Download A Midsummer Night`s Dream Teachers` Notes

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream teachers`
notes
Prepared by
Laura Schwenke in consultation with Dr Darryl Chalk, Scott Alderdice and
Ari Palani
Contents
1
2
3.
4
Renaissance Theatre
5
1.1
Renaissance
5
1.2
Before theatre
5
1.3
Elizabethan theatre
5
The life and work of William Shakespeare
7
2.1
William Shakespeare
7
2.2
Shakespeare’s culture
7
2.3
Shakespeare’s career
7
Character profiles
9
3.1.
Cupid
9
3.2.
The Burning Arrow
9
3.3.
Theseus
9
3.4.
Egeus
9
3.5.
Hermia
9
3.6.
Demetrius
9
3.7.
Lysander
9
3.8.
Helena
9
3.9.
Peter Quince
10
3.10.
Nick Bottom
10
3.11.
Francis Flute
10
3.12.
Robin Starveling
10
3.13.
Tom Snout
10
3.14.
Snug
10
3.15.
Puck
10
3.16.
Oberon
10
3.17.
Titania
11
3.18.
Hippolyta
11
3.19.
Philostrate
11
3.20.
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustardseed
11
Scene Breakdown
4.1
Act I
4.1.1
12
12
Scene 1 – Athens. The palace of THESEUS.
12
4.1.2
4.2
Act II
12
4.2.2
Scene 2
12
4.2.3
Scene 3
12
4.2.4
Scene 4 - Another part of the wood.
12
Act III
Scene 1 - The wood. TITANIA lying asleep.
13
4.3.2
Scene 2 - Another part of the wood.
13
4.3.3
Scene 3 - A wood near Athens.
13
Act IV
13
4.4.1
Scene 1 - The wood. Lovers lying asleep.
13
4.4.2
Scene 2 - Athens. A room in QUINCE’S house.
13
Act V
4.5.1
8
13
4.3.1
4.5
7
12
Scene 1 - A wood near Athens.
4.4
6
12
4.2.1
4.3
5
Scene 2 - Athens. A room in QUINCE’S house.
14
Scene 1 - Athens. An apartment in the palace of THESEUS.
Discussion of key themes
14
15
5.1
Elizabethan Weddings
15
5.2
Midsummer’s eve
15
5.3
Gender
16
5.4
Eyes
17
5.5
Reverie
17
5.6
Relationships
18
5.7
Cupid’s arrow and its magic
19
5.8
Fairytale
19
Performance elements of USQ’s adaption
19
6.1
Directions
19
6.2
Musical numbers
20
6.3
Dancing
20
Design elements
21
7.1
Tree of wedding dresses
21
7.2
Beds
21
7.3
Costumes
21
Workshop ideas for students
8.1
Pyramus and Thisbe
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22
3
8.1.1
Purpose
22
8.1.2
Warm-up
22
8.1.3
Anticipatory set
22
8.1.4
Responding to stimulus
22
8.1.5
Transforming stimuli
22
8.1.6
Reflection
22
8.2
23
8.2.1
Purpose
23
8.2.2
Warm-up
23
8.2.3
Anticipatory set
23
8.2.4
Responding to stimulus
23
8.2.5
Transforming stimuli
23
8.2.6
Reflection
23
8.3
9
Lovers at war
Responding and performing
24
8.3.1
Purpose
24
8.3.2
Warm-up
24
8.3.3
Responding to stimulus
24
8.3.4
Transforming stimuli
24
8.3.5
Reflection
24
Further references
25
9.1
Renaissance theatre
25
9.2
The life and work of William Shakespeare
25
9.3
Discussion of key themes
25
9.3.1
Elizabethan weddings
25
9.3.2
Midsummer’s Eve
25
9.3.3
Gender
25
9.3.4
Reverie
25
9.3.5
Eyes
25
9.3.6
A book on the Folk-lore of Shakespeare
25
9.4
Performance elements of USQ’s adaptation
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4
1 Renaissance Theatre
To understand A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the meaning behind the play, you must first
understand the context in which it was written and performed. An understanding of the period and the
theatre during this time will help you to sense how the production would have looked to a playgoer of
Shakespeare’s London. Every aspect of life during the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
was transformed by the extraordinary cultural revolution we now call the European Renaissance.
1.1 Renaissance
The term Renaissance, derived from the French equivalent of the Italian word rinascita, meaning
‘rebirth’. The word has generally been employed to refer to the rediscovery of classical Greek and
Roman art and culture across Europe. This was also a great age of theatrical and dramatic
achievement. The theatre underwent profound changes from the reign of Elizabeth I and her
successors James I and Charles I, yet at the same time it endured the intense social and cultural
upheavals of the period with remarkable consistency. Theatre during the last quarter of the 16th
century was not a socially exclusive affair- on the contrary, it was almost startlingly popular. Over
the years between the 1560s, when the first purpose-built playhouses were established, and 1642,
when all the playhouses were closed, well over fifty million visits were made to playhouses.
1.2
Before theatre
Before the 1500s there was no such thing as a theatre in England. There were wandering minstrels
who travelled from one town and castle to the next, some street players who entertained people at
markets and fairs. The troubadours, strolling players and minstrels were expected to memorize long
poems and these recitals were included in their repertoire. Many of these wandering minstrels, or
strolling players, were viewed as vagabonds and had the reputation as thieves. The spread and
frequent outbreaks of the bubonic plague, or Black Death during the Elizabethan era resulted in
regulations restricting all people who travelled around the country and licenses were required to
travel. This led to licenses for entertainers. Licenses were granted to the nobles of England for the
maintenance of troupes of players. The Elizabethan Acting Troupes were formed.
1.3
Elizabethan theatre
The Elizabethan Theatre started in the cobbled courtyards of Inns, or taverns - they were therefore
called Inn-yards. As many as 500 people would attend play performances during this time. There
was clearly some considerable profit to be made in theatrical productions. James Burbage was an
actor, who at one time would have played in the Inn-yards. It was his idea to construct the first
purpose-built Elizabethan theatre. It was called 'The Theatre'. Development of the Elizabethan
Theatre was based on the style of the old Greek and Roman open-air amphitheatres. The
Elizabethan Theatre had arrived.
