A Midsummer Nights Dream: Directors Choices

The fact that much of what I envisioned and what the director, Nick Rose saw when reading the play differed greatly was made clear in the opening scene. I had envisioned an Athens that appeared as an ancient roman city with huge marble columns populated by men and women in togas riding in chariots, swords at their sides. What Mister Rose saw was a more modern version as far as costume was concerned. The actors instead of being dressed as I had imagined were dressed in what appeared to be Old English clothes. The stage scenery while not what I expected was a good choice as the theater would not have had room for the elaborate stage I had conjured up in my mind. Mister Rose set everything in a mixture of both columns wrapped in vines and plants. This simple stage allowed me to imagine the characters either in Athens itself, or in the woods outside the city depen

When first reading the play I had trouble in keeping the mental play flowing. The style of language and quick banter between characters made it difficult for me to follow in several places. So I was limited in my examination of the play and characters before seeing the play performed. I had a mental image of each, but how they fit together was rather disjointed. After seeing the play however, and upon reading it a second time it was amazing how much smoother it flowed. What I was most surprised at was how, after seeing the play, all of the characters in my mind had become like those we had seen onstage. Each of my mental actors now spoke in the voices of the actors from the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival, had their mannerisms, and even their appearance.

Peaseblossom is the first character we meet, but she only seems to be there to provide insight into Puck’s character. The rest of the queens entourage as well are only minor characters there to add depth to the scene not really having much personality of their own. Puck on the other hand is a vital part of the play. I had imagined him as a short half man half goat, with cloven hooves, or at least fake cloven hooves. If I had only had his description of himself to go on I may have pictured him in a lighter tone, character. Instead of a lighthearted prankster, I pictured him as a nasty trickster, while not actually evil, most certainly not kind merry and carefree. The Puck delivered was more how he had described himself. While he did make a bit of mischief his attitudes and affectations always made it seem more playful than anything else. Genuine smiles, rather than evil grins accompanied his purposeful misapplication of the dust from cupid’s arrow gone awry. The next character we met was Titania, Queen of the Fairies. I had pictured her as a proud, regal, and elegant fairy. I had gone so far as to attribute much of her reluctance in giving the changeling to Oberon to the fact that she wouldn’t want to be told what to do by him as muc

Some topics in this essay:
Mister Rose, Court Peaseblossom, King Goblins, Nights Dream, Choices It’s, Miles Davies, Mahogany Scott, Night’s Dream, Nick Rose, Queen Fairies, seeing play, mister rose, reading play, midsummer night’s dream, king goblins, casting characters, play characters, directors choices, giving changeling, play performed, entire play, seeing play performed,