A Midsummer Night's Dream Rehearsal

…THAT’S RIGHT, I’M THE GAFFER

In our first week of rehearsing for the children’s theatre adaption of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, inspired by Cbeebies, we ran through our parts to get familiar with performing them. We started with our ‘Sherbet’ cast where I play the simple-minded Gaffer, who had been added to assist children in they’re learning of Shakespeare and to make it easier to take in. Supporting my character in our adaption are Shakespeare (Logan) and Sparks (Becky); with the latter acting as the other half of my comedy duo. I felt that after the audition stage it was the right decision to cast Becky and I as these characters as we always have a very good chemistry and that will of course help with our performance on stage. In our spare time/on breaks, Becky and I could run through lines and rehearse with Logan as well; aiding us to become more familiar with lines and comical timing.

To help us with getting familiar with Shakespearean language, Sally held various workshops for us. Firstly, we were put in pairs to devise any sort of simple conversation, then to apply Shakespearean language to it, changing words like 'you' to 'thou' or 'thee' and 'are' to 'art'. Subsequently, 'How are you?' would become 'How art thee?' if asking a question about a person'swell-being. 

Pau and I were partnered for this exercise and we wanted to eventually build the conversation into an argument between the two of us; we planned a conversation regarding homework and how well we were progressing with it:

P: You alright mate? How's the homework going?

R: Not great, I want to die to be honest. You?

P: Really well, I've got such good monologues to do (laughs)

R: Oh I see how it is, you absolute knob.

P: Fuck you! 

R: You're being an absolute moron!

P: Oh, you are a nasty piece of work!

R: You have dishonoured me!

P: I never want to see you again!

It is obviously a very petty argument that escalates quickly, however we were intrigued to what we would come up with whilst including some Shakespearean language terms to it; this could include adding 'est' or simply 'st' after a verb (words like 'hear' and 'speak' would become 'hearest' and 'speakest'). We were given 'Odd' and 'Troublesome' words sheets to assist our translating of our devised text. After much deliberation, Pau and I said the following:

P: How art thy speeches progressing, friend?

R: Not in the best of ways, one wishes to perish. How art thee?

P: O' the joy! I have politician'd the mightiest of speeches!

R: Thy tax me as a foe, my friend.

P: O fie! Thou art banished you bugbear!

R: Thou hast chop-fallen me thou hobby-horse!

P: Thou art a backbitten sheep-biter!

R: O' the oppugnancy you have graced upon me!

P: Be gone with thee, you beldom!

This provided an insightful session to participate in, as I found myself understanding different aspects of Shakespearean language in conversation. Supported by the fact that both above texts differ so much in style but have the same meaning (the latter a more dramatic representation however). 

Next, we took part in an 'insult class' where we were each given a sheet with three columns that state the structure of a typical Shakespearean insult. In the first and second columns were descriptive words, based as the starts of an insult, whereas there is the noun to 'finish off' the sentence. The middle column, I noticed, often contained double-barrier words such as 'fly-bitten' or 'rump-fed' to perhaps emphasise the insult even more and worsen the blow as a result. We were then divided into two groups, where we would attempt to come up with the best insult using the three-column structure on the sheet. The aim was to utilise the words as best we could, communicating the emotion behind our true disgust at direct it at another member of the opposing groups. Various insults included 'tottering elf-skinned pignut', 'rank reeling-ripe ratsbane' and 'artless beef-witted apple-john' to name a few. 

The third exercise involved Sally extracting verses from anything written by Shakespeare and splitting them up and then we would have to put them back together in the order we thought correct. Many extracts were from of Shakespeare's sonnets, or plays such as Hamlet and Macbeth; the language proved to be very intricate and almost backward, yet understandable. In our group, we would always come close to completing the original but would struggle with the order of verbs as it is very different to nowadays; for example,

'Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature' 

was put as

'Yet nature hath fought with discretion so far'. 

We had obviously got the gist of what was being said, it was just the order in which was much derived. However, this exercise was very helpful on the organisational side of Shakespearean language as structure has a pinnacle role in his works as it could be argued that it is what makes them so profoundly unique.

JUST ANOTHER ATHENINIAN?

My character for the opposite ‘Liquorice’ cast was the Athenian Demetrius who is in love with Hermia; I recalled the performance at the Globe Theatre, where Ncuti Gatwa was the same role. He was aggressive and oozed authority, therefore I wanted to liken my performance to Gatwa’s portrayal of the character; the only big obstacle being that we are performing to children and I didn’t want to come across as scary or threatening.