A trip to the theatre was exciting and full of action, such as duels, battles, dances and apparitions,
but basically the plays made their impact through expressive language. Boy players performed
female roles. Women did not act in English playhouse companies until after the monarchy was
restored in 1660. Young male actors were apprenticed to members of the company, playing female
roles until their voices broke and physical growth made them no longer credible women. Disguise
was a common feature of a dramatic plot. In cross-dressing comedies such as Twelfth Night for
example, men playing female characters disguised themselves as males, and highly complex layers
of role-playing and roles within roles were created. Costumes were usually sumptuous and were
purchased by the companies from the estates of deceased nobility. They were among the most
valuable asset to the playhouse companies, who sometimes paid many times more for a single
costume than for a manuscript.
If all the world was a stage in the English Renaissance, it follows that the stage may be the world.
Surely this is was so at the Globe Playhouse, where a round building representing the world
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contained a stage in which a trapdoor represented hell while the actors spoke their lines in earthly
settings beneath a roof painted to look like the heavens. (Kinney 2000, p2)
Elizabethan theatres were built of wood and comprised of three tiers of seats in a circular shape with
a stage area on one side of the circle. The stage was more or less an open platform, jutting out into
the audience, with no curtains and no elaborate sets. The audience's seats and part of the stage
were roofed, but much of the main stage and area in front of the stage were open to the elements.
The stage was divided into three levels – a main stage area with doors and curtains, an upper
canopied area, and an area under the stage accessed by trapdoor. Performances took place
between two and five in the afternoon, using natural light from the open centre of the theatre. There
was very little scenery or props, leaving actors to rely on their lines and stage direction to convey the
time of day and year, the weather, location and mood of the scenes. The actors used a
presentational rather than representational style of performance - which means that the actors
would address the audience directly.
Apart from special command performances, plays were staged for the most part in the open air,
except during the winter when they moved indoors. The audience, several hundred strong, or even
over a thousand, would be closely crammed in the central pit or in galleries running round the sides.
The resulting stench would be appalling. Theatre had an unsavoury reputation. London authorities
refused to allow plays within the city, so theatres opened across the Thames in Southwark, outside
the authority of the city administration.
Davenant’s prologue for The Unfortunate Lovers (1638), a Blackfriars play, speaks of the citizenry in
the twopenny galleries at the amphitheatre playhouses of the previous generation:
…they…to th’ Theatre would come
Ere they had din’d to take up the best room;
Then sit on benches, not adorn’d with mats,
And graciously did vail their high crowned hats
To every half-dress’d Player, as he still
Through th’hangings peep’d to see how th’ house did fill.
Good easy judging souls, with what delight
They would expect a jig, or target fight. (Gurr 1987, p42)
The professional theatre (a relatively new establishment for England), necessarily reflected the
political and social strains of the time. The location of theatre buildings, the structure and
organisation of theatre companies, and the entire scene of theatrical activity in Renaissance London
epitomised the fundamental tensions of English society as it moved from the medieval to the
modern world.
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2 The life and work of William Shakespeare
2.1 William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare lived according to his own text: A man of many parts, and a man for all the
world. Each generation in turn since his death seems to have found some new, distinct quality in his
plays that meets its concerns or catches its preoccupations. So who was this sublime genius? Where
did this universal talent have its origins? As far as family and place are concerned, the answers are
quite ordinary: William Shakespeare was born of modest origins in an inconspicuous Midlands market
town. He was born on 23 April 1564, in a small English town; Stratford-upon-Avon. He married Anne
Hathaway at the age of eighteen, but left his wife and children in Stratford when he moved to London
in the late 1580s, possibly joining one of the theatre companies that had passed through his home
town.
It can be seen through his successful legacy that Shakespeare’s knowledge and practical experience
was extraordinarily rich and revealing, especially in comparison to other playwrights of the period,
such as Christopher Marlowe or John Webster. Shakespeare produced most of his known work
between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the
peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until
about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth; each considered some of the finest
works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances,
and collaborated with other playwrights.
2.2 Shakespeare’s culture
Shakespeare’s culture is engrained in his work. While the literary and artistic achievements of the
Renaissance have meant that the period has often been termed the ‘Golden Age’, the economic and
social conditions of the period were far from ideal. War, disease, famine, and high unemployment
made life arduous and fragile at best. Shakespeare was heavily influenced by the conditions of his
time and his plays address some of the deeper anxieties of his day. As theatrical scholar Arthur
Kinney (2000) notes; No performance was simply make believe; and no performance was innocent of
truth. English drama of the Renaissance gives us our most immediate and accurate portrayal of the
period which gave it birth.
The alternation of single lines, called stichomythia, is a scheme Shakespeare borrowed from the
Roman playwright Seneca and used in different ways in many of his plays. Stephen Greenblatt says
that; The rhetorical devices, along with the subtle modulations from blank verse to rhymed couplets to
boisterous comic prose, are so deftly handled that their pleasures are accessible to the learned and
unlearned alike. This breadth also reflects the very wide range of cultural materials that Shakespeare
has cunningly woven together, from the classical heritage of the educated elite to popular ballads and
folk customs, from refined and sophisticated entertainments to the corner delights of farce.
2.3 Shakespeare’s career
As part of The Lord Chamberlain's company of players including actors Richard Burbage and
William Kemp, Shakespeare performed for Queen Elizabeth in 1594. The sons of James Burbage
built the Globe theatre five years later which became the home and wealth of this same company.
William's career peaked in 1603 when King James employed the players and the company was
renamed the King's Men. By 1611 he returned to his family in Stratford completing the last of his
plays The Tempest and Henry VIII. On 25 April 1616, William Shakespeare was buried aged fiftytwo with a lasting inscription on his stone:
Good friend for Jesus sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here!
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
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In 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, fellow actors John Heminge and Henry Condell
published the First Folio containing the works of this extraordinary writer.
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3. Character profiles
3.1.Cupid
A mythic demi-god - not seen by other characters, but he is capable of making people fall in love.
3.2. The Burning Arrow
Cupid’s ‘messenger of love’ - since she regularly pierces hearts, she knows what people are truly
feeling.
3.3. Theseus
A heroic Duke of Athens, engaged to Hippolyta who represents power and order.
Theseus is a hero from Greek mythology; at one point referring to himself as Hercules’ cousin. His
presence signals to the reader that the play has links to the mythical Greek past. At the beginning of
the play, Theseus has recently returned from conquering the Amazons, a race of warrior women,
and is about to marry the conquered Amazonian queen, Hippolyta. Because of this impending
wedding, the mood of the play is one of holiday festivity. Theseus himself projects confidence,
authority, and benevolent power.
