A publication of the Shakespeare Theatre Company ASIDES 2012|2013 SEASON • Issue 2

Ethan David McSweeny takes Bevington us backstage takes us to the page 3 forest page 7 2012|2013 SEASON • Issue 2 A publication of the Shakespeare Theatre Company ASIDES Dear Friend, Like a Stradivarius 3 Like a Stradivarius A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an easy Ethan McSweeny’s vision of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Norman Allen play to produce, and a difficult play to by Norman Allen 6 New Faces and Old Friends direct. It is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies, perhaps because 7 The Midsummer Theatre it asks us as audience members to of Transformation use our imaginations to dream up a world that is by David Bevington composed of nothing but magic. The challenge for the 11 A Midsummer Night’s director is to create a world as suggestive, as rich in Dream Cast and detail, as Shakespeare’s immensely beautiful language Artistic Team and his infinitely imaginative use of the stage. Every 12 Dream, Myth and Legend: Shakespeare play demands reinvestigation when it Shakespeare’s Narrative is staged, but none have proven more elastic, more Threads capable of sustaining amazing images and inspired by Laura Henry Buda creations, than A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We 14 Play in Process have done the play twice before at STC, and each time it has taken on different and beguiling forms. 16 , Translated by Theresa J. Beckhusen In this issue of Asides, director Ethan McSweeny 18 Drew’s Desk discusses the world of his Dream, which is to say, a by Drew Lichtenberg world of the theatre, and accomplished Shakespeare 20 Opening Up New Worlds scholar David Bevington discusses the play’s magical by Hannah J. Hessel mixture of metatheatre and metamorphosis. We also have our customary array of articles from our 22 Family Week talented staff on the play’s various imaginative 24 Creative Conversations permutations and directors’ interpretations over time. and Performance Calendar I still remember seeing Peter Brook’s production A Midsummer Night’s Dream set model by Lee Savage. of the play in 1970. It continues to inform the way I approach Shakespeare’s work for the stage. “It’s possible that the most challenging design question in the Shakespeare canon is ‘What Lansburgh Theatre 450 7th Street NW do fairies wear?’” claims director Ethan McSweeny. Washington, DC 20004-2207 Please continue to visit Asides Online (Asides. ShakespeareTheate.org) for more information about the Sidney Harman Hall “Shakespeare’s fairies have more in common with the ‘little people’ of Celtic tradition 610 F Street NW play and production. I hope to see you in the theatre. Washington, DC 20004-2207 than they do the ones who flit around on gossamer wings,” he notes. “They seem to have specific rituals that must be completed. It’s their duty to make sure the seasons change, for Box Office Warm regards, 202.547.1122 example. But the rest of the time they’re playing tricks on each other and, of course, on humans.” Administrative Offices 516 8th Street SE Washington, DC 20003-2834 202.547.3230 Michael Kahn Fairies are just one element in a play that McSweeny compares to a three-ring circus. “You’ve Artistic Director got the world of the fairies, the world of the lovers, which includes the court of Athens, ShakespeareTheatre.org Shakespeare Theatre Company and then you have the Mechanicals, who are, themselves, attempting to put on a play.” Asides.ShakespeareTheatre.org Production Sponsor: Presenting Education Connect with Us! Arlene and Robert Kogod Sponsor: The challenge, according to McSweeny, is to create a theatrical universe that works for all three. “It’s a little like spinning plates—often a production manages to get one or Additional Support: two worlds spinning, but getting all three going at once is rarer. My hope—and I can’t Restaurant Partner: Cover photos of Adam Green by S. Christian Low. Thumbnail: Painting of Bottom and the Fairies by Henry Fuseli, 1793-1794. 3 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2012|2013 SEASON • Issue 2

