
CAST & CREW
THESEUS Duke of Athens
HIPPOLYTA defeated Queen of the Amazons
PHILOSTRATE servant to Theseus
EGEUS father to Hermia
Henry Bazemore, Jr.
Lillian Wright
Tyler Moss
Joseph Langham
HERMIA Egeus's daughter, in love with Lysander
HELENA Hermia's friend, in love with Demetrius
LYSANDER wants to marry Hermia
DEMETRIUS Egeus's choice to marry Hermia
Anna Marie Sell
Sybille Bruun
Jonathan Maccia
Adam Jonas Segaller
OBERON King of the fairies
TITANIA Queen of the fairies
Robin Goodfellow (PUCK) Oberon's fairy
1st Fairy
Moth
Peaseblossom
Mustardseed
Cobweb
Henry Bazemore, Jr.
Lillian Wright
Tyler Moss
Sybille Bruun
Emily Gibson
Joseph Langham
Aaron Hochhalter
Chris Johnston
Peter QUINCE carpenter in charge of a play
Nick BOTTOM weaver who plays Pyramus
Francis FLUTE bellows-mender who plays Thisbe
Robin STARVELING tailor who plays Moonshine
SNUG joiner who plays the Lion
Aaron Hochhalter
Kevin Pierson
Chris Johnston
Emily Gibson
Joseph Langham
CREW
DIRECTOR
Assistant Director
Costume Designer
Dramaturg
Assistant to the Director
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Jaq Bessell
Aaron Hochhalter
Kimberly G. Morris
Katie Robbins
Jennifer Steigerwalt
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
STUFF THAT HAPPENS…
Stuff that happens DURING the Play...
• Theseus, the Duke of Athens, plans his marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the
Amazons. Egeus interrupts to complain that his daughter Hermia has fallen in
love with Lysander.
• Theseus orders Hermia to obey her father and marry Demetrius; otherwise, she
will be killed or sent to a nunnery.
• Hermia and Lysander plan to escape to the woods, get married, and live off money
from Lysander's rich aunt.
• Hermia's friend Helena, who loves Demetrius, reveals the plan to him, and he
follows Hermia and Lysander into the woods.
• In the woods, Oberon, the fairy king, and Titania, his queen, are quarreling over
the possession of an infant boy.
• Oberon sends Puck to bewitch Titania so that she will fall in love with the first
creature she sees when she wakes.
• Bottom, an Athenian laborer, has come to the woods with his fellow workers to
rehearse a play for Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding celebration.
• Puck places an ass's head upon Bottom, with whom Titania promptly falls in love.
• Oberon commands Puck to bewitch Demetrius so that he falls in love with Helena;
Puck, however, mistakes Lysander for Demetrius.
• Corrections, coupling, and play-going ensue.
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
WHO’S WHO
Theseus- Duke of Athens. Theseus defeated Hippolyta in battle and, as a result, will marry her. For their wedding,
he requests entertainments to be prepared. He listens to Egeus’ complaint against his daughter, Hermia, and orders
her to obey her father and marry Demetrius.
Hippolyta- Queen of the Amazons. She is betrothed to Theseus, who has won her by defeating her in battle.
Philostrate- the Master of Revels at Theseus’ Court. Theseus orders him to prepare entertainments for his
wedding celebration.
Egeus- Hermia’s father. When Hermia refuses his command to marry Demetrius, he brings her before Theseus,
Duke of Athens, to decide the matter.
Hermia- Young Athenian lover and daughter of Egeus. Hermia is in love with Lysander, although Egeus wishes
her to marry Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander run away to the forest to elope. In the forest, she falls asleep and falls
victim to fairies’ meddling.
Lysander- Young Athenian lover. He is Hermia’s choice for marriage, though Egeus and Theseus demand Hermia
marry Demetrius. Out of desperation, Lysander and Hermia flee to the forest to elope. In the forest, Lysander falls
asleep and falls victim to fairies’ meddling.