3.4. Egeus
Father of Hermia and a vigorous defender of the patriarchy.
A respected nobleman in Theseus’ court, Egeus complains to Theseus that his daughter, Hermia,
refuses to marry Demetrius, Egeus’ choice for her. Egeus’ desire to control his daughter is quite
severe as he asks Theseus to impose the death penalty on her if she refuses to marry Demetrius.
3.5.Hermia
Daughter of Egeus, Hermia is a beautiful young woman of Athens, and both Demetrius and
Lysander are in love with her. Hermia defies her father’s wish that she marry Demetrius because
she is in love with Lysander. She is unusually strong-willed and independent, refusing to comply
even when Theseus orders her to obey her father. Her resolution is to flee and elope with Lysander.
Hermia is also the childhood friend of Helena.
3.6.Demetrius
A young Athenian nobleman, in love with Hermia and supported by Egeus. In the past, Demetrius
acted as if he loved Helena, but after Helena fell in love with him, he changed his mind and pursued
Hermia. Emboldened by Egeus’s approval of him, Demetrius is undeterred by the fact that Hermia
does not want him.
3.7.Lysander
A young Athenian man in love with Hermia and rejected by Egeus. Although Hermia’s father refuses
to let her marry Lysander, Lysander believes that love must conquer all obstacles, so he persuades
Hermia to run away from her home and family with him, into the forest.
3.8.Helena
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A young Athenian woman, lovesick for Demetrius. Helena has been rejected and abandoned by
Demetrius, who had claimed to love her before he met her best friend, Hermia. Consequently,
Helena tends to speak in a self-pitying tone. Moreover, she puts herself in dangerous and
humiliating situations, running through the forest at night after Demetrius even though Demetrius
wants nothing to do with her.
3.9.Peter Quince
A carpenter and the nominal leader of the craftsmen’s play. Quince is often shoved aside by the
abundantly confident Bottom. During the craftsmen’s play, Quince plays the Prologue.
3.10.
Nick Bottom
A weaver and an overconfident and incompetent actor who has been chosen to play Pyramus in a
play that a group of craftsmen have decided to put on for Theseus’s wedding celebration. Bottom is
full of advice and self-confidence but frequently makes silly mistakes and misuses language. His
simultaneous nonchalance about the beautiful Titania’s sudden love for him and unawareness of the
fact that Puck has transformed his head into that of an ass mark the pinnacle of his foolish
arrogance.
3.11.
Francis Flute
A bellows-mender with gender dysphoria. A young modern woman who doesn’t want to play a
traditional romantic heroine role.
3.12.
Robin Starveling
A tailor - neurotic and misunderstood - who ends up playing the part of Moonshine in the
craftsmens' play.
3.13.
Tom Snout
A tinker who is too cool to be interested and ends up playing the part of Wall, dividing the two lovers.
3.14.
Snug
The shy and slow joiner chosen to play the lion in the craftsmens' play, Snug worries that his roaring
will frighten the ladies in the audience.
3.15.
Puck
Oberon’s jester, a mischievous shape-shifting sprite. Often referred to as Robin Goodfellow, Puck
delights in playing pranks on mortals. His antics are responsible for many of the complications that
propel the play. At Oberon’s bidding, Puck sprinkles 'love juice' in the eyes of various characters to
change who they love, but he makes mistakes in his application that create conflicts Oberon never
intended. Though Puck claims to make these mistakes honestly, he enjoys the conflict and mayhem
that his mistakes cause.
3.16.
Oberon
The powerful and brooding King of the fairies. Oberon begins the play at odds with his wife, Titania,
because she refuses to relinquish control of a young Indian prince whom she has kidnapped, but
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whom Oberon wants for a knight. Oberon’s desire for revenge on Titania leads him to send Puck to
obtain the love-potion flower that creates so much of the play’s confusion and farce.
3.17.
Titania
The beautiful and passionate Queen of the fairies. Titania resists the attempts of her husband,
Oberon, to make a knight of the young Indian prince whom she has taken. Until Oberon gives up his
demand, Titania has sworn to avoid his company and his bed. She is less upset by the fact that she
and Oberon are apart than by the fact that Oberon has been disrupting her and her followers' magic
fairy dances.
3.18.
Hippolyta
The legendary Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus. Although Hippolyta is marrying
Theseus because he defeated her in combat, she does not act at all like an unwilling bride. Theseus
is very courtly in his manner toward Hippolyta, and she is unfailingly deferential toward him.
3.19.
Philostrate
Theseus’ Master of the Revels.
3.20.
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustardseed
Attendant fairies to Titania.
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4 Scene Breakdown
4.1
Act I
4.1.1 Scene 1 – Athens. The palace of THESEUS.
During the public celebrations of Duke Theseus upcoming marriage to the Amazonian warrior,
Hippolyta, a rich merchant named Egeus interrupts the ceremony to make a formal complaint
against his daughter, Hermia, and her two young suitors, Demetrius and Lysander. The furious
Egeus demands Hermia give up her love with Lysander and marry his preferred choice, Demetrius.
Under threat of death, Hermia agrees to elope with Lysander. They plan to flee through the woods
the following night. In a spiral of events, Hermia’s best friend Helena, in an effort to win the heart of
Demetrius, decides to tell Demetrius of their elopement and all four lovers end up fleeing into the
woods.
4.1.2 Scene 2 - Athens. A room in QUINCE’S house.
The Mechanicals amateur dramatic group, led by Peter Quince, with Snug, Flute, Snout, Starveling
and the indomitable Bottom, meet at Quince’s house to plan a special performance for Theseus’
wedding day. In order to guarantee their privacy the group decides to rehearse in the wood the
following night.
4.2
Act II
4.2.1 Scene 1 - A wood near Athens.
In the forest, two fairies, Puck (Oberon’s servant) and Peasblossom (Titania’s servant), meet by
chance in a glade. Puck warns Peasblossom to keep Titania out of Oberon’s sight, for the King and
Queen of Faerie are locked in a mighty battle of wills. The King and Queen are at war over who has
the right to bring up a changeling boy stolen from a human King. When King Oberon and Queen
Titania enter, they explode into an argument over the boy. Having warned Oberon that their
continued battle is destroying the natural world, Titania storms off at his intransigence. Oberon vows
to take revenge on her before the night is out. He sends Puck to seek a white-and-purple flower
called love-in-idleness, which was once hit with one of Cupid’s wayward arrows. He says that the
flower’s juice, if rubbed on a sleeper’s eyelids, will cause the sleeper to fall in love with the first living
thing that, upon waking, he or she sees.