Demetrius can be seen as a main antagonist in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I wanted to communicate this to the young audience with what precious stage time I had. For this, I got used to tilting my head upright to demonstrate how high authority I was, or how high my character thinks he is. In addition, myself and Jack C (as Lysander) comes on in a pathetic brawl in which we both scurry on behind Egea (Becky) and Hermia (Chloe H) into our positions on stage, physically demonstrating our mental fight for Hermia. These continued throughout performances as both characters reference each other in negative fashion, connoting their hatred for one another. For example, in our representation of the script, Lysander (under Puck's spell) says to Helena "Where is Demetrius? Oh, how fit a word to leave this world unheard."

Lastly, Demetrius ends the 'waking up' scene in both versions:

'Why, then, are we awake: let's follow him 
And by the way let us recount our dreams'

Is shortened to

'Let's follow him,
And by the way let us recount our dreams'

This cut version is to make sure the younger audience understand more about what is being said and do not bore them as a result.

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

Shakespearean plays are written with various rhetorical devices purposely enforced; most to create a mood for a scene or to explain a character's emotion in it. Normal text is written in Prose (a text with no rhyming scheme or pattern); however there are many other language tools used, in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' especially. My characters; Demetrius and Tom Snout the tinker are differentiated by the way that their lines are written; Demetrius is usually seen as spiteful and villainous, his texts are (besides Prose) generally written in blank verse (A rhythm of de-dums, that can be likened to a heartbeat; text follows a five-beat rhythm to give performances momentum) however, is introduced to the play with an 11-beat line;

'Re/lent, sweet Her/mi/a: and Ly/san/der, yield
Thy crazed title to my certain right'

Later, when asked whether he would point Hermia in the direction of her beloved, Demetrius replies:

'I/ had/ rat/her/ give/ his/ car/cass/ to/ my/ hounds'

this indicates that in moments of empowerment, he uses his authority to undermine others (mostly Lysander and Helena as he sees them as his enemies, as, in his eyes, they are the people in the way of a relationship with Hermia) and it could suggest that he puts on a 'hard-guy facade' as he cannot come to terms with his unrequited love for Hermia; as this style of writing usually indicates the character is facing some form of struggle or difficult decision. Another example of this would be in 'Hamlet' when the title character is deciding whether to commit suicide or to live on:

'To/ be, or/ not/ to/ be: that/ is/ the/ question'

this structure also heightens the drama in a play as actors usually use the 'a' and 'o' sounds to communicate a key point they are trying to express.

Rhyming verse is a type of rhetorical device frequently used in Shakespeare's plays and is the easiest to identify. It features in some of Demetrius's lines and is generally to communicate a major plot point, or to make a character's decision obvious to the audience; for example, after Hermia storms off on her quest to find Lysander, he says:

'There is no following her in this fierce vein:
Here therefore a while I shall remain.'

This is to communicate to the audience that he intends to rest on stage, just in time for Puck to enchant him with a love spell that will make him fall in love with Helena; therefore proving as a significant part of the plot. It also strengthens my theory that he initiates an 11-beat line (identifiable in the first line) when in a state of bother.

Full-stops (the caesura) are obviously very frequently used in the works of Shakespeare, interestingly, however, they are never obeyed in texts and characters will instead read until the end of the line. This is to liken his language to real life as when in conversation, people do not have a structured way of speaking and tend to pause when taking a breath in the middle of a sentence; especially valid when someone is speaking about something they are passionate about. For instance, when Demetrius awakes to see Helena for the first time after being put under a love spell, he explodes with compliments for Helena and says:

'O, Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love shall I compare thine eyne? 
Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!'

Many devices are identifiable in this fraction of text including 11-beat line to prove the importance of what he is saying, and rhyming verse to further engage audience members of the time.

WE’RE A MAGICAL TEAM, OF COURSE

This week, we got started rehearsing songs in the play; beginning with our ‘scene change’ sing-a-long which involves a lot of energy, involving Shakespeare reading out what set he needs and Becky and I as Sparks and Gaffer fetch them for him whilst maintaining our rhythm and enthusiasm. We all use the Cbeebies video of the song for inspiration and to draw ideas from, as both actors who play their equivalent of Sparks and Gaffer were always very engaging and goofy; so, I studied them and their movements and facial expressions and tried my own versions of them in rehearsals. It ended up being very well received so I stuck with it.