guarantee that we’re going to succeed—is to from costumes abandoned during the Shakespeare I had yet seen.” McSweeny make all three worlds function equally well theatre’s centuries-long history. placed Dow at the head of a veteran troupe in the environment of the production.” To populate the three worlds of the play, of actors, as skilled in real life as they McSweeny has drawn on past collaborations, are bumbling in their stage personas. It’s a tall order for a play that has and reached out to new talent. He met his some very famous incarnations. Most Titania, Sara Topham, when he directed her “I had an instinct that the Mechanicals memorable—and still spoken of in theatrical in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Stratford should be of ‘a certain age,’” he explains. circles—is the Peter Brook production that Shakespeare Festival in Canada. “She “Except for Flute, who gets stuck with premiered with the Royal Shakespeare was a marvelous Madame de Tourvel,” all the girl’s parts. We’ve got Ted van Company in 1970, then toured the world. he says. He describes his , played Griethuysen as , and a crew of Performed in a stark, white space, it by Tim Campbell, another Stratford brilliant, mature comedians to join him.” featured trapeze perches for Titania regular, as “a strong, sexy leading man.” and Oberon, and actual spinning plates, Not coincidentally, the production— along with other circus paraphernalia. McSweeny finds the duo particularly so clearly focused on the comic and fascinating, and particularly contemporary. the magical—arrives just in time for “I’ve heard Michael Kahn say two things “Oberon and Titania are a married couple the holidays. “It’s one of the most Drawing of The Swan Playhouse by Johannes de Witt (1596). about that Midsummer Night’s Dream,” in the midst of a custody battle. They popular plays in the canon,” McSweeny McSweeny notes. “First, that after seeing journey from reality to fantasy. Thus the struggle, they blame each other, they wait points out. “For many, it’s their first Brook’s production, he’ll never direct it Athenian scenes take place before the stage to see who will give in.” It’s left to , experience of Shakespeare. We’re himself. Second, that, after all the ink that’s curtain, close to the audience’s own world. played by Adam Green, to run interference hoping for a lot of kids, and for people been spilled deciphering that production, Those curtains part to reveal the world of between the quarreling spouses. ready to be in a festive mood.” Michael thought the setting—that empty, the Mechanicals, set within the confines white space—was actually an incarnation of of a dilapidated theatre. When the massive Green, known to Shakespeare Theatre the rehearsal hall.” rear doors at the back of the stage open, the Company audiences for comic roles in magic of the forest overtakes the space. All’s Well That Ends Well and The Liar, was The idea of a rehearsal hall stuck with encouraged to find the darker aspects McSweeny. “It makes such perfect sense. “Anyone who has stood in an empty of this beloved character. “Ever since a Norman Allen’s work has been commissioned theatre knows what a magical place it It’s the creative space where we invent the very young Mickey Rooney played the and produced by the production, often with little more than bits is,” McSweeny says. “Theatres are like part in the Hollywood movie, Puck is Shakespeare Theatre of colored tape on the floor and temporary oak wine casks, or like the wood of a often seen in this impish tradition,” Company, the Kennedy Center, the Karlin Music props crafted by the stage management Stradivarius that holds all the notes that McSweeny says. “That overlooks the fact Theatre in Prague and the team. And there’s no doubt that this have ever been played on it. In a theatre, that he is a potentially dangerous figure. Olney Theatre Center. As play is infused with theatricality from something always remains of what has It’s as if Oberon has outsourced his Id, former playwright-in-residence at Signature beginning to end. That was very influential occurred. For me, the fairies are like and must constantly rein him in.” Theatre he premiered Nijinsky’s Last Dance (Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Play) imagination incarnate, and they will when set designer Lee Savage and I started and In the Garden (Charles MacArthur imagining an appropriate playing space.” literally emerge from the floorboards.” Bruce Dow, playing , leads Award) with subsequent productions the troupe of Mechanicals. “I first saw throughout the United States, Europe and South Africa. He has written on the arts To answer that central question of what The duo’s vision evolved from an early Bruce play Trinculo opposite Christopher and culture for WAMU-FM, The Washington image of an empty neoclassical room to those fairies wear, Titania and Oberon’s Plummer in the Stratford Tempest,” Post, Smithsonian magazine and other arrive at a more fully-fledged abandoned company array themselves in a range McSweeny recalls. “I thought his was national publications. His work for the theatre is published by Playscripts, Inc. theatre, a setting that offers a natural of styles and periods, as though pulled one of the most brilliant comic turns in

To read more about A Midsummer Night’s Dream, visit Asides.ShakespeareTheatre.org 4 5 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2012|2013 SEASON • Issue 2 New Faces and Old Friends For his production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ethan McSweeny welcomes The Midsummer Theatre newcomers from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare Theatre Company regulars. of Transformation Shakespeare’s exploration of comedy and theatre exposed through transformation and trickery by David Bevington

The motif of transformation pervades A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The love potion used by Puck and Oberon, which embodies the spirit of comic confusion in the play, is emphatically a theatrical device, dealing in mistaken appearances and theatrical illusions. Used on the two male Sara Topham (Hippolyta/Titania) and Tim Campbell (Theseus/Oberon) with lovers, they vie to outdo ETHAN MCSWEENY each other in their inconstancy. When Lysander gives up for Helena in an instant, Ted van Griethuysen: Peter Quince we wonder if the effect of the love potion can be psychologically explained: is his sudden change of affection a consequence of Hermia’s

Painting of Bottom and the Fairies by Henry Fuseli, 1793-1794. refusal to sleep with him in the forest? When Puck doses Lysander with the love potion as he lies asleep in the forest, he awakens to see Helena standing before him and offers her his eternal devotion. Men are like this in other Shakespearean romantic comedies, like the aptly-named Proteus in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, or the four gentlemen in Love’s Labor’s Lost who perjure themselves as quickly as they make vows.