4.2.2 Scene 2
Oberon is interrupted by the arrival of Helena and Demetrius in the wood. Though he protests he no
longer loves her, Demetrius cannot persuade Helena to give up her impassioned pursuit of him.
Puck returns with the flower and Oberon gives Puck a small sprig with the instructions that he find
Demetrius and drop the juice of the flower in Demetrius’ eyes so that he will fall in love with Helena.
As Puck goes in search of Demetrius, Oberon goes off to find Titania.
4.2.3 Scene 3
At Titania’s bower, the fairies sing her to sleep and invocate a spell of protection around her. But
Oberon breaks through her guard and drops the love potion in Titania’s sleeping eyes.
4.2.4 Scene 4 - Another part of the wood.
Halfway through the journey in the forest, Lysander and Hermia lose their way and decide to sleep
and wait for the coming day. Puck arrives on his search for ‘an Athenian youth’ and mistakes
Lysander for Demetrius. He places the love juice in Lysander’s eyes. As Puck leaves, Helena and
Demetrius run in. Demetrius escapes Helena and leaves her in the wood, where she discovers the
sleeping Lysander. When she wakes him, Lysander, under the influence of the ‘love-in-idleness’
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flower, immediately falls desperately in love with her and pursues her into the woods. Hermia wakes
from a nightmare to discover Lysander has disappeared. She wanders off into the forest alone.
4.3
Act III
4.3.1 Scene 1 - The wood. TITANIA lying asleep.
The Mechanicals, led by Peter Quince, set up their rehearsal just near to where Titania lies asleep.
After fixing up some problems with their play, Bottom goes into the bushes to await his next cue.
Puck arrives and decides to play a trick on the humans. He transforms Bottom into an ass (a sexual
monster), and when Bottom reappears his frightened friends flee. Bottom is left alone in the forest,
unaware that he has been transformed, he begins to sing a song to cheer himself up. The song
awakens Titania and she immediately falls in love with him. Titania summons her fairies and they
capture Bottom and take him to Titania’s bower.
4.3.2 Scene 2 - Another part of the wood.
Oberon discovers Puck’s mistake with the lovers and sends him to remedy it. To fix Puck’s mistake,
Oberon streaks Demetrius’ eyes with the ‘love-in-idleness’ flower. In moments, Helena and
Lysander arrive, and when Demetrius is woken by the noise, he soon joins Lysander in declaring his
love for Helena. Helena believes that they are both mocking her and refuses to believe that either
one loves her. Hermia appears and in the confusion, Helena now believes all three are in a plot to
mock her. As the men run off to duel for Helena, Hermia turns on Helena and their friendship is
broken.
4.3.3 Scene 3 - A wood near Athens.
Oberon instructs Puck to bring a storm to the forest and to gather the four lovers together. He then
has Puck put an antidote potion in Lysander’s eyes so that he will return to his love for Hermia.
4.4
Act IV
4.4.1 Scene 1 - The wood. Lovers lying asleep.
Having won the human boy from Titania’s care, Oberon removes the potion from Titania’s eyes.
Though Titania suspects what Oberon has done, the Faerie King and Queen are reunited, and they
fly off together into the forest. As dawn breaks, Theseus and Egeus are startled to find the Athenian
youths sleeping in the glade. They wake them and demand their story, which the youths are only
partly able to recall—to them, the previous night seems as insubstantial as a dream. All that is clear
to them is that Demetrius and Helena love each other, as do Lysander and Hermia. Theseus
announces the two couples will be wed at the same ceremony as he and Hippolyta. As they depart
the forest Bottom emerges, believing he has fallen asleep and that his friends have abandoned him
in the forest. He sets off for Quince’s house.
4.4.2 Scene 2 - Athens. A room in QUINCE’S house.
Back at Quince’s house, the craftsmen lament the loss of Bottom and with him, their chance at
performing at Theseus’ wedding. Suddenly, Bottom arrives and brings with him news that their play
has been short-listed for performance at the wedding. Overjoyed, they all rush off to the Palace.
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4.5
Act V
4.5.1
Scene 1 - Athens. An apartment in the palace of THESEUS.
Theseus and Hippolyta and the four newlywed young lovers are at their reception. A list of plays are
presented for their entertainment and Theseus chooses the Mechanicals production of ‘Pyramus
and Thisbe’. The Mechanicals perform their play. Once all have retreated to their bedchambers for
the night, Oberon, Titania and Puck return to the palace. Oberon and Titania enter and bless the
palace and its occupants, so that the lovers will always be true to one another, their children will be
healthy, and no harm will ever visit Theseus and Hippolyta. Oberon and Titania take their leave, and
Puck makes a final address to the audience.
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5 Discussion of key themes
5.1
Elizabethan Weddings
Elizabethan weddings were lavish affairs, with feasting, music and dancing. Many of the customs
that have become routinely practiced in today's weddings actually derived from Elizabethan times.
Exchanging vows and rings, the wedding cake, the garter, the bridal party procession,
entertainment, dancing, party favours for guests and the bride wearing and carrying bouquets
decorated with love knots, all have origins in that period of history.
The major difference with Elizabethan wedding customs to a modern day Western marriage is that
the woman had very little, if any, choice in who her husband might be. Elizabethan women were
subservient to men and were dependent on their male relatives to support them. Elizabethan
women were raised to believe that they were inferior to men and that men knew better.
Disobedience was seen as a crime against their religion. Marriages were frequently arranged so that
both families involved would benefit. Marriages would be arranged to bring prestige or wealth to the
family - a surprising fact is that young men were treated in a similar way as women! Many couples
would meet for the very first time on their wedding day. Regardless of their social standing women
and men were expected to marry. A lot of single women were thought to be witches by their
neighbours.
Elizabethan weddings, on balance, were more of a business arrangement based on a prosaic view
of strengthening social position rather than marrying for the modern view of being in love. Parents
would often marry off their children to increase farm size. Elizabethan women were expected to
bring a dowry of money, goods and property to the marriage. The dowry was also referred to as her
marriage portion. After marriage Elizabethan women were expected to run the households and
provide children. The law gave a husband full rights over his wife and she effectively became his
property. It was common in the 16th century for a father to be the supreme head of the family and
would lay down the law to his submissive wife, and their brood of children.
