Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta Ústav slavistiky Magisterská diplomová práce 2016 Veronika Psicová Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta Ústav slavistiky Literární komparatistika Veronika Psicová Adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – a case study Magisterská diplomová práce Vedoucí práce: Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph. D. 2016 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor for his advice, patience and support that he provided throughout the whole semester. I would also like to thank the whole Gypsywood Players for the unforgettable semester spent with them. Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 2 A brief introduction to Shakespearean era’s performances ....................................... 3 3 A brief summary of A Midsummer Night’s Dream ................................................... 8 4 The genesis of A Midsummer Night’s Dream ......................................................... 12 4.1 The genesis ....................................................................................................... 12 4.2 The name game ................................................................................................ 14 5 Possibilities of staging A Midsummer Night’s Dream ............................................ 16 5.1 A Midsummer Night’s Dream – 1909 adaptation ............................................. 16 5.2 Were the World Mine ....................................................................................... 29 6 The Gypsywood Players .......................................................................................... 39 7 A brief timeline of events of the autumn 2015 and spring 2016 semesters ............ 41 8 The Gypsywood Players’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream in December 2015 ......... 42 8.1 Script ................................................................................................................ 43 8.2 The first audition .............................................................................................. 44 8.3 Šlapanice .......................................................................................................... 45 8.3.1 Music and musicians in Šlapanice ............................................................ 48 8.3.2 Costumes, props and stage design in Šlapanice ........................................ 50 8.4 The first half of the semester ............................................................................ 51 8.4.1 Actors and directors .................................................................................. 51 8.4.2 Costumes and props .................................................................................. 54 8.4.3 Musicians .................................................................................................. 56 8.5 Telč ................................................................................................................... 57 8.6 The end of the semester .................................................................................... 60 9 Decisions and changes ............................................................................................. 61 9.1 Era decisions .................................................................................................... 61 9.2 Costumes, props and stage design decisions .................................................... 63 9.3 Roles decisions ................................................................................................. 64 9.4 Music decisions ................................................................................................ 66 9.5 Script changes .................................................................................................. 67 10 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 72 Appendix 1 –The whole list of all the adaptations by the Gypsywood Players (from newest to oldest): ............................................................................................................ 74 Appendix 2 – Suggestions and reflections of what to improve to the future .................. 76 What The Gypsywood Players did not do that could have been done or can be done in the future performances ............................................................................................... 77 1 Introduction If you take a play and consider every single aspect of that play (e.g. actors and acting, costumes, props, music, etc.), you will get some result. If you take the same play and change just one aspect – a director, (a part of) actors, costumes, props or even different premises, the result will be different. If you give that exact play to a completely different group of people, the difference will be enormous. The thesis focuses on the process of creation of a play – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare – and explores several aspects such as actors and acting, costumes, props, stage design, script and music and to what extent they influence the final result. The most important decisions that were made shaped the final result of the play. Therefore, the thesis focuses not only on these final decisions, but also on decisions that were rejected, the reasons why they were rejected and how such decisions (if accepted) would influence the whole play. The thesis investigates what are the most important aspects in the process of creation of such play. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part consists of a brief overview of Shakespearean (or Elizabethan) era and how was theatre and theatrical performance different from present-day performances. It also includes a short genesis of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a few moments of Shakespeare’s life and what influenced him to write the play. The second part is dedicated to various possibilities of A Midsummer Night’s Dream adaptations which includes two film adaptations – probably the first film version of this popular comedy from 1909 with classical staging and a modern homosexually- themed version from 2008 set in a U.S. high school. The reason for that is to show an 1 immense number of possibilities of adapting any play, in this case A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The third part contains my own research of the Department of English and American studies theatre group The Gypsywood Players and their adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, mapping the most important steps and decisions during the creation process that shaped the play and influenced the final result. It includes also decisions that were considered but rejected and how they would influence the play if they were not rejected. The last part contains my own suggestions and reflections of what more could or should have been done but was not to improve the creation process in the future. 2 2 A brief introduction to Shakespearean era’s performances In order to understand any piece of art, one should at first have at least some basic knowledge of the given period. That includes for instance circumstances under which the piece of art came to life. In this case, it is essential to acknowledge the most important events or things happening in the background of the Shakespearean (or Elizabethan) period, what shaped and influenced Shakespeare before we want to further analyze any piece of work. It is vital to recognize what was the period and people like, too. Shakespeare was a product of his period, there were things that influenced and inspired him to writing. Analyzing the play itself without any further knowledge of the historical background and the theatre practices in the Elizabethan theatre would be a pity. It is not that the works would be misunderstood if we did not have these pieces of information. However, completely new perspectives can be opened because many things in the literature would otherwise escape the reader and they would lose their meaning. One might think that the concept of theatre has not more or less changed throughout the centuries. However, there are several notable differences between the modern 21st century theatre and medieval British theatre. As Shehrazade Zafar-Arif, a Shakespeare studies student finishing her MA studies in London at the King’s College explains, the most significant distinction between the contemporary theatre and the theatre in the 16th and 17th century is the concept of director that did not exist in the Shakespearean period. The actors filled this position and they were their own directors. Rehearsals then and now were completely different, too. As the paper was scarce and expensive in the 16th and 17th century, actors got only scripts with their lines. The last 3 line of the actor who spoke before were included, so the actors could easily follow each other. Moreover, if the whole play was split into pieces, it was difficult to steal it. Actors usually rehearsed alone at home and practiced the whole play together only few times, usually once or twice the evening before the performance. These practices are visible also in A Midsummer Night’s Dream when Peter Quince gives each mechanical their parts to learn and to practice. All of them are supposed to meet in the forest the following night and rehearse the play together. It is just one night before the Duke Theseus’s