Demetrius- Young Athenian lover. He is in love with Hermia (though she does not return his love), and receives
Egeus’ blessing for marriage to Hermia. Helena is in love with Demetrius, though he does not return her love. He
follows Hermia and Lysander into the forest to prevent their elopement. In the forest, he falls asleep and falls victim
to fairies’ meddling.
Helena- Young Athenian lover and Hermia’s best friend. Helena is in love with Demetrius though he does not
return her love. She tells Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander’s plan to run away, in hopes of gaining favor with
Demetrius. She follows Demetrius into the forest, and falls victim to fairies’ meddling.
Oberon- The King of Fairies. Oberon and Titania are married, but they are at odds due to accused infidelities on
each side. He demands of Titania a human child in her care, which she refuses to give up. Puck fetches a magical
flower for him which he uses to get revenge on Titania and to “fix” the Athenian lovers’ predicament.
Titania- The Queen of the Fairies. Oberon and Titania are married, but they are at odds due to accused infidelities
on each side. Titania refuses to give Oberon a human child she has in her care. She falls victim to Oberon’s revenge.
Puck (a.k.a. Robin Goodfellow)- Oberon’s Servant. At Oberon’s behest, Puck retrieves a magical flower and uses it
with the intention of resolving the Athenian lovers’ predicament.
Peter Quince- A carpenter. He produces the mechanicals’ play, Pyramus and Thisbe.
Snug- A joiner. He plays the lion in the mechanicals’ play, Pyramus and Thisbe.
Nick Bottom- Weaver of Athens. He plays Pyramus in the mechanicals’ play, Pyramus and Thisbe. While
rehearsing in the forest, Puck turns Bottom’s head into an ass head and makes Titania fall in love with him.
Francis Flute- A bellows-mender. Flute reluctantly plays Thisbe in the mechanicals’ play, Pyramus and Thisbe.
Tom Snout- A tinker. Quince casts Snout as Pyramus’ father in the play, Pyramus and Thisbe, but he ends up
playing the wall.
Robin Starveling- A Tailor. Quince casts him as Thisbe’s mother in their play, Pyramus and Thisbe, but he ends up
playing the Moonshine.
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed- Fairy servants of Titania.
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
Midsummer Director's Diary
Today is Friday, June 23rd 2006, and rehearsals for this production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream won't
actually begin for another few weeks. I'm excited about the prospect of directing this production, but also
a little daunted. I find this play challenging, on a number of fronts. It's a play that needs to invoke a kind
of theatrical magic, without really using any, and (to paraphrase Bottom) there are parts of this so-called
comedy that are just not funny. I should explain…
The play begins with a young woman (Hermia) being ordered to give up the man she loves and wed
another, or face the penalty of death, or lifelong abstinence as a nun. Hermia's best friend Helena is pining
away for a man who claims to despise her. From that cheery beginning, we are then transported into a
world of hobgoblins, fairies, and sundry monsters, where a ferocious battle is in progress between the
armies of Titania the Fairy Queen, and Oberon, the King of the Fairies. As a result of their quarrel, the
Earth has suffered (we are told) strange, unseasonal weather, floods, failed harvests, and other depressing
phenomena.
So, why is this a "funny" play? Perhaps it is because, despite all the domestic tragedies and disasters going
on in the court and in Fairy Land, a bunch of enthusiastic actor-types are preparing to put on a show at
Duke Theseus's wedding day (at night)…and they're not very good. We laugh at actors who aren't very
good. Were the play to feature a crew of incompetent sailors, or a group of amateurish accountants, I
doubt it would have survived to this day. Films like Waiting for Guffman show us that, in fact, we love
laughing at actors who aren't very good. In this play, Bottom and his fellow amateur actors are heroes
because they try their best and it doesn't matter that they aren't good. It's the good-natured, doggedly
determined way in which they prepare and perform their play that has continued to charm audiences for
the past 400 years.