The Elizabethan weddings were huge festive celebrations and most of the town would attend.
Bridesmaids helped the bride get ready at her house. The procession was noisy and usually
incorporated musicians. The Bridal procession all stood through the service and anyone could
attend the wedding if space was available. The special feast had to be carefully planned and
elaborate dishes would be presented to the guests. One of the most important customs was for the
groom to remove the bride’s garter. This would symbolise the bride giving up her chastity to the
groom and furthermore becoming his property.
During this period, there was a major focus on love being consummated inside marriage. The final
ritual blessing of the bride beds can be seen as the culmination of the elaborate festivities, including
song, music, dancing, and plays that often accompanied the upper-class Elizabethan marriages. If
Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream specifically to be played at a wedding ceremony, it
would have been as in a hall of mirrors. The real life newlyweds whiling away the hours before
bedtime by watching a play, in which they would see other newlyweds whiling away the hours
before bedtime with a play.
5.2
Midsummer’s eve
The title of the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, comes from the concept of midsummer madness.
According to well-known Shakespeare professor Marjorie Garber (2005), it originates from folk
culture in England (also in Ireland, Sweden and other parts of medieval Europe) that on
midsummer’s eve, madness, enchantment and witchcraft would invade and transform the world.
Summer solstice or midsummer's eve is the longest day of the year and the shortest night. The
exact date and time of the summer solstice varies every year, occurring on or about 21 June when
the sun enters zero degrees Cancer. This year the solstice occurred on 21 June at 12.45am EST.
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The idea of midsummer’s eve is an old one; dating back to Agrarian festivals held when spring
plowing and planting were over, and harvesting was a long way off. The holiday is primarily symbolic
of new beginnings. During this period people were also keen to escape to the countryside because
the plague was more prominent in the warmer seasons. The holiday was usually celebrated with
summer games such as sports, performances, drinking and dancing. Witches, fairies and
mischievous sprites were thought to play pranks on livestock and human beings.
This was one of the best times of the year to collect a variety of magical paraphernalia. The June full
moon is called the Honey Moon because this is one of the most appropriate times to collect the
bees' honey. June is named for Juno, goddess of weddings (among other things). The Honey Moon
was typically the time for newlyweds to celebrate and drink mead as an aphrodisiac. Mead is
brewed from the collected honey at this time (about ten days before the solstice) and drunk during
the celebration.
5.3
Gender
Gender-play figures large in Shakespeare. This is perhaps unsurprising given the ban on actresses
on the Elizabethan stage: the inversion of traditional male and female roles was almost a given
within the notoriously racy confines of the playhouse. It is critical to understand that an audience of
the English Renaissance were used to going to the theatre and seeing an all-male cast. Stephen
Orgel (1996) explains that The appearance of women on stage was forbidden because it was felt
that it would compromise their modesty. There are suggestions of Shakespeare’s actors throughout
his plays performing their roles both realistically and extremely (drag), usually to investigate an idea
or better portray a character. While gender within A Midsummer Nights Dream was written to
encompass the culture of Renaissance England, the director of this year’s production has adjusted
gender to make it pertinent to our current society.
This years production only uses four male actor and one of the characters is openly gay (Bottom).
While there is no evidence to suggest that that a Renaissance audience would have read Bottom as
gay, or in fact any of the gender roles that this years production explores, this represents the shifting
of gender throughout the periods since this play was first performed. In the past Francis Flute has
been a male character who is forced to play a female role within the craftsman’s play. For this
production, Francis will be a female who doesn’t want to play the traditional romantic heroine role.
The notion of gender throughout the play takes the characters on a journey to search for their
personal identity. The lesson is that before making relationships work with others they must first
understand and accept themselves.
Throughout the play, male characters struggle to understand the true nature of women. Titania, the
Fairy Queen represents the iconic role model of qualities for women of the Elizabethan era.
Therefore are you really surprised that Titania in this production holds some strong resemblances to
Lady Gaga. Puck focuses on the uniqueness of women throughout the play, not being able to
measure nor understand. It is also interesting to note that all of the women are mocked during the
play for their true nature. This leads us back to Shakespeare’s investigation of the power struggle
between the sexes.
Desires in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are intense, irrational and alarmingly mobile. This mobility,
the speed with which desire can be detached from one object and attached to another, does not
diminish the exigency of the passion. During a frantic forest scene, the two male lovers, Demetrius
and Lysander, kiss because they both think they are kissing girls. Under a spell the eyes perception
changes and the sex of the characters is no longer as relevant. The lovers are convinced that at
every moment that their choices are irrefutably rational and irresistibly compelling. However there is
no security in these choices and the play is repeatedly haunted by a fear of abandonment.
The fairies seem to embody the principle of we might call polytropic desire: that is, desire that can
instantaneously fix itself on any object, including an ass-headed man, and that can with equal
instantaneousness swerve away from that object and on to another.
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5.4
Eyes
Perception played a huge role in the England during the Renaissance and therefore its frequent use
throughout the play is of critical importance. The word eye is used 66 times during the play by
various characters; that’s about once every two minutes. When the word is used it can have various
meanings (several not appropriate to be discussed in class).
People of Renaissance England had little idea of anatomy but believed that the spatially imagined
body was perhaps the most common vehicle for the making of social and cosmic metaphors in early
modern England. During the sixteenth century, the practice of ocular anatomy further intensified the
traditional conflict between the eye’s material nature and its status as a metaphor:
An eye therefore is a member, round, whole and hard, as the ball of a foote, or as the scowred new
bason full of cleare water, set in the well of the head to minister light to the whole body, by the
influence of the visible spirits, sent from the fantasicall cell by a sinew that is called Nervus opticu,
with the helpe of a greater light ministered from without
It 'ministers' external light to the body, hinting at the eyes traditional role as a privileged servant of
the soul. The metaphor affirms the eye’s distinct status, mediating between world and spirit, flesh
and soul. In these terms the eye is more subject than object.