Transformation through the theatrical artifice of the love potion is also central to the plot of the quarrel between Oberon, King of Shadows, and Titania, Queen of the Fairies. Adam Green (/Puck) and Bruce Dow (Nick Bottom) Ted van Griethuysen (Peter Quince) 6 Photos by S. Christian Low. 7 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2012|2013 SEASON • Issue 2

Oberon’s first reason for wanting Puck to Trojan War. No war ensues as a result of with Demetrius, and then uses bring him the love potion, in fact, is so Bottom’s transformation. Instead, the event Demetrius’ voice to stir up that they can anoint Titania’s eyes. His is a tribute to the irrational power of eros, Lysander to fury. Actors are of motive is to teach her a lesson in wifely among mortals of course, but to no less a course good as mimics; that is obedience by forcing her to fall in love degree among the gods. their stock in trade. with the next thing that she waking looks upon, “Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull, Shakespeare must have found inspiration What’s more, since Puck is / On meddling monkey, or on busy ape.” for his fascination with metamorphosis “invisible” he is able to walk To us mortals it may seem strange that and transformation not simply in Ovid, among the mortals without Oberon should wish to punish his wife by but in the theatre itself. The motif of being “seen,” egging the forcing her to have an affair with some transformation is inherently theatrical, two young men to attempt animal, in effect cuckolding himself, but calling attention to its own devices of mayhem on each other while then fairies do not do things the way we impersonation and rapid changing of at the same time leading them ordinary mortals do. As instructed, Puck roles, for the delight of audiences and of here and there in such a way anoints Titania’s eyes and is delighted the actors themselves. When Oberon says that no physical harm will with the result. “My mistress with a at one point, as he and Puck are about to result. Puck thereby stirs up monster is in love!” he crows gleefully. This behold the tribulations of the unhappy complications and unhappiness love transformation is truly remarkable: lovers, “I am invisible, / And I will overhear while assuring us as audience Titania’s affections alight on Bottom their conference” (act 2, scene 1), we grasp that ultimately “Jack shall the Weaver, chief of a thespian group of immediately what has happened: he has have Jill; / Naught shall go ill; artisans rehearsing a play in the forest in told us he is invisible, and so we accept / The man shall have his mare preparation for the festivities celebrating that as a theatrical fiction. It involves our again, and all shall be well.” Duke Theseus’ forthcoming marriage collaboration with the actors: if they say to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. they are invisible, we say, okay, they are The device of transformation invisible. We see them perfectly well, but is a potent artistic weapon:

In the magical, theatrical transformations we understand that for the purposes of it invites collusion between Painting of Apollo and Daphne by Antonio del Pollaiolo, late 15th century. of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare theatrical illusion the other actors onstage, actors and audience that gives us, is playing with Ovid’s Metamorphoses and especially the young lovers, cannot “see” the spectators, a sense of artistic lovers and poets are essentially alike. The with the Greek myths that Ovid and them at all. omniscience. Since we know more than lunatic “sees more devils than vast hell can Shakespeare knew so well, of gods pursuing any of the mortals on stage, we are like hold,” the lover “all as frantic, / Sees Helen’s mortals with amorous intent: Zeus seducing This metatheatrical trick works especially gods. More than any other figure, Puck beauty in a brow of Egypt” and: Leda or Ganymede (either sex will do), well in the long scene of the lovers’ quarrel, is the comic spirit of the play, and of Apollo chasing after Daphne (who asks when, owing to the mistaken applications Shakespeare’s dramatic art. By functioning The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, to be transformed into a laurel tree to of the love-juice on the eyes of Demetrius as the instrument of the device of Doth glance from heaven to earth, from escape the god’s importunity), Aphrodite and Lysander, the four young people are metamorphosis, Puck moves us and the play earth to heaven; languishing for the love of Adonis, and hopelessly at odds with one another and through a delightful anxiety to, ultimately, And as imagination bodies forth still more. Such legends celebrate the unhappy with themselves. Puck and Oberon a resolution. It is one that we can appreciate The forms of things unknown, the mystery of incarnation, the descent of the are there, listening for quite some time, as a triumph of great comic theatre. poet’s pen godhead into human life, often in such a and perhaps communicating silently with Turns them to shapes and gives to nothing way as to launch a war or some other great the audience their sense of comic delight Nowhere is Shakespeare’s concept of comic A local habitation and a name. event in human history: Zeus’ seduction at the mishaps taking place. Then Puck theatre more vividly displayed than in the of Leda led to the birth of Helen of Troy takes charge. Under Oberon’s instructions fifth and final act. Theseus leads off with Shakespeare, through Theseus, is (sister of Clytemnestra) and hence the he impersonates Lysander as he talks a wonderful discussion of how lunatics, clearly talking about his art as a comic