I'm a keen advocate of bare-bones, original stage practice productions of Shakespeare, and yet on this
occasion, I confess I'd feel happier if I had a battery of technicians on hand to help transport us to Fairy
Land and back at the touch of a button. A smidgen of dry ice and some nice mood lighting would surely
help matters, wouldn’t it? No, we must create our illusory delights using only the voices and bodies of the
actors as the first troupe who performed this play did. It's going to be tough, I think, but I know the best
course of action is to put my faith in the actors in this company to take you on a fabulous journey of the
imagination, into the land of dreams and nightmares, the land of loves thwarted and restored. However our
production turns out, I sincerely hope that you will be rooting for Bottom and Friends when the time
comes for the “tedious brief scene of young Pyramus/And his love Thisbe.” Very tragical mirth, indeed…
Jaq Bessell, Director
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
DISCOVERY SPACE SCAVENGER HUNT
Discovery Space [di-skuhv-uh-ree speys], n. 1.
The curtained area at the upstage center portion
of an Elizabethan stage where something is
revealed to or discovered by characters or
audiences.
Instructions to Teacher: Shortly before attending the ASC performance of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, assign each student one question from the following list for which to find the
answer as they watch the production.
1. What sort of animal does Puck imitate?
2. What color is the “love-in-idleness” flower?
3. Where are the working class mechanicals at the beginning of the play?
4. What does Hippolyta do when she hears Theseus force Hermia to choose Lysander, a
nunnery, or death?
5. How do the fairies put Titania to sleep?
6. What is Puck doing after the lovers watch the mechanicals’ play?
7. From where does the lion’s head first appear?
8. What does the lunchbox say on it?
9. What color is the hair on the ass head?
10. How many times does the love flower get used?
11. What sound effect accompanies the use of the love flower?
12. What instrument is played onstage during the fairy blessing at the end of the play?
13. How many different fairies are in this production?
14. Which mechanical does not get a “part” (script)?
15. What are the different costume colors of Titania’s fairies?
16. How many animal shapes does Oberon take on throughout the play?
17. What is the greatest number of people sleeping onstage at one time?
18. What does Helena use to wake up Lysander?
19. Which of the four lovers receives love juice twice during the course of the play?
20. What kind of dog does Moonshine bring onstage?
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
RHETORIC AND FIGURES OF SPEECH
Rhetoric [ret-er-ik], n. 1. The art or science of all
specialized literary uses of language in prose or
verse, including the figures of speech. 2. The study
of the effective use of language. 3. The ability to
use language effectively.
Through the use of rhetorical devices (or figures of speech), Shakespeare provides a map to
help an actor figure out how to play a character and communicate the story of the play to the
audience.
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare employs the figure of substitution to
provide character information about the mechanicals, especially Bottom.
Acyrologia (ak-ir-o-lo'-gi-a) A rhetorical device where the speaker incorrectly substitutes one
word for another. Frequently the words sound alike, but differ widely in meaning. The common
term for acyrologia is malapropism. This figure of speech is often used for comic effect or to
comment on the speaker’s intelligence.
The word malapropos means inappropriate. It comes from the French phrase mal à propos, made
up of mal, “badly” and à propos “to the purpose or subject.” In Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play
The Rivals (1775), a character named Mrs. Malaprop consistently uses language inappropriately.
Such misuse is now known as a malaprop or a malapropism. Here are a few examples from Mrs.
Malaprop, herself:
"...she might reprehend the true meaning of what she is saying." (comprehend)
"...promise to forget this fellow - to illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory." (obliterate)
"I have since laid Sir Anthony's preposition before her;" (proposition)
"I am sorry to say, Sir Anthony, that my affluence over my niece is very small." (influence)
Examples from A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Bottom
I have an exposition of sleep come upon me.
Bottom uses “exposition” instead of “disposition”. The use of malapropisms change the meaning
of the sentence in such a way that, not only is the original meaning lost, but a new, often
humorous, meaning is created. In this example, Bottom intended to say that he has a sudden urge
to sleep, but his use of “exposition” means that he has a display or an explanation of sleep come
upon him.
Bottom
Thisbe, the flowers of odious savors sweet –
Quince
‘Odours,’ Odours!
