Costuming We are portraying a traditional style and production

for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With costuming this means that the characters will be dressed in English Renaissance and Athenian traditional Greek clothing. I also want to be very minimalist with the characters so accessories will be limited, with the poorer characters not wearing shoes.

Puck costume design. Very simplistic with leaf coving for the body and jazz shoes that are flesh colored.

Our production of Midsummer Night’s Dream will take place in the late 1500’s. It is an old English play so the local will be similar in style to that of old English castles, but the majority of the play takes place in the forest which entails a set with foliage and more straightforward simplistic set design.

For costuming the historical period will be impactful on Hippolyta and Theseus’ costuming because they are the most wealthy and high standing of the plays characters.

Hippolyta style dress with heavier more elaborate fabric and design.

Theseus’ costume will be very regal and given an essence of authority

and power. To accomplish that I am

leaning towards a more military style almost

Greek costuming.

Midsummer divides characters very easily by station within the play. There are the mechanicals that are poor peasant types, the lovers who are middle-upper class and the fairies which are outside of money but are easily defined by their connections to the Earth.

Mechanicals will be in almost rags, simple fabrics that are coarse and light in weight.

Titania will be made to look as Earth-like as possible with wild colors and red or green hair to make her appear flower and grass-like.

To show the relationships between the lovers I want to color code them so that the audience knows how

they are supposed to go together and the mix up done by the fairies is more obvious and easy to

follow.

Lysander and Hermiafor instance could be designed in pink while Demetrius and Helena given similar but blue outfits. Their costumes will be again, traditional renaissance England, but for added mobility for the characters given tights for pants rather than more traditional pants.

The primary theme of the play is the relationship between what is real and what is not. Characters must decide between what is a fantasy and what is reality. The use of magic lends itself to this by creating unlikely circumstances and dreamlike sequences. I can portray this through the costuming of Oberon, who is the driving force behind the confusion and chaos found within the play.

Oberon’s significance is noted by his crown, not only making him king of the fairies but also master of his domain. He is similarly dressed to Titania as Earthy as possible to connect them as both being fairies.

Bottoms costuming has to be specifically designed because he must make the transition from man to donkey. I want this to be as obvious and easy as possible by simply making his head a prop that can be slid on over his existing costume. It should be light enough to not interfere with his movements but heavy enough to stay planted on his shoulders and not slip around which would be distracting and spoil the illusion.

It is essential that all of the costuming remain consistent and fluid between all the characters and archetypes because the resolution of the play brings all of the characters together for Hippolyta and Theseus’ wedding.

The mechanicals will need alternative costumes for their characters characters. These must also be more ragged and light to be consistent with their normal attire.

Overall the costuming for A Midsummer Night’s Dream should be a mixture of more elaborate, colorful and expensive costuming for the richer and elite characters such as Oberon, Hippolyta, and the lovers while the mechanicals will be more basically dressed in light fabrics similar to burlap.

Fairies and Lovers FabricMechanicals Fabrics

Lighting

There would be a combination of lights which would include spotlights, floodlights, or even moving lightings. For the darker scenes ( the woods) there would be more dim lights to give the characters a little evil look. Mostly dark purple or blue lights shining. For those in Athens it would be more spotlights especially for the play scene and sometimes for the palace one.

The visibility for the wood/ Athens would have to both show the mood as well as the performers. The woods we be a little bit darker while Athens would be lighter

colors. For the woods, it’s a darker place with less light.

In order to make the mood a little more distant for the audience, I’d use lights like the one on the right for the woods. On the other hand, for palace it would be more comfy colors.

In order to make the fairies and other people in the woods more mysterious, there would be plenty of

fog around them. But I would use spot lights to emphasize their facial features so that each character is recognizable to the audience.

I would use spotlights like this on each corner of the stage to focus on the action taking place

Since the play does take place in Shakespeare times, there would be a lot of “natural” light on stage during the Athens scenes. Mostly ones to symbolize sunlight

and bring out the natural beauty of the human characters and their lifestyle. There would be an even

distribution of the light over the course of these scenes as well.

For the part in which it takes place in Quince’s house there would be a lot of candle light which would be very dim. Since they are laborers and can not afford major light sources, it would be a little darker but nonetheless comforting in these scenes. I would focus light on them as the rehearsed the play, but not too bright. It would probably be one light on to complement the candle/lantern lights.

As in the Athens scenes I would want to create a more natural flow as well. When people think of woods, they thing spooky as if anything can be

lurking. For this I would like to have small lights in the background to possibly resemble eyes. They would

flicker every couple of seconds to give off the affect of blinking. I would use smaller white, red and green

lights to make the “animals” a little more mysterious.

For the palace there would be plenty of chandeliers that actually give off light to give a more royal ambiance. I would like to include windows where I would have white light coming through if daytime, and darker light coming if it nighttime.

In addition to the flickering lights in the background and the other mood lights these would be in the background. I don’t want them hanging, but wrapped around some of the props that are onstage. Some may hang, but in order to make sure the audience is not distracted they would be in certain areas of the stage.

SCENERY

The Environment

• Thrust stage• Forest setting• Props and tables to

create an indoor environment

• Shakespearean time period

• Affluent characters

The Mood and style

Shakespearean Comedy

Light, humorous tone

Use of puns and witty wordplay

Realistic or Non-realistic?

Fantasy setting Special effects

Fairies

Bright colors in background

Magical Potion

Man transforms to a donkeyThe fact that the play involves a magical love potion and the transformation of a man’s head to that of a donkey’s calls for more of a fantasy type of play. It gives the play a much more authentic vibe than if it were to be realistic.

Locale and Period Forest setting

Old-fashioned, luxurious furniture for indoor scenes

Characters riding horses

Dialogue from Shakespearean era

The location and time period would be of the Shakespearean era and in the forest. The horses (whether actual horses or props) would signify the time period since that was all they had for transportation at that time. The luxurious furniture would symbolize those characters of status and wealth. Also the characters dialogue would be a clear give away of the time period they were representing.

Design Concept

Mainly would be a forest setting

A blue or green tone in the background

Majestic/ Fantasy type of environment

Keep tone light and fun

Simple design to create emphasis on the play itself

Visual Metaphor

The magical potion is a metaphor for how difficult love can be.

Potion causes characters to be irrational and make absurd decisions

Fairy queen falls in love with a Donkey

"the course of true love never did run smooth”