In contrast, I had not yet had a lot of opportunity to perform as Demetrius or Snout in previous rehearsals, therefore I struggled at first with the heightened approach to the roles. Nonetheless, I feel I brought a lot more to the scenes once I learned my lines with confidence. In addition, Sally challenged us to make all our roles have obvious differences; which I had took into consideration before as all my characters have various personality traits. For example, I regard Gaffer as a simpleton with a child-like mind who’s up for a sing-song; Demetrius is angry and often seen as the villain as he acts on his unrequited love of Hermia; Snout, who plays the wall in the play of Pyramus and Thisby in the play, is like Gaffer in the respect that he is easily confused and has a child-like temperament. James, however, plays Snout with a docile quality and puts on a ‘baby voice’ that allows people to see him as quite innocent yet very stupid.

Moving on, Becky and I were aware that we had a part to play in Nick Bottom’s (Pau) ‘Hum dum diddle’ song. In the performance, he lists the animals that live in the magical forest, where Sparks and Gaffer would intervene with ‘…and the fairies that live in the wood, tra-la!’ then as the list goes on, ‘…and don’t forget the fairies that live in the wood, tra-la!’ and finally,’…we hate to bring it up again, but we think you are forgetting the fairies that live in the wood, tra-la!’. This provided a challenge for us as we weren’t used to singing, never mind at such a pace in the small amount of time we had. At first, we stumbled and could not get used to the speed of the lines and I would find myself mispronouncing words time and time again. I got very frustrated and started to go over it with Becky as she had kept the pace up during rehearsals and after some practising, I became confident with the song and I think it was a morale-boost for both of us.

Later, we were introduced to the last song of the play, which happened to be an ensemble number involving a ‘Bergomask’ dance. This included dancing to Medieval-like tune, which went:

(palm to palm with partner) step forward (beat) two steps back (beat) turn around to meet second partner… (repeat x1)

(hands on hips/fast) step-toe-step-toe-step,

Jump and raise left leg and slap with right,

Shuffle left then right then back at centre,

Shuffle back,

Salute with left hand then right,

Arms out in sailor’s position and turn 360 degrees,

Kick out with left leg, bending at the knee and then the right; slapping with left hand,

Freestyle whilst stationary,

Sway from side to side to ‘Hey nonny nonny’

PROUD, CLUMSY AND VERY LOUD

We then wanted to work on Liquorice cast’s mechanicals scenes as we had mostly been involved with our Sherbet characters thus far. All of us involved in the scenes agreed that we might be more creative with ideas if we step out the performance space for a lesson and improvise and try different things out, without the pressure of others looking on. Although we had started alone, mechanicals from the other cast thought similarly to us and asked to devise privately whilst others work on songs, therefore Katrina tried to direct us, however we were very set on making our scenes our own. Logan hatched an idea that we should come in doing some sort of dance routine, so I suggested a clap, click, clap, click motion - which everyone liked, and so we went along with and tried to improve upon before showing to Sally.  

The idea arose that our march on stage should be followed by a typical ‘boyband’ pose, as it might be funny and ideal for our target audience; we put it into action and we weren’t sure it worked as it seemed a bit awkward just afterwards as we all go very quiet and there was a prolonged silence. We worked with it after showing Sally, however the idea phased out as we progressed with other aspects of our entrance after Sally pointed out that we could add more into our clap and click routine. At first, Sally suggested that we add some sort of song or chant that would be relevant as well as funny; we came up with some ideas and ended up with:

Peter Quince: ‘We (!) are mechanicals (!) and we (!) are proud (!)

Mechanicals repeat: (We (!) are mechanicals (!) and we (!) are proud (!))

Peter Quince: We (!) are clumsy (!) and very (!) loud (!)

Mechanicals repeat: (We (!) are clumsy (!) and very (!) loud (!))’

*(!) signals a clap

We then went on to add some engagement between characters as they walk on-stage as it appeared dull beforehand as it looked like most of us were just strolling on as ourselves; so, the key was to apply character to all dimensions of performance. Subsequently, we thought to add something slapstick as children tend to enjoy minor violence; evident in programmes like ‘Tom and Jerry’ and ‘Looney Tunes’. Thus, we incorporated an entrance that involved me (as Snout the tinker) bending down to tie my shoe-laces while Nick Bottom (Logan) jumps over me; then Max (as Flute, the bellows-mender) attempts to do the same, but I get up in time for him to stay on my back. The idea then was to look so confused as to why this has happened, but the struggle at first was to keep Max up as he would tend awkwardly on my back; as I was in such a position where I could not see him.