Bottom
-- odours savors sweet.
Had Bottom continued his thought without correction, his line would have read “Thisbe, the
flowers of odious savors sweet | So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisbe” or “Thisbe, your breath
smells like rotting flowers”
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Activity
The following malaprops have been collected from various sources (ranging from cartoon
characters such as Sally from the Peanuts comic strip by C. Shultz to politicians such as George
W. Bush, President of the United States). Fill in what you think the correct (intended) word
might be. A space is left at the end of the list for you to create your malaprop.
1. Much of the government's work is done by civil serpents. ____________________
2. Our wild life and trees are protected by brave and dedicated men. These men live by
themselves in towers and are called Forest Strangers. ________________________
3. "Don't" is a contraption. __________________________
4. We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies
hostile. _________________
5. He was a man of great statue. ______________________
6. I’m writing a story about some cave men. They’re sitting around a campfire, see, when
all of a sudden they’re attacked by a huge thesaurus. ______________________
7. Julius Caesar extinguished himself on the battlefields of Gaul. _____________________
8. We had a longer holiday than usual this year because the school was closed for
altercations. ______________
9. I guess this puts a hamper on our relationship. ____________________
10. This is unparalyzed in the state's history. _________________________
11. They understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.
___________________
12. Create your own malaprop:
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
VIEWPOINTS:
Worlds Collide
A Midsummer Night’s Dream features three distinct worlds coming together in surprising ways.
The first three scenes of the play introduce three very different societies to the audience. The
three different worlds that Shakespeare sets up at the beginning of the play exist separately from
each other, but as the play progresses, these worlds collide with each other with unexpected and
amusing results. The following activity asks you to define the nature of those different worlds,
and consider how they intermingle with each other over the course of the play.
Activity
1) Identify the three distinct societies or worlds in the play and list the qualities of each of
these different worlds. Below is a list of items to consider in developing your
descriptions, but feel free to provide whatever information will help others better
understand your view of each world.
1. What Environment/Architecture/Boundaries define the world?
2. What Colors/Textures/Seasons are symbolic of the world?
3. What is the world’s Speed? How do characters move in this world?
4. What sort of Sounds are people in this world accustomed to?
5. What are the rules in this world?
a. Who makes the rules?
b. What are the consequences for breaking them?
6. How do people celebrate in this world?
7. What are their problems and how much power do they have to change
their circumstances?
2) Using the lists that you have created, collect pictures and photographs that represent each
world and the people in them, creating a collage.
3) Now that you have defined the three different worlds that the characters inhabit, consider
what happens in A Midsummer Night’s Dream when these different worlds begin to
collide with each other.
(a) How do the characters gain or lose the status that they started out with at the
beginning of the play?
(b) When is the first time each world encounters another?
(c) How does the characters’ behavior change as they come into contact with
different worlds from their own?
(d) How do the characters change the new worlds that they enter?
1. Do they cause physical changes to those worlds?
2. Do they affect or change the behavior of the people who live in those
worlds?
(e) At the end of the play, are all worlds returned to their original state? If not, what
does each world retain of its encounter with the other worlds?
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
DR. RALPH’S “SHAKESFEAR” ACTIVITY
(adapted from Ralph Allen Cohen’s book, ShakesFEAR and How to Cure It)
Write to “Dear Abby” as one of the Lovers
Hand out at random to your students the names of the eight lovers in the play (Oberon, Titania,
Theseus, Hippolyta, Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius), and instruct them to write to a
lonely hearts column in the person of the character they drew. Making certain that no one gets
his or her own letter, shuffle the letters that come in, hand them back to your students, and
instruct them to answer the letter as though they were the columnist. Read some of the best to the
class or collect them (the best or all of them) into a book. You may want to discuss the results
with your students, which is fine, but the point of this assignment is to get them involved in the
issues of the characters.
Lysander and Hermia from Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
ABC’S
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
After Oberon has used the magical flower on Titania, he instructs her to, “wake when some ________
thing is near.”