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dramatist. This play does just what are about young lovers who are forced A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM CAST ARTISTIC TEAM Theseus describes: through the use of by parental opposition to elope, with Ethan McSweeny vibrant poetic imagination it brings frightening consequences. Both portray Director into dramatic existence things that no the emotional turmoil of the lovers Peter Pucci human can actually see, like fairies and as they encounter physical dangers. Choreographer transformations, giving them a substance Shakespeare’s comparison is daring, in in the world of theatre that is eternal. that we can see what a fine line divides Lee Savage Set Designer Shakespeare’s fairies are “real” in a way true comedy from ridiculous bathos. that we are not, for they have existed for The story of is also Nancy Anderson* Robert Beitzel* ChrisTOPHER Bloch* Jennifer Moeller FIRST Fairy Lysander Costume Designer more than 400 years and show no signs of remarkably like that of Romeo and Juliet, disappearing, whereas we are bound to our which Shakespeare wrote either before or Tyler Micoleau Lighting Designer mortal span of years. The poet’s craft is to after Midsummer; we can’t be sure which. give to “airy nothing / A local habitation Fitz Patton Composer/Sound and a name.” Was Shakespeare parodying his own great Designer love tragedy? Well, why not? In either case, Shakespeare’s superb metatheatrical skill he seems to have been acutely aware of Leah J. Loukas Wig/Makeup Designer in writing a play that is really about itself what kind of comedy he was serving up to Tim Campbell* Christiana Clark* Robert Dorfman* Theseus/Oberon Helena Snug as theatrical art is displayed most vividly his appreciative audiences in A Midsummer Nancy Anderson Music Vocal Coach in the concluding pageant of Pyramus and Night’s Dream. The meta-theatrical awareness Thisbe. Again, the story comes from Ovid invites us to see this play not simply as a Brad Waller Fight Director and Greek myth. On its surface, the playlet splendid entertainment in its own right, is absurd, stuffed with grossly improbable but also as a witty and exquisite defense Binder Casting Jay Binder, CSA/ characters like a moon that literally has of the kind of fantastic and imaginative Jack Bowdan, CSA a dog and a thornbush, and a wall that romantic comedy for which Shakespeare is New York Casting discourses on the hole it provides for the justly famous. Bruce Dow* Adam Green* David Graham Jones* Daniel Neville-Rehbehn Nick Bottom Philostrate/Puck lovers of the title. Clearly Shakespeare is Resident Casting exploring the very nature of mimesis, or Director theatrical representation, making the point Ellen O’Brien through caricature that true dramatic Voice and Text Coach David Bevington is the Phyllis Fay Horton action conveys its ideas and images through Drew Lichtenberg Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in metaphor, showing a part for the whole Literary Associate the Department of English at the University rather than attempting to be literal. If one of Chicago. He has edited the Complete Jenny Lord wishes to indicate that the moon is shining Works of Shakespeare for Pearson/ Chris Myers* Amelia Pedlow* Lawrence Redmond* Assistant Director Demetrius Hermia on the night of the play’s action, the acting Longman, and his latest book is Murder Most Foul: Hamlet Through the Ages. Joseph Smelser* company need not worry about opening a Production Stage casement window so that the actual moon Manager can shine on their endeavors. They need Brandon Prendergast* merely have a dog and a thornbush. Stage Manager Hannah R. O’Neil* Shakespeare goes on to bravely compare Assistant Stage Herschel Sparber* Sara Topham* Ted van Griethuysen* Manager the art of the Mechanicals’ playmaking Hippolyta/Titania Peter Quince in Pyramus and Thisbe with his own in *Member of Actors’ Equity A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Both plays Association, the Union of Ensemble Processional Actors and Stage Managers. Maxwell Balay, John Bambery+, Jacqui Jarrold+, Joe Mallon+, Max Reinhardsen+, Rohan Saxena, Gracie Terzian, +Acting Fellow of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Jessica Thorne, Katherine Renee Turner 10 Artists subject to change. 11 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2012|2013 SEASON • Issue 2

Dream, Myth and Legend: Midas Pyramus and Thisbe Bottom’s ass-head also recalls the story of Midas, who was The Mechanicals mangle Pyramus and Thisbe, another punished by the gods by being given donkey ears. tragic myth from Ovid. In Ovid’s version, Pyramus Shakespeare’s Narrative Threads and Thisbe, like Romeo and Juliet, are forbidden to marry and kill themselves in despair when they by Laura Henry Buda Titan’s Daughter think the other is dead. Shakespeare’s Titania seems to have many “Airy nothing”: that is what Theseus declares the creations of poets. And, indeed, an “airy goddesses in her: Diana nothing” is an accurate epithet for what many have thought of this play—a dream or a as well as Juno, the jealous wife of Jupiter shadow, a lovely enchantment containing no weight or density. But move closer and the Venus Like Titania and Venus, the victim of Arthur surface shimmers. The threads of Shakespeare’s story are woven together in stunning detail, wooing Bottom,a an unrequited passion. Golding merging Ovid’s Metamorphoses with Elizabethan writers, contemporary politics with English powerful, desirable “Titania” was actually The Mechanicals’ folklore. The stories and myths behind the characters do not appear at first glance, and in woman pursues used by classical writers Pyramus is fact are totally unnecessary to enjoy this delightful play—but to see how just a few of the a reluctant lover as a name for many thought to different goddesses— parody Arthur strands tie together is to understand just how complex and subtle Shakespeare’s dramas in Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis, technically, it applies to Golding’s English really are. his 1593 poem. any “daughter of a titan.” translation Struck by Adonis’s In this way, Titania of Ovid’s stunning beauty, embodies a complex mix Metamorphoses, Faerie Queen of mythology. Based on English Mirror, Mirror Venus attempts to using a style of A History of Violence seduce the youth. language that Arthurian legend and Hippolyta Hippolyta is often interpreted as In Plutarch, Demetrius of But he resists, even then was native folklore, Sir the double of Titania, exerting her Macedon is known for his more interested old-fashioned. Edmund Spenser’s queen-like power in the green world cruelty, and in Shakespeare’s in hunting just The Faerie Queen was an as Hippolyta cannot in the world Bottom Titus Andronicus, the as Bottom prefers allegorical epic poem of Athens. character of Demetrius is Amazonian Queen grazing and that immortalized a murderous rapist. The Hippolyta was Queen of the Amazons, scratching. Diana Elizabeth I as Gloriana, queen of all fairies. name Lysander is also a a legendary all-female tribe of The formidable fairy queen is often connected Spenser published the version of Alexander— ferocious warriors. During one epic to Diana, the goddess associated with night first installment in 1590 another name for Paris journey, Theseus defeated their forces and moonshine, who ruled over the woods and Pair of Kings and the second in 1596— of Troy, who kidnapped and kidnapped Hippolyta, taking commanded a band of followers. Titania was Like Hippolyta and Titania, Theseus the same year Midsummer Helen. Midsummer’s young her back to the Athenian court as his Ovid’s name for Diana. men do not have admirable bride. Eventually, she bore him a son is a double of Oberon, fighting Titania is thought to have namesakes. named Hippolytus. battles in Athens and in the forest. been written.