In Galenic theory, the eye is both sovereign and implicitly male. It engenders the visible world by its
projection of spiritual substance, the “pneuma” that flows out through the hollow optic nerve, exciting
the surrounding air and translating it into the receptive body. Just as the eye could receive it was
also believed that the eye could platonically release into the atmosphere. This is why people of the
Renaissance period would not look anyone in the eye with a serious disease such as they plague;
they believed that it could be transferred from the victims eyes into there own. Relating this back to
A Midsummer Nights Dream, it is because of this notion of contagion that the love potion is put into
the sleeping characters eyes. This was the most direct way to infect someone.
During the play you will notice that the fairies have their eyes covered by masks, this changes our
perception while in this fairytale world. The fairy’s perception is easily changeable and it also
represents that they creatures are looking at the world through a magical state. All of the fairies are
also anonymous and by masking them it draws parallels to mask carnival; a popular festivity of this
period.
5.5
Reverie
To current society the word reverie means day dream, but in Shakespeare’s time the word had a lot
more meanings and related connotations. As the self-conscious title suggests, the piece of theatre
the audience came to view is in essence a dream. Shakespeare takes his characters and ultimately
the audience into a dream state to explore what is not possible in reality. Change occurs when the
characters make a geographical shift in the wood; perhaps the most appropriate place for a dream
scope.
A favourite device for playwrights wanting to spin enchanting yarns was to fall asleep and dream his
whole story- a device borrowed, of course, from French and Italian predecessors. It is interesting to
see a young Shakespeare, in his turn, take up the same device…but with strange and beautiful
complexities. Rather than dreaming himself, the explorative Shakespeare puts a new spin on the
old-time dream-device, by lulling both his dramatis personae and audience, making them dream
dreams and see visions.
Stephen Greenblatt in his introduction to A Midsummer Night’s Dream suggests that the nature of a
dream is closely linked to that of the theatre itself. This opens up the possibility of a metatheatrical
play; a dream within a dream or a theatre within a theatre. Puck suggests as much when he
proposes in the Epilogue that the audience imagine that they had all along been slumbering: the
play they have seen has been a collective hallucination. This turns the play into a dream about
watching a play about dreams. In this year’s production of the play, the director has worked hard to
lull the audience into a dream state.
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It is evident that throughout the dream, there is a convincing lifelikeness that is readily accepted in
dreams, wherein the unexpected and impossible befall without a jar in the very midst of the logical
and credible of what seems to be ordinary living and thinking. Those in the grip of a powerful
imagination may be loosed from the moorings of reason and nature, and they may inhabit a world of
wish fulfilment and its converse, nightmare. When Hippolita is describing the events of the lovers to
Theseus she observes that their minds, have been transfigured together, and this shared
transfiguration bears witness to something of great constancy … But howsever, stange and
admirable. This theme of reverie sets up the whole structure for the play.
For his prologue and epilogue, Shakespeare introduces people and events that may be accepted as
real. The play starts in a world of apparent order and reality with seeds of disorder at the heart of the
situation. This world provides the outer framework of the play; and here time seems to go slowly.
Then he does a good job of lulling the audience into a fantasy world; an interior world of
transformation in which things become further distorted (costumes, masks, disguises, acquiring assheads, play unaccustomed roles, higher or lower on the social scale). They are free to show their
true identities through this fictional world; free of objective consciousness. Similarly to a dream; the
fairy world is of instantaneous time in which Puck can circumnavigate the world in less than an hour;
I’ll put a girdle around the earth … in 40 minutes.
Finally we are woken to the exterior world again- the world of so-called reality. Armed with new
knowledge and better prepared to rejoin the ongoing world of social action.
The word wood derives from the old English word wod meaning ‘mad’ or ‘lunatic’. In A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, the device of reverie or dream was brought about by the escape from the court or
city to the 'green world’ of the forest. Throughout the play the wood functions as a mirror as well as
a lens, reflecting true characteristics or feelings of characters from the exterior (real) world. For
example, Bottom is transformed into an ass, even though he can’t see it. The lovers are another
great example as they play out their true romantic destinies.
At the end of the play, Puck extends the idea of dreams to the audience members themselves,
saying that, if they have been offended by the play, they should remember it as nothing more than a
dream. This sense of illusion and gauzy fragility is crucial to the atmosphere of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, as it helps render the play a fantastical experience rather than a heavy drama.
5.6
Relationships
A Midsummer Nights Dream is a play about a war between sexes. The course of true love never did
run smooth, comments Lysander, articulating one of the play’s most important themes (Act I, Scene
i). This can be seen in the relationships between Oberon and Titania as well as Theseus and
Hippolita (these parts are often doubled in modern productions). It represents a clear power struggle
between sexes. It presents what seems to be the leading question of the play; how do men gain
satisfaction from a relationship but maintain power of their women at the same time?
To set the play into its historical perspective it is useful to recall that a Virgin Queen sat on the
throne of England. Queen Elizabeth was an anomaly in a world in which most power inhered in
men. Marjorie Garber (2004) explains that it is by religious precept and legal mandate that women
took second place in social and political hierarchy and in the family dynamic as well. Early on in the
play Theseus tries to maintain a steady relationship with his soon to be wife Hippolita, while telling
Hermia to you your father should be as a god. Coming from the character who represents order, this
comments on two types of disempowerment of women; inside marriage as well as singlehood.
It is amazing that:
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When a Shakespearean woman decides to go against the natural order and run away to
marry for love she is punished. Look at the fate Juliet suffered for the same crime.
The women lovers are interchangeable. The only difference mentioned is their height. This
could be because their characters are supposed to represent more of an everywoman
figure.
The boys go so far as to split up the girl’s friendship in order to achieve power.
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Though most of the conflict in the play stems from the troubles of romance, and though the play
involves a number of romantic elements, it is not truly a love story; it distances the audience from
the emotions of the characters in order to poke fun at the torments and afflictions that those in love
suffer. The tone of the play is so lighthearted that the audience never doubts that things will end
happily, and it is therefore free to enjoy the comedy without being caught up in the tension of an
uncertain outcome.
5.7
Cupid’s arrow and its magic
Cupid and his arrow are not visible to the other characters. The Arrow Astray sings throughout the
play because she is capable of knowing what is truly in people’s hearts.
The love potion is made from the juice of a flower that was struck with one of Cupid’s misfired
arrows; it is used by the fairies to wreak romantic havoc throughout Acts II, III, and IV. Because the
meddling fairies are careless with the love potion, the situation of the young Athenian lovers
becomes increasingly chaotic and confusing (Demetrius and Lysander are magically compelled to
transfer their love from Hermia to Helena), and Titania is hilariously humiliated (she is magically
compelled to fall deeply in love with the ass-headed Bottom). The love potion thus becomes a
symbol of the unreasoning, fickle, erratic, and undeniably powerful nature of love, which can lead to
inexplicable and bizarre behaviour and cannot be resisted.