In Pyramus and Thisbe the _________ is played by Snug.
Bottom is a weaver, Flute is a bellows-mender, and Snug is a _________.
Certain lines in the play are in blank verse. A typical line of blank verse contains ________beats. (Answer
in either Roman numerals or a number.)
________ says that Lysander “hath bewitched the bosom of my child.”
________ delivers the final lines in the play.
________ is the queen of the Amazons.
In Act three, scene two when Helena believes that Hermia has joined with Lysander and Demitrius to
make fun of her she says, “Injurious Hermia! most ________ maid!”
In Act three, scene two when Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena have all exited, Hermia says, “I am
________, and know not what to say.”
In their fight, Hermia accuses Helena of calling her _________.
In the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe Bottom as Pyramus says, “Not _________ to Procrus was so
true.”
In the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe Flute as Thisbe describes Pyramus’ “________ cowslip
cheeks.”
In the performance of the mechanicals’ play, Bottom’s first line as Pyramus is “O grim-looked ________. “
Oberon and Titania fight over a little _________ boy.
________ volunteers to play Thisbe in the mechanicals’ production.
Oberon describes seeing Cupid’s arrow hit a flower which the maidens now call “love in _________.”
In Pyramus and Thisbe, Starveling plays the _________.
Oberon Says that he loves Titania _________ times in the play. (Answer in Roman numerals or a number.)
Peter ________ assigns the mechanicals their roles in Pyramus and Thisbe.
Puck’s name is actually Robin ________.
Starveling shares the same first name, ________, with another character in the play.
The fairies sing _________ to sleep with a lullaby.
Thisbe and Pyramus ________ through a chink in the wall.
When Titania has the nectar from a flower put on her eyes for the last time in the play, it is applied by
________.
In Act two, scene one when Titania accuses Oberon of having an affair with Hyppolita, Titania calls her,
“Your buskin'd mistress and your ________ love.”
__________ doesn’t want to play the part of a woman because he is starting to grow his beard.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.
p.
q.
r.
s.
t.
amazed
Bottom
changeling
dwarfish
Egeus
Flute
Goodfellow
Hippolyta
idleness
joiner
kiss
lion
Man in the Moon
night
Oberon
Puck
Quince
Robin
Shafalus
Titania
u.
v.
w.
x.
y.
z.
ungrateful
vile
warrior
X
yellow
zero
In case you were wondering
Some critics claim that Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night’s
Dream after Romeo and Juliet and that the mechanicals’ play
Pyramus and Thisbe intentionally mocks his own romantic play.
In case you were wondering
Cephalus and Procris were famous tragic lovers
from Greek mythology. Both Bottom and Flute
mispronounce the names as “Shafalus and Procrus”.
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
ACTOR’S CHOICE
Anna Marie Sell – Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
On dealing with the rigid verse and rhyming dialogue in the play.
“As the characters' situation gets more frightening, the rigidity of the verse actually illustrates
their entrapment. I also found that the places where Hermia and Helena finish each other’s
couplets really helped to illustrate what close friends the two girls are, so it was nice to feel like
we were sharing the rhythm pattern in those places.”
Anna Marie Sell – Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Describing Hermia’s journey over the course of the play.
“In Midsummer, I'd say Hermia journeys from being an adolescent in an illicit relationship to
(after a nightmarish journey through the forest) a young woman securely married to the man of
her dreams - even though she doesn't ever get her father's blessing, she does get to live much
more ‘happily ever after’ than it seemed possible she could at the start of the play.”
Anna Marie Sell – Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
On the physical challenges the play poses.
“The most challenging thing is the staging. There's a fight scene that has to look real but also be
safe and there are quite a few scenes with a lot of people on the stage all at once - it is a
challenge to help direct the audience's focus to the appropriate place and to stay out of each
other's way.”
Questions
1. Sell describes the strictly rhythmic iambic pentameter verse in A Midsummer Night’s
Dream as illustrating the characters’ entrapment in the forest. Why would this sort of
highly structured language be more useful than unstructured, free flowing language for
communicating the idea of entrapment?
