Apparently, we in America have made improvements to A midsummer Night’s Dream which are now the gold standard. Here is a comparison of the Dramatis Personae of Midsummer in Shakespeare’s original, and our new textually improved American version seen at most Festivals. What is so excellent about the American model is that it provides a template that just has to be plugged in, the director does not have to spend all that time reading the play, and can focus their attention on the real work- Directorial Concept, or as they are better known “audience distractions”.
Shakespeare’s Original
THESEUS, Duke of Athens
EGEUS, father to Hermia
LYSANDER, in love with Hermia
DEMETRIUS, in love with Hermia
QUINCE, a carpenter
SNUG, a joiner
BOTTOM, a weaver
FLUTE, a bellows-mender
SNOUT, a tinker
STARVELING, a tailor
HIPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons, bethrothed to Theseus
HERMIA, daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander
HELENA, in love with Demetrius
OBERON, King of the Fairies
TITANIA, Queen of the Fairies
PUCK, or ROBIN GOODFELLOW
PEASEBLOSSOM, fairy COBWEB, fairy MOTH, fairy MUSTARDSEED, FIRST fairy
American “improvements”
Oberon*- he of general “magical quality”
Theseus*- he of general magical quality in different “Mortal” clothes
Titania*- she of large headpiece, or she that has special Gymnastic skill- see Silks or Contortion.
Hippolita**- she of Amazonian quality; I.E. “athletic” see- The Xena Warrior Princess Cannon, or she who is lost in role until play within the play where generalized drunk heckling behaviour seems like a good choice.
* These roles must double because in Shakespeare’s time actors doubled.
** The “y” in Hippolyta is dropped in favor of “i” because the “y” seems too Shakespearey.
Egeus- he of advanced age, no union affiliation, and inconsistent memory- I.E. cheap.
*Lysander- he of good-looks and recent M.F.A. in Acting- I.E. cheap.
*Demetrius- he of general lover quality and recent M.F.A. in Acting- I.E. also cheap.
* Must look good with shirt off for mandatory “we are in the woods and everything is crazy and sexual, so we lose our shirts” scene.
Hermia- Small fiery one with child-like voice, or “the pretty one”.
Helena- Tall awkward one with glasses, or “the ugly one”.
Bottom- From the Saxon for- “fat funny one”, or aka “audience favorite”.
Quince- From the Saxon for- “fussy queen”.
Flute- From the Saxon for- they who will make Thisby’s death speech turn very tragic and thus providing the director with what they perceive as an original idea.
Snug, Snout, Starveling- From the Saxon meaning- they of comedic body shapes, or they who act like their characters are functionally retarded and on work release.
Puck- They of ambiguous gender -must be played “spritely” with “spritely” gestures see- Peter Pan.
1st Fairy- They who were of second choice for Puck, or the “multi-cultural’ version of Puck.
Fairies- They of the Acting interns- hired for their “talent” I.E. good-looking girls of a certain age performing stylized modern dance while acting Fariy-ish, or they of the professional actor’s summer fling.
In the beginning there was ritual and transformation……when the Gods were asked to appear and transform space, body and time…in this world man took on the essence of the Gods transformed himself into any element any creature…later we searched to solve the mystery, to define it, and in essence kill it…..we distanced, we commented, and we dwelled in form..theatre languished in irrelevance, a social event and nothing more…soon a theatre based in personae and ego seemed like the answer….there was no room for ritual and transformation and the cult of the actor’s personality was born……without transformation there is nothing…..without an awareness of space and energy there is nothing……theatre that lacks these basic principles in order to become more real and definable while simultaneously shunning mystery is doomed to death…..if that is all we want then we are watching art in a mausoleum full of dead things….
The stuff and nonsense blog 