Fairy Folktales Auberon Elizabeth I Titania and Oberon During a Queen Elizabeth herself haunts Midsummer Theseus were fairy legends procession in in the image of the moon—from the first Lovers Athens from English 1591, the “Fairy lines of the play to the starring role in Theseus is the legendary folklore that Queen” presented Pyramus and Thisbe. Often figured as a moon founder-king of Athens, Elizabethan writers Elizabeth with goddess in Elizabethan poetry, writers and appears as such in began to merge with a wreath from praised and sometimes criticized their Helen Ovid’s Metamorphoses and classical myth and “Auberon, the Virgin Queen as chaste, pure, aloof, and in “The Knight’s Tale” of Helena is most Ovidian tales. Fairy King.” powerful. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Hero and Leander obviously associated with Hero and Leander, another Ovidian Helen of Troy, myth (later retold in an epic poem the most hated Mercury by Marlowe in 1598), chronicles the The Minotaur Oberon Like Mercury of classic myth, Puck acts as a messenger, doing his master’s and unfaithful passion of young love. Every night, Theseus rescued Athens by bidding. In the play he is also the inducer and interrupter of sleep, just woman in the beautiful youth Leander swam defeating the Minotaur, a like his classical forebear. Puck’s relationship with Oberon creates a classical across the Hellespont to be with Hero, man with the head of a bull triangle of intrigue that echoes Juno, Jupiter, and Mercury: myth. But a priestess of Venus—until one night, that lived inside a labyrinth jealous wife, scheming husband, trickster servant. Shakespeare’s Puck he drowned in the attempt and Hero on Crete. Bottom’s ass-head, Helena, faithful killed herself in despair. As their names his friends’ terror and and constant, might suggest, Hermia and Lysander Titania’s infatuation seem stands out by come dangerously close to the terrible an echo and mild send-up contrast. Spook Robin Goodfellow fate of Hero and Leander. of this fearsome half-man, “Puck” was a medieval word for the devil. Puck’s full name, Robin Goodfellow, is a reference to half-beast. By Shakespeare’s time, it usually referred a familiar trickster figure in English folklore. He was to minor evil spirits, and is related to the known for his mischievous pranks and was sometimes Laura Henry Buda started as STC’s Education Coordinator in April and was STC’s 2011–2012 Artistic Old English word “spook.” depicted as a satyr (half-man, half-goat). Fellow. She holds an MFA in dramaturgy from the A.R.T./M.X.A.T. Institute at Harvard University. Theseus and the Minotaur depicted on pottery, 6th century.; Venus and Adonis by Paolo Veronese, c. 1580; Prince Arthur 12 and the Fairy Queen by Henry Fuseli, c. 1788. 13 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2012|2013 SEASON • Issue 2 Play in Process DEMETRIUS HERMIA

HELENA

Robert Dorfman (Snug), Ted van Griethuysen (Peter Quince), Herschel Sparber (Tom Snout), Bruce Dow (Nick Bottom) and David Graham Jones (Francis Flute) by S. Christian Low.

OBERON

David Graham Jones (Francis Flute) and Bruce Dow (Nick Bottom) by S. Christian Low. TITANIA

Ensemble members Jacqui Jarrold, Max Reinhardsen, Rohan Saxena, Katherine Renee Turner and Jessica Thorne by S. Christian Low.

PUCK

Tim Campbell (Theseus/Oberon) and Sara Topham (Hippolyta/Titania) with Christiana Clark (Helena), Robert Beitzel (Lysander) and Amelia the cast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by S. Christian Low. Pedlow (Hermia) by Elayna Speight.