5.8
Fairytale
To add dimension to the play, we must have the ability to understand what escaped both aristocrats
and artisans: the world of fairies. But what are fairies? From which social milieu do they spring? It is
tempting to reply that they are denizens of the country; that is, characters drawn from the
semipagan folklore of rural England. This is in fact partially true. The fairies of Elizabethan popular
belief were often threatening and dangerous, while those of A Midsummer Nights Dream are
generally benevolent. The former steal human babies, perhaps to sacrifice them to the devil while
the latter, even when fighting over the young Indian boy, do so to bestow love and favour upon him.
People of the Elizabethan era saw fairies as powerful, mythic creatures that they should fashion
themselves in accord with. Because it was linked to the Pagan religion, fairies were considered quite
seriously. It was a major focus for all people’s superstitions and a personification for the unknown.
Reginald Scot, suggests that Robin Good fellow, the mischievous sprite also called Puck, was once
feared by villagers. If you left out milk for him he would thank you by cleaning your house, but if you
ignored him he would put a nasty curse on you or your family. The saying ‘off with the fairies’ sound
familiar? It refers to someone who has lost touch with realtiy. This is also related to that age old ides
that you shouldn’t get caught in fairyland.
This year’s production explores the same ideas of fairytale but in a context that is relatable to the
audience. The world of celebrities is our modern day fairies. We fashion our live in accord to them;
read about them, dress like them. Titania draws similar parallels to both Lady Gaga and Angelina
Jolie.
6 Performance elements of USQ’s adaption
6.1

Directions
Eyes out no matter what!
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6.2
Always remember that the audience will be 35-40 meters back from the stage and you need
to accommodate for everyone.
The style of playing is very different. The blocking must be right or people will not
understand. We should be able to turn down the volume and still understand it. After all not
everyone can understand Shakespearean language.
A lot of the directing will take into consideration the actors' interpretation. 90% of the time
what comes organically to them will appear more natural and believable.
Musical numbers
The musical numbers in this year’s production will be rewritten to popular tunes from more recent
times. This makes to production more relatable to the audience.
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So What by Pink - this is the song that introduces the mechanicals. They are wannabe
superstars.
I Want You to Want Me by Cheap Trick - Helena pursues Demetrius begging him to love
her. The play is all about finding love and that rocky road that we take to get there at all
costs.
Born This Way by Lady Gaga - the fairies sing to the Goddess Philomel asking her to
protect Titania while she sleeps against all the horrible and manipulative men in the world.
Am I Ever Going to See Your Face Again by The Angles - the song that Bottom sings when
he is changed into a footballer by puck this is the song that Tatiana hears and she wakes to
fall in love with Bottom.
Mambo #5 - the opening of the second act - Puck recaps what has happened in the first act.
It is a fun dance with many different dance styles. During this song the characters fully
encompass the atmosphere of Midsummer’s Eve and start hooking up with whoever they
want.
Please note: at the time that these notes were put together, other musical numbers were being
considered including Like a Virgin by Madonna and Sweat by Snoop Dog.
6.3
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Dancing
During England’s Renaissance period, people were extremely interested in geometry and
this was reflected in any dance choreography. Lots of triangular and circular formations.
They loved the decade/the number ten and any multiples or numbers that revolved or added
up to ten. So they might have four on one side and six on the other. This also explains the
excessive partner work.
Elizabethan dance varied according to social class. Lower classes danced in a more
relaxed freestyle fashion while the upper class danced in a more stylised, organised
manner.
Court dances were often imported from Italy, Spain and France who went through the
Renaissance period earlier than the English.
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7 Design elements
7.1
Tree of wedding dresses
Represents the love and idleness flower (the pansy), which possesses the magic love potion. The
tree is made out of wedding dresses from all different centuries since the play was first performed.
This represents that this search for marital bliss has stood the test of time throughout the different
generations.
7.2
Beds
The beds that are a constant element of the set design are drawn from the importance of the
Elizabethan wedding bed.
7.3
Costumes
The costumes consist of a fusion of Elizabethan styles right through to modern outfits. This too is
designed to symbolise that the search for love has travelled throughout the generations. It respects
the idea that previous generations have walked the path of love complications before.
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8 Workshop ideas for students
8.1
Pyramus and Thisbe
8.1.1 Purpose
This lesson will introduce students to the world of Renaissance theatre. They will look at the
resurrection and importance of the classic play Pyramus and Thisbe to people of this period.
Students will analyse the unique language of Shakespeare and explore various theatrical devices
such as metatheatricality: a play within a play.
8.1.2
Warm-up
Start with sort of tongue twister round. Have three or four of them prepared and do them together as a
class. If the class is enjoying the activity get one kid to play conductor and bring in one group at a
time. You could use any of a zillion, but a favourite amongst teachers is "Whether the weather is cold,
whether the weather is hot, we'll be together whatever the weather, whether we like it or not."
8.1.3
Anticipatory set
Introduce your class to the history and conventions of the Renaissance theatre. Look at several
diagrams and discuss what it was like for a play-goer of this period. Separate the students into
smaller groups of two or three and give them butchers paper. Ask them to brainstorm any similarities
and differences they can note between a performance at the Globe Theatre and a Shakespeare in the
Park Festival.
8.1.4
Responding to stimulus
Lead a discussion about Ovid and his story of Pyramus and Thisbe. It is beneficial to explain that
the 1587 version by Arthur Golding, was the translation that Shakespeare would have used. Follow
the following link to the modern translation (http://www.thanasis.com/thisbe.htm)
Talk about the theatrical convention of a play within a play. Why did Shakespeare include this in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream? Then, read the play as a class. Pick three volunteers to look at a
sentence from the play that they like. Ask each to recite the sentence, placing the emphasis on a
different word. Discuss how the meaning of the sentence changes when the emphasis shifts. Talk to
the students about the importance of cadence: general inflection or modulation of the voice.
Great time to introduce your students to the Shakespearean language here. The language that
Shakespearean characters use is key to understanding their motivations, preoccupations, and
desires.