2. Sell describes how the moments where Hermia and Helena complete each other’s
rhyming couplets help to illustrate the characters’ close bond. An example can be found
in Act 1, scene 1:
Hermia. God speed fair Helena! whither away?
Helena. Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
Find two more example of where any two characters share a rhyming couplet. What
purpose does the shared couplet serve in that particular moment in the play?
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
GETTING TECHNICAL
CONSIDER THIS ABOUT COSTUMES IN A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM:
•
How would you describe the differences or similarities between the costumes of the fairies
and the humans? What did the differences in the costumes tell you about these different
societies?
•
Using the following list of questions as a guide, consider (through discussion or writing)
other aspects of costume design in ASC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
o what is reflected by the period and style of clothing?
o what is concealed and/or revealed about the character and the plot?
o what does the weight, feel, flow of the materials communicate (heavy, see-through,
silky)?
o what color palette and intensity of color is used?
o how do you distinguish the characters from one another?
o how do you create relationships between the characters?
o how many costume changes are needed for each character?
o are there any special needs (such as blood, quick changes, etc.)?
•
If you were asked to design your own production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream what kind
of choices would you make about costumes?
CONSIDER THIS ABOUT LIGHTING AND SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS IN A
MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM:
•
How do Oberon and Titania display their magical battle in their first encounter on stage using
only physical action for special effects?
•
Using the following list of questions as a guide, consider (through discussion or writing)
other aspects of lighting and special effects in ASC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
o what time of day needs to be shown in the many scenes?
o what kind of environment/weather conditions?
o what mood needs to be set for the scene or moment (danger, comfort, etc.)?
o what actions are dependent on the light or effect (recognize another, keep warm,
escape, etc.)?
o what special effects are needed (such as: fire, explosions, magic, shadows, ghosts, etc.)?
o in what ways might you take advantage of actors and audience sharing the same light?
•
If you were asked to design your own production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream what kind
of choices would you make about lighting and special effects?
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
CONSIDER THIS ABOUT MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS IN A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S
DREAM:
•
Background sounds accompany the mechanicals’ play. What purpose did the sound effects
serve?
•
Using the following list of questions as a guide, consider (through discussion or writing)
other aspects of music and sound effects in ASC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
o what mood is set by the pre-show and interlude music?
o what music/songs did Shakespeare include in the text of the play?
o what music has been added to set a mood, or clarify or underscore the text?
o what actions are dependent on sounds (knock at door, alarum to battle, etc.)
o what special sound effects are needed (such as: clocks, birds, explosions, etc.)?
o what type, quality, and volume of musical instruments, human voice, or sounds?
o should any music or sounds be left to the imagination?
•
If you were asked to design your own production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream what kind
of choices would you make about music and sound effects?
CONSIDER THIS ABOUT SCENERY, SET PIECES, AND PROPS IN A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM:
•
How did the actors endow magical powers on props such as the flower?
•
Using the following list of questions as a guide, consider (through discussion or writing)
other aspects of scenery, set pieces, and props in ASC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
o what particular period, style, or culture is represented?
o what color and texture of set pieces/props (rustic wood or polished plastic) are used?
o how many different locations are needed?
o how do you coordinate the changing of the set?
o what props are identified with a character (pipe, crown, cane, etc.)?
o what props are especially important to the plot (Macbeth’s head, Desdemona’s
hankie, etc.)?
o what other props are needed (letters read, food eaten, swords, flags, etc.)?
o should any settings or props be left to the imagination?
•
If you were asked to design your own production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream what kind
of choices would you make about scenery, set pieces, and props?