Costume renderings by Jennifer Moeller. 14 To see more photos and renderings, visit Asides.ShakespeareTheatre.org 15 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2012|2013 SEASON • Issue 2

1905 The Dream, Translated Max Reinhardt stages A Midsummer Night’s Dream countless times during his by Theresa J. Beckhusen career. The production in 1905 is highly realistic, employing three-dimensional trees and an innovative revolving stage used for the forest. The revolve allows for As soon as the ink dried on the first quarto, other artists began setting their own an almost infinite amount of scenic views and possibilities. stamps on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, redefining the play for their time and their world. Below are just a few of the notable adaptations of Dream. Do you 1914 have a favorite? Tell us at Asides.ShakespeareTheatre.org. Actor-manager, director, playwright and theatre impresario Harley Granville- Barker breaks with the realism that had marked productions of A Midsummer 1692 1826 Night’s Dream to this point. Instead of Composer Henry Purcell’s “Restoration In 1826, Romantic composer Felix three-dimensional trees for the forest, spectacular,” The Fairy-Queen, Mendelssohn, only 17 years old, Granville-Barker uses drapes with adapts Shakespeare’s text into a composes an overture inspired by the trees painted on them. Critics pan it semi-opera, a piece of theatre that play, which is performed in concert almost gleefully, one saying, “No human Photographer unknown. combines a spoken play, masque- in present-day Szczecin, Poland. being…can be expected to be anything like episodes and music. Purcell pays Years later in 1847, King Friedrich but worried and annoyed by pink silk curtains that are supposed to be the roofs homage to King William of Orange Wilhelm IV of Prussia commissions of houses, or green silk curtains that are supposed to be forest trees.” and his queen, Mary, with symbolism: Mendelssohn to write incidental orange trees for Dutch William and music for a German translation of A 1960 a Chinese-inspired scene tipping its Midsummer Night’s Dream, which Conductor, composer and pianist Benjamin Britten collaborates with Peter cap to Mary’s collection of china. features the now-famous Wedding Pears to create an opera based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which focuses March. In 1962, George Balanchine primarily on the goings-on in the woods. Each group in the story—mechanicals, choreographs his Midsummer lovers, and fairies—receives a specific musical treatment, and Britten stays close ballet to Mendelssohn’s music. to Shakespeare’s original theme of love’s madness. In Thisbe’s final lament, Britten also makes fun of the opera form, parodying Italian composer Donizetti’s famously intense “mad scenes” that feature raving women.

1900 1970 The Victorian era, an age of scientific Combining elements of Italian commedia dell’arte, circus and avant-garde theatre classification and curiosity, comes to practices, Peter Brook strips away the ornamentation that had characterized a head with English director Herbert Midsummer previously. He is the first director since Shakespeare to double Beerbohm Tree’s production that features Theseus and Hippolyta with Oberon and Titania, and he places the fairies on pluckable flowers embedded in a grass swings above the stage. The action takes place in a blank space, something like a carpet and live rabbits. When the actor rehearsal room, making the production consciously theatrical. It is the first post- playing Bottom squeezes one of the modern approach to any of Shakespeare’s plays. rabbits too tightly out of annoyance, the rabbit bites him. The scene changes in this elaborate production add 45 minutes Theresa J. Beckhusen is STC’s Artistic Fellow and graduated summa cum laude from Susquehanna University with a dual degree in theatre and creative writing. to the playing time. Photographer unknown.

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What makes Shaw’s writing on the play so remarkable is the manner in which he Drew’s Desk understands and then dramatizes, in the manner a playwright, the metamorphic Thoughts, Notes and Queries from Drew Lichtenberg world of the forest. Rather than merely “wild and fantastical,” as Shaw points out, the forest is also theatrical and elastic, a world containing terrors and dangers as well One of the striking things about A Midsummer as love and magic, one that is potentially infinite in its permutations. Writing at the Night’s Dream is the extent to which the onset of the Freudian era, Shaw saw the play as a representation of the unconscious popular understanding of the play is still mind. But his insight into how the play functions is more than just psychology. Critics in many respects a 19th-century one, and and directors have been indebted to him ever since. the manner in which theatrical and critical approaches in the 20th century have broken Writing in 1957, Canadian critic Northrop Frye compared the forest to the sharply with precedent. From the play’s Shakespearean green world: composition in the Elizabethan era until the late Victorian times, there is almost The green world has analogies to the dream world that we create out of our own no criticism on the play that breaks with desires. illustrates, as clearly as any mythos we have, the the Romantic interpretation of Dream as a archetypal function of literature in visualizing the world of desire, not as an escape prototype of Peter Pan, a fairy-tale for the from ‘reality,’ but as the genuine form of the world that human life tries to imitate. theatre, with Puck and company flying about on wires and sprinkling their magic pixie dust In other words, the forest in Dream is the real world of the imagination, given form. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Illustration by through the air. Alfred Fredericks (1874). Modern productions have sought increasingly to realize this metamorphic world by This understanding shifted abruptly in 1895, with George Bernard Shaw’s appealing to the imagination rather than illusion. From Max Reinhardt’s 1905 dream astonishingly insightful review. Shakespeare, as Shaw writes, arrives in Dream at a of an endlessly revolving forest to Peter Brook’s 1970 “white box” production at the “point of artistic perfection”: Royal Shakespeare Company, directors have accentuated the theatrical properties of Shakespeare’s forest. In 1981, at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage, David Chambers the extraordinarily human and accurate manner in which the play catches the directed a production in which the fairies entered and exited through a pool built into atmosphere of a dream […] Here is the pursuit of the man we cannot catch, the the floor, shimmering into and out of the spectator’s eyesight. In the 20th century, flight from the man we cannot see; here is the perpetual returning to the same the play has become apparent as a profound meditation on the experience of the place, the crazy alteration in the very objects of our desire, the substitution of one theatre itself. face for another face, the putting of wrong souls in the wrong bodies, the fantastic disloyalties of the night, all this is as obvious as it is important. And isn’t this the most traditional of approaches? After all, A Midsummer Night’s Dream was initially played on a bare stage, before a paying audience, with Theseus Shaw continues, writing on the Shakespearean dreamland’s remarkable mix of and Hippolyta likely doubling the roles of Oberon and Titania, and Puck doubling as melancholy and comedy: Philostrate. The Mechanicals’ act 5 performance of “Pyramus and Thisbe” is perhaps the Bard’s most sustained exploration of the limits of theatrical illusionism—and of The events in the wandering wood are in themselves, and regarded as in broad that theatrical illusion’s strangely moving power. As far as I know, no great work of daylight, not merely melancholy but bitterly cruel and ignominious. But yet by criticism exists on this play’s experiments with empty space. As often happens, the the spreading of an atmosphere as magic as the fog of Puck, Shakespeare contrives work on stages has outpaced the work on the page. to make the whole matter mysteriously hilarious while it is palpably tragic, and mysteriously charitable, while it is in itself cynical. He contrives somehow to rob tragedy and treachery of their full sharpness, just as a toothache or a deadly danger from a tiger, or a precipice, is robbed of its sharpness in a pleasant dream. The creation of a brooding sentiment like this, a sentiment not merely independent of but actually opposed to the events, is a much greater triumph of art that the creation of the character of Othello. 18 19 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2012|2013 SEASON • Issue 2