8.1.5
Transforming stimuli
Once again divide the students into groups of three or four. Ask them to create a series of five
frozen pictures depicting what they think are the main events of Pyramus and Thisbe. Have them
share their pictures with the rest of the class.
This is a great opportunity to explain that Shakespeare’s performers must clearly portray the action
of the story especially in today’s society where less people in the audience can clearly understand
Shakespeare’s unique language.
8.1.6 Reflection
Ask students to reflect on the session and what they learnt.
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8.2
Lovers at war
8.2.1
Purpose
This lesson will use Augusto Boal’s physical training to explore the acting style of Shakespearean
theatre. Students will also be asked to look at the poetic rhythm- lambic pantameter (five measures).
They will workshop scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream in an attempt to better understand the
relationships and power struggles present in the play.
8.2.2
Warm-up
Three Irish Duels - three exhausting yet exciting duels that come from Boal’s, Games for Actors and
Non-Actors p82. Follow this link to the physical warm up for the class (http://books.google.com.au/books?id=AE2aBAQZKKYC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=Three+Irish+Duel
s&source=bl&ots=2KnN0I5Tey&sig=YOlFSSPmBjYlTQEBlcPwEppByQ&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Three
%20Irish%20Duels&f=false)
8.2.3
Anticipatory set
Shakespearean Insults - after introducing Shakespearean drama through discussion and class
notes, provide students with a handout of Shakespearean insult words from
http://eureka.mhsl.uab.edu/lp/si/insultwordlist.html. Have students create an insult by combining three
words from the list (two adjectives and one noun). Students should know the meaning of all words
they use. Students should then write their insult on a sentence strip. The teacher begins by insulting
a student who then turns and insults the person behind him or her. Continue on around the
classroom until everyone has been insulted and has insulted someone else. The last person gets to
insult the teacher.
Now that the students have done some work on language, this is a good time to explain
Shakespearean rythme - Lambic Pantametre (5 Measure).
8.2.4
Responding to stimulus
Divide students into pairs and then assign them an excerpt from A Midsummer Nights Dream (Act II,
Scene 1: vs 45-153). The scene is an argument between the fairy King Oberon and the fairy Queen
Titania over the future of the young Indian boy. Ask students to stand facing their partner on
opposite sides of a rope then take five steps away from the other person. Then reading out the text
aloud they have to use physical actions and expressions to try and win the argument. Have the rest
of the class sit out and comment upon the action. If the class thinks that person B made a good
choice then person B will take a step closer to the rope. First to make the other person cross over
the rope wins.
This might also be a good time to discuss the acting style of Shakespeare.
8.2.5
Transforming stimuli
In the same pairs hand the students another script excerpt (Act III, Scene 2: vs 162-346). This is an
argument between Helena, Hermia, Demetrius and Lysander, the four lovers. This time hand the pairs
a strong rope and have them play tug of war while reading out this section of the script. Have them
choose to play either the two women or two men.
8.2.6
Reflection
Have a discussion about the workshop. How did the activities make them feel
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8.3
Responding and performing
8.3.1
Purpose
In this lesson, students will be asked to create a self devised side-scene. They will explore the world
of fairy and finally be encouraged to analyse and comment upon both the process and the
outcomes.
8.3.2
Warm-up
Start with a warm-up that your class enjoys. A lot of time is needed for latter parts of the lesson so if
you choose a new exercise make sure it doesn’t take long to explain and demonstrate to the
students. A game such as grandma’s keys is always a winner.
8.3.3
Responding to stimulus
Ask the students to use this time to create a five minute glee performance in groups of four or five,
based on how they think fairytale influences modern society.
This would be an appropriate time to discuss interpretation, historicisation and deconstruction with
your class. Introduce these terms to them if you haven’t already.
8.3.4
Transforming stimuli
Have each of the groups present their glee performance to the rest of the class. Then let the
audience students ask questions of the members of the performing group.
8.3.5
Reflection
Ask the students to reflect on the playmaking process. How did they find working in their groups?
What did they learn from the other groups performances?
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9 Further references
9.1 Renaissance theatre
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Christiansen, R 1988, Romantic affinities: portraits from an age 1780–1830, Vintage,
London.
Gurr, A 1992, The Shakespearean stage, 3rd edn, Cambridge University Press, England.
Hawkes, T (ed.) 1996, Alternative Shakespeares, vol. 2, Routledge, London.
Kinney. A, 2000, Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments. Blackwell
Publishing: Oxford, UK.
McDonald, R 1996, The Bedford companion to Shakespeare: an introduction with
documents, Bedford Books of St Martin’s Press, Boston & New York.
McGrath, A 2002, In the beginning: the story of the King James Bible, Hodder & Stoughton,
London.
9.2 The life and work of William Shakespeare
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Trailer for the 1998 movie of Shakespeare in Love – an alternate story to what most have
thought about his life story. However it is a great look at his work in the theatre.
http://youtu.be/i3Zi2N1Q8-Y
Some websites regarding the life of Shakespeare you might like to visit are:
o http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/
o http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
o http://www.wholesalecostumeclub.com/articles/costumeresourcesaguideshakespea
re.jsp
9.3 Discussion of key themes
9.3.1
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9.3.2
Elizabethan weddings
http://www.seatofmars.com/elizabethanweddings.htm
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/elizabethan-wedding-customs.htm
Midsummer’s Eve
Garber, Marjorie (2005) ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ in Shakespeare After All. Anchor Books:
USA.
9.3.3
Gender
Orgel, Stephen (1996) Impersonations. Cambridge University Press: Great Britain.
9.3.4
Reverie
Orgel, Stephen (1996) Impersonations. Cambridge University Press: Great Britain.
9.3.5
Eyes
Lobanov- Rostovsky, Sergei (1997) ‘Taming the Basilisk’ in The Body in Parts: Fantasies of
Corporealiy in Early Modern Europe. Routledge: New York, USA.
9.3.6
A book on the Folk-lore of Shakespeare
http://www.sacred-texts.com/sks/flos/flos03.htm
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9.4 Performance elements of USQ’s adaptation
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Shakespearean dancing in the movie Shakespeare in Love (1998) http://youtu.be/UKhsbpDHfSo
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-dance.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B10z9b_PRXw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UPi3uP5O18&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lDCxv3Hv2g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNl3Bz4SO2Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgFpy0hQAyk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deYT1pSa0ZM
University of Southern Queensland | USQ Artsworx Website Redevelopment
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