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
QUIZ
1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be classified as all of the following EXCEPT
a. comedy
b.tragedy
c. fantasy
d.romance
2. Theseus wins Hippolyta by
a. wooing her with soft words of poetry and song
b.the “love-in-idleness” potion
c. a Greek contest, a tournament
d.conquering the Amazon with his sword
3. Theseus listens to Egeus’ argument against Hermia marrying Lysander and decides
a. he must follow Greek laws which allow the father to decide his daughter’s fate
b.Hermia must be punished immediately for rebelling against her father’s wishes
c. he will send Hermia to Hippolyta who will advise Hermia to submit without struggle
d.the men will have to joust for Hermia’s hand
4. The play opens with which character suffering from unrequited love?
a. Puck
b.Hippolyta
c. Hermia
d.Helena
5. How do Lysander and Hermia plan to circumvent her father’s wishes (1.11.55-168)?
a. they will leave Athens so her father’s wishes will not apply
b.they will win the Duke’s approval by appealing to Hippolyta for help
c. they will thence invoke the aid of Titania to their adventurous song
d.they will pretend to acquiesce which they believe will win Egeus’ approval
6. Hermia and Lysander plan to meet
a. in Athens center
b.in the forest
c. in Verona
d.in Cyprus
7. Hermia tells Helena of her plan to run off with Lysander because
a. she wants to impress Helena with the fact that she can make men do anything for her
b.she knows Helena will tell Theseus, which will trigger the search she wants
c. Hermia wants to console Helena and to prove that she is not interested in Demetrius
d.she hates Helena and believes that running off with Lysander will cause Helena pain
8. Puck mistakenly puts the “love-in-idleness” juice in the eyes of
a. Theseus
b.Demetrius
c. Egeus
d.Lysander
9. Lysander is awakened from his first night’s sleep in the woods by
a. Hermia
b.Titania
c. Hippolyta
d.Helena
10. Name the King and Queen of the fairies
a. Theseus and Hippolyta
b.Demetrius and Helena
c. Hermia and Lysander
d.Oberon and Titania
11. Another name for Puck is
a. Tom Snout
b.Nick Bottom
c. Francis Flute
12. What does Oberon want that Titania refuses to give him?
a. her attendant, an
b.her magic wand
c. her maid-in-waiting
Indian boy
d.Robin Goodfellow
d.her love
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
13. With whom does Titania fall in love?
a. Snug
b.Puck
c. Bottom
d.Mustardseed
14. What prank does Puck play on Bottom?
a. he transforms him into a bear
b.he causes Bottom to lose his way and fall into a ten year sleep
c. he changes Bottom’s voice into a dog’s bark
d.he changes Bottom’s head into that of an ass
15. To honor the marriage of Thesus and Hippolyta, the Athenian tradesmen put on a play of
a. Philostrate and Arcite, part of Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale”
b.Pyramus and Thisbe, an adaptation from Ovid
c. Alison and the Knights, from Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath’s Tale”
d.Cephalus and Procris, from Greek mythology
16. When Lysander tells Helena he cannot live without her, Helena
a. is pleased that Hermia will know how it feels to lose the man she loves
b.believes Lysander is mocking her by pretending to be infatuated with her
c. realizes that her hard work to attract a man has finally paid off
d.sends him to Hippolyta who has real need of rescue
17. All of the following occurs in the woods EXCEPT
a. the tradesmen rehearse their play
b.Lysander and Hermia flee from Athens
c. Oberon and Titania fight
d.the aunt rescues Lysander
18. Titania refuses to give up the Indian boy to Oberon because
a. Titania is afraid Oberon will be abusive
b.the boy is the son of her good and faithful servant
c. she realizes that the boy will then be under Puck’s bad influence
d.she intends to give the child as a wedding gift to Theseus and Hippolyta
19. Which tradesman wants to play ALL of the parts when he hears each one described?
a. Peter Quince
b.Nick Bottom
c. Francis Flute
d.Tom Snout
20. How many marriages take place before the tradesmen present their play?
a. four
b.two
c. three
d.one
Essay
1. Elizabethans held the superstition that on a midsummer’s night, dreamers dreamed of the ones they were
fated to love. Do you think that the events of the play proved or disproved the superstition of fate? Do you
think fate plays a role in contemporary love? Give an example of how the midsummer experience
weakened the lovers’ relationships. Give an example of how the midsummer experience strengthened the
lovers’ relationships.
26