Each classroom’s vision is then looking fairies. Leaving this idea, the supported by the set, costume and class moved on to discuss a more Opening up New Worlds sound design choices. Before students realistic interpretation: high school. The STC’s Text Alive! program invites students to re-imagine the classics can develop their concept, they must relationships in Midsummer hit close by Hannah J. Hessel first be able to separate “what events to home for many of them as they happen in the play” from “what the discussed manipulation and crushes. play is about.” The events of the play Of course, the Mechanicals rehearsing (i.e. “what happens”) form the plot their play would clearly be the Drama and help to inform the meaning (i.e. Club. When asked what the forest “what it’s about”) that the audience would look like in this high-school is left with as the production ends. interpretation one student raised his The class starts by breaking down the hand and said, “The forest would be plot, allowing the entire room to be prom. It’s a place where wild things… clear on the “what happens” before where anything can happen.” tackling the “about.” This distinction is not easily apparent for students As a fly on the wall taking notes in but given a prompt from the teaching this high school classroom, it was artist, students begin to share phrases, hard to not get inspired. I may steal such as “love is easy to manipulate” that forest-as-prom idea! Hearing the or ”love is dangerous,” that reflect ideas bounce around the room was a their understanding of the play. The reminder that creativity is ceaseless. class debates which ones they wish to One may see A Midsummer Night’s Text Alive! students perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2003). explore and votes on one to investigate Dream, or any other play, over and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one magical forest. Here’s the breakdown: deeper. In the West Potomac High over, and each production springs of the most frequently produced of 14 classes read the full play, take School drama class, where I watched from a new source, whether it be the Shakespeare’s plays, has undergone workshops on plot, language and School Programs Manager Vanessa world of imagination, one of puppets many transformations. The students design and then rehearse a scene. At Hope work with students, they chose to and theatres, or the world of teenage in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s the conclusion of the program all the focus on “love is easy to manipulate.” It reality and the wild and forbidden Text Alive! program have the students come together to perform was clear from their lively and spirited night of prom. At the Text Alive! free opportunity to learn firsthand how on the Midsummer set at STC’s Sidney discussion that their creative minds performance on Saturday, December theatre artists create new worlds Harman Hall. were already well at work thinking 8, at Sidney Harman Hall, the audience out of classics. I had the opportunity about the implications of the word will be introduced to 14 unique to sit in a Text Alive! classroom as As part of the production process, “manipulate” and the various ways it interpretations of A Midsummer Night’s the students discovered how to the design workshop is an important can be visually expressed. Dream, each acted and designed by mesh their own artistic aesthetic component of the curriculum. students. Together these students with the needs of the play. According to STC’s Resident Teaching The class discussed two possible will have collaborated in the creation Artist Jim Gagne, “Students who are worlds that highlighted the theme of many new worlds. And there is During the past 22 seasons, STC’s not natural performers can find their of manipulation. The first suggested inspiration to be found in each one. Text Alive! program has introduced theatrical voice.” Instead of focusing world for the play was a puppet Shakespeare to D.C. students through on how to perform Shakespeare’s world. The metaphorical manipulation experiential learning. Over the course words, the spotlight gets placed on would manifest itself literally as the of a semester, classrooms around the elements of production. Since each fairies pulled the humans as life-sized the area learn, develop and produce class needs to produce a scene, they marionettes. They discussed the Hannah J. Hessel, STC’s Audience Duke Theseus, the lovers and other Enrichment Manager, is in her second season a Shakespeare play. This semester, must develop a concept statement. at STC and holds an MFA in Dramaturgy students are diving into Athens and the members of the court as bright and from Columbia University. childlike compared to the more human-

