Setting, Atmosphere/Lighting: Athens
Atmosphere/Lighting: Forest
Setting: Forest
Costume Inspirations
Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, Philostrate
Lysander
Hermia and Lysander
Demetrius
Helena
Helena
Titania
Fairies
Overall Concept
A Midsummer Summer Night’s Dream is a play of proportions. Real people are transformed while lost in a fantastical forest. Through all of the illusions, the main characters find the truth of themselves. I want to emphasize the hope within a rebellious decade of America: the 1980s. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is very adaptable to other era, which I find to be no different with the 1980s.
This decade provides especially distinct social atmosphere to play with. I would like to exaggerate the social elements of the 1980s. Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and the Philostrate will be dressed as elite business people. Lysander and Hermia will be dressed “preppy,” a college version of the elders. Helena and Demetrius will be dressed as “punk,” to oppose their counterparts. This creates a visual division of the couple, foreshadowing their inevitable relationships. Oberon and Titania will be more like Greek gods than fairies. This represents the ancient power, whereas the Athenian royals are business people, a modern power. Their entourages will wear flowing fabric in bright, supernatural colors. I want the looks to be classical but the colors to be magical. The costumes of the acting troupe should look like generic blue collar workers. I want them in plain, neutral colored t-shirts and period blue jeans. Their play costumes should be made of average household items.
The music for Athens should sound like bad elevator music. The music for the forest should be influenced by the evolving music scene of the 1980s. The words of the music are not important, only the strict raw or electronic should of the sound should prevail. Whenever magic is applied by Puck, there should be a specific mystical sound. It should gear more towards a traditional whimsical sound. It should play into a sense of childlike pleasure and playfulness.
The setting for Athens should look like an office building in a skyscraper and a penthouse living room. I want there to be very angular furniture. Nothing in the world of Athens should look unique, only uniform, stale, and the same. The forest will be made with draping fabric. This promotes the look of softness and ever moving life. The fabrics can also be manipulated by the fairies to distort light. There can be some trees and actual aspects of nature, but the draping fabric should dominate as a replacement for nature. The fabric should add to the mysterious effect and hide much of the rest of the forest.
The lighting for the Athens should be plain and natural. I would also like a window gobo to represent a look of a penthouse living room. The lighting for the forest will set the mysterious, eerie, yet intriguing mood. I want it to look smoky and soft, completely different from the hard atmosphere of Athens. This can somewhat pull in aspects of the 1980s drug scene and experiences. The colors should be clearer and not diffused. Sometimes there should be blatant generic geometric shapes of colored lights within the forest. The lights for the forest, especially when the fairies are around, will be bold and blunt. I want there to be supersaturated, obvious colors.
