Analysis of Theseus in a New Spin on a Midsummer Night’s Dream

Concept:

My concept for A Midsummer's Night Dream is based on a mythical world in London, England. Demetrius, Lysander, Helena, and Hermia, the four main characters, are from a small country village in 1910. Throughout this concept, mostly everyone is getting prepared for the special celebration between Hippolyta and Theseus. These two are being set to marry, although there is no love connection felt throughout the relationship. in another quieter mossy village nearby, There lives a community of fairies. The main fairies are Titania and Oberon.

Although most fairies obey their rules and quietly live without catching attention, one evil and sneaky fairy named Puck creates tension and problems throughout the village. Park overall crowns himself as a Greek mythology God Cupid manipulates his actions into hits. This creates drama and unnecessary problems throughout the storyline and causes characters in the scenes to get into situations of sadness and love. My main concept is to show an exemplified Midsummer's Night Dream through folktales and mystical villages in central London, focusing on the characters' imaginations and magic throughout.

Time Period/Era:

The time period of my production choice was the early 1900s. Focusing mostly on the year 1910. Throughout this era and time period, most Englanders were in social classes. The social pyramid consisted of slaves, workers, everyday middle-class people, and socialites. The production is created to be a fantasy village, and since there are fairies, there is also magic involved throughout the scenes. With this, the connections between humans and fairies exist. These two "types" of people slowly bond and interact with each other as the storyline continues.

Tone:

This Midsummer's Night Dream play created by MO Productions is set up to be mainly for younger audiences. Because of this, the production's decision to make the tone more light-hearted and humorous comes intact. It is meant to be over-exaggerated, as most plays during the Edwardian era were. This would also appeal to that watching of a younger age. The play includes characters such as Snug, Snout, Starveling, Flute, Nick Bottom, and Peter Quince, who bring a different kind of theatrical interaction for the children. These characters bring audience members onstage and interact with them in a sarcastic and bubbly tone. The overall mood of this concept is joyful and carefree. In addition to this, the production's decision to make this play musical works to bring more attention to the play and bring in a more happy crowd.

Central Image:

The central image of this production is Ashell, Hertfordshire, where most of the fairies exist. My decision to make Ashell the central image was because it exemplifies most of the imaginary aspects when people imagine a small village. The cute, quiet village that is imagined to be filled up with Cottages is used to sell the play. The main house/ village will be put up and be seen in most advertisements, such as books, newspapers, tickets, playbills, and posters.

Main Theme:

The production's main theme was focused on love. Since it is a fairy tale plot, the layout of the play will consist of falling in love and facing the problems that come with it. It portrays the cute, whimsical ideas like potions used throughout the play and the emotions taking place. Because of this, the characters have romantic interactions with the aid of the fairies and their magical powers.

Color Palette:

The colors of the overall play will consist of beige, emerald green, purple, red, white, brown, and light blue. Beige and brown will represent the time period, as most villages and houses were these colors, also, including the stone pavements and the wooden structures. Emerald green would represent the mossy locations of the fairies and themselves. Red and light blue will be used as the magic colors for the fairies and the main and unique objects that will foreshadow events. These colors are set to appear throughout the play in the scenery, lighting, and costumes. With this, the backdrop and scenery will include a lot of rich green shades. In addition, the blue would symbolize the peace of the sky and some purple will represent the sunsets that will occur throughout the play.

Costume Ideas:

Furthermore, throughout the scenes, the main characters will be represented with mostly red, blue, and purple clothing. The people getting married or those who have love interests will mostly be wearing fancy red attire to represent love and royalty. Those such as Helena, Lysander, Demetrius, and Hermia would wear quilted purple and poofy blue clothing. The woman would wear layers of gowns, and the men would wear uniforms in top hats and tailored clothes suited for the time period. Fairies throughout the play would wear mostly purple, which symbolizes magic and potions. The fairies would carry light-up wands and specialized wings that would help be controlled with the stage to make them fly. Helena's dress would be red and purple with floral designs to catch the attention of Demetrius. Hermia would wear a blue linen quilted dress that would flow through the wind. Because of Hermia's love interest in Lysander, their costumes would resemble as he would wear a light blue top hat and light blue pants.

Prop List:

The first prop would be horses and carriages for any use of transportation in and out of a scene. This collaborates with the time period. Then would come wands and wings for the fairies to use. Although most fairies would have wands, only main ones like Puck would have functional wands and wings. The third and most important will be the potion that is made by Puck to give to lovers. Since this is placed in 1910, and swords are in no use, the props for Demetrius and Lysander's battle will be muskets or even their walking canes to give a humorous vibe to the audience.

Set Design:

The backdrop of this play would mostly consist of two main villages talked about before. There would be lots of nature, including trees, to help give off a mystical atmosphere. Since most of the scenes happened in a fairy village, most characters will be set up there. There will be a lot of movement in people and fairies that will walk throughout the audience. The lighting will change depending on the mood of each scene and on the emotion that each character feels. In addition, the background will include buildings in Central London to the buildings in The Villages.

Type of Theatre:

MO Productions chose to do this play in a Thrust Theatre. This is because each main character can have a chance to have the spotlight to themselves while they sing. Also, for the characters to interact with the audience easier and pull them onto the stage, the three sides of Thrust Theatre will help the actor get the message across to every single audience member. Making this outdoors will give the illusion of a real-life event and help the setup of nature come across.

Special Aspects:

This play will be advertised as a musical. It will keep the attention of the audience on stage at all times while the actors sing. The main characters will mostly sing, and the fairies will get a theme song. Finally, the use of mechanics will come to help the play be more magical for the light-up wands and wings. These two special effects are an important trait of the play that will help bring in more people.

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