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Join STC for A Mini-summer night’s dream This FREE abridged performance of four scenes from the play will feature STC amily eek! Teaching Artists and include an interactive discussion geared toward younger audiences. Each performance will be held in The Forum in Sidney Harman Hall. F W For more information, please call 202.547.5688 or email STCCommunity@ Bring your family to a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream during ShakespeareTheatre.org. Family Week (December 11-16). Step inside the theatre for a play within a play that will transform into an evening of magic and laughter with A Mini-Summer Night’s Dream performances Shakespeare’s beloved romantic comedy re-imagined as you’ve never seen Tuesday, December 11, 2012 – 11 a.m. before. Children will have the chance to explore the play creatively through Wednesday, December 12, 2012 – noon hands-on activities and crafts in the lobby before performances courtesy of (part of STC’s free Happenings at the Harman series) our Presenting Education Sponsor, Target. Saturday, December 15, 2012 – 11 a.m. The “Family Four Pack,” priced at $120, includes four tickets in the Sunday, December 16, 2012 – 11 a.m. Mezzanine section of Sidney Harman Hall to any performance during Family Week. Buy online at ShakespeareTheatre.org/FamilyWeek or call 202.547.1122, option 1, with promo code TARGET. A MINI-SUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM PERFORMANCES SUN MON TUES WED THUR FRI SAT Please note that your party must include a minimum of one patron between ages 5 and 17 per purchase. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer or be applied to DECEMBER previously purchased tickets. Offer for specific performances and seats. All standard fees apply. No refunds or exchanges. Other restrictions may apply. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 11:00 12:00 11:00 FAMILY WEEK PERFORMANCES 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 11:00 SUN MON TUES WED THUR FRI SAT DECEMBER 9 10 11 12 13 14 2:00 15 A idAfternoon’s ream 7:30 8:00 8:00 8:00 Special Family FestivalM Celebration to supportd Family Week outreach. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 2:00 Celebrate the season with a magical production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Following the show, enjoy a sneak peek at the magic behind the illusions on stage, as well as a party with family–friendly activities on the Orchestra Terrace, fun, food and drink and the chance to meet the stars of the show. Tickets are $125 each and include the show with premium seating, reception, behind the scenes experience and activities. These special ticket prices support Family Week at STC including discount tickets for families, free tickets to underserved families, free performances for young children and pre-show activities throughout Family Week. To purchase tickets, please call 202.547.3230 ext. 2312 or email TWagener@ ShakespeareTheatre.org. Saturday, December 15, 2012 2 p.m. show. 4:30-6 p.m. event Tickets: $125

22 23 SUN MON TUES WED THUR FRI SAT NOVEMBER 15 16 17 8:00 8:00 8:00 18 19 20 12:00 21 22 23 2:00 24 7:30 7:30 7:30 8:00 8:00 2:00 25 26 27 28 29 30 7:30 7:45 O 7:30 B 8:00 8:00 PERFORMANCE CALENDAR DECEMBER 2:00 1 A AUDIO-DESCRIBED 8:00 B BOOKENDS 2:00 2 3 4 5 6 7 2:00 8 7:30 D 7:30 7:30 Y 8:00 8:00 8:00 C C CLASSICS IN CONTEXT 2:00 9 10 11 12 13 14 2:00 A 15 D PAGE AND STAGE 7:30 8:00 T 8:00 8:00 2:00 16 17 18 19 20 21 2:00 22

L ASIDESLIVE 7:30 S 7:30 P 8:00 8:00 2:00 23 24 25 12:00 26 27 28 2:00 29 O OPENING NIGHT 7:30 7:30 8:00 8:00 8:00 P POST-SHOW CAST DISCUSSIONS 2:00 30 7:30 S SIGN-INTERPRETED T TWITTER NIGHT Y YOUNG PROSE NIGHT

Want more? Check out Asides Online for photos, updates and full versions of excerpted articles in this issue. Asides.ShakespeareTheatre.org

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Bookends Classics in Context FREE FREE Wednesday, November 28 Saturday, December 8, at 5 p.m. 5:30 p.m. and post-show The Forum in Sidney Harman Hall The Forum in Sidney Harman Hall Respond to the onstage production Explore the production with this in a roundtable format with savvy immersive discussion event. Pre- and theatre panelists. post-show discussions give complete access into the world of the play. Twitter Night FREE Thursday, December 13 Page and Stage Sidney Harman Hall FREE (formerly Windows) Use hashtag #STCnight to join the Sunday, December 2, 2012, at 5 p.m. online conversation from the theatre The Forum in Sidney Harman Hall lobby or from home. Hear insights on creating the production from the artistic team FREE Post-SHOW Cast Discussion and local scholars during Wednesday, December 19, post-show this lively event. Sidney Harman Hall Extend the experience. Talk with the acting company after viewing For more information, visit the production. ShakespeareTheatre.org/Education.