After many choreography mishaps, we managed to execute it safely as we got to grips with the timing within the space provided.

Auditions

My Voice has improved during my time on the course yet there are still numerous things I need to improve and maintain to reach my full vocal potential. I have a naturally low pitched voice and therefore am enable to develop my range, however to achieve this I need to exercise my resonators – strengthening my potentially powerful tone.

I first was in pursuit of a contemporary piece that would present my uncomical talents, something I could sink my teeth into, as prior to this I was renowned for choosing comedic speeches that could perhaps engage the audience and affect them emotionally. For this, I researched the play ‘Goodbye Charles’ by Gabriel Davis as Logan performed a monologue from it last year and had me intrigued; therefore, I searched for any similar monologues and came across ‘The Fact Checker’ and ‘Honey, I’m a Leprechaun’, however only the first one provided the contrast I was in pursuit of something gripping and different.

Therefore, I got started with ‘The Fact Checker’ and realised it had a sort of cliché story, a guy tells a girl how in love with her he is but how impossible it is for them to be together; very similar, I thought to a very memorable scene in the 2003 film ‘Love Actually’. Throughout the film, Andrew Lincoln’s character is very distant from Keira Knightley, who happens to be his best friend’s girlfriend, so it is assumed that he hates her; where in fact he is madly in love with her and goes to her door to tell her on Christmas Eve. However, the only difference being that the character Charles in ‘The Fact Checker’ is confused with his love, stating it never should happen to a person like him and is much more out of control and emotionally unstable.

I wanted to absorb his feelings and radical characteristics and enhance them in performance to indicate how out of control and desperate he is. I performed to Karen and she liked the contrast but said it needed more vulnerability at the end of the monologue, where Charles is close to tears as he finally confesses his raw emotions for this girl. I agreed with this as I had become more emotional in previous rehearsals of it; admittedly I felt I had been discontent with the harsh lighting on-stage and so that had a big effect on my performance. However, she said to press on and bring more to it if I were to perform it again.

Furthermore, I had a struggle finding another suitable monologue for a brief period, so I asked Karen and Sally for some suggestions. I received Zeppo’s opening speech from ‘Pomona’ from Karen and Joe’s discourse of his relationship from Jonathan Harvey’s ‘Babies’, the first I got to work with immediately as it was highly recommended from Karen and once I had a read-over, I thought it very sophisticated and supplied a contrast to my other option thus far. On the other hand, the pace of the piece proved difficult for me as it already included many ‘s’ sounds and I would find myself struggling to deal with my lisp; but this may allow me to control it if I were to rehearse the speech regularly. I moved on to the ‘Babies’ monologue and I instantly took a liking to it, as it really moved me the first time reading through. It focuses on Joe, a mid-twenties teacher who gets drunk at a wake and tells the widow’s brother (who fancies him) openly about his relationship problems; he gets very emotional in his time speaking as he has a deep regret not telling his partner his issues with the way they’ve turned out. He speaks of the way they used to be and how things have taken a sour turn as Woody, his boyfriend, develops a drug problem. Overall, the monologue deals with love, drugs and the complications of a homosexual relationship. I worked on this piece and plan to choose it for my contemporary monologue for drama school; this is because I think the character is unique and loveable and I want to challenge myself to get emotional and do the character justice I think it deserves.

For my classical monologues, I wanted my options not only to differ in style as required, but to speak volumes of my capability. Therefore, I was in pursuit of a challenge and wanted a perhaps well-known speech and ‘turn it on its head’ – so to speak. The first contender was ‘All the world’s a stage’ by Jaques in Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’; initially I was reluctant to take this on due to the large age gap between the character and myself, as Jaques is a middle-aged melancholy philosopher who is always seen ‘disputing the hardships of life’.

In the early stages of developing the monologue, I was paired with Max as we discussed our choice of monologues and why we chose them. Of course, I still had Mum’s Speech from Berkoff’s ‘East’ and my earlier contemporary piece from ‘Goodbye Charles’ and so I was only recently introducing myself to the Shakespeare genre through monologue. Max however was taking monologues from the King Henry and Richard plays, most notably from Henry VI where he speaks of regret of a peace treaty after losing a battle to France and about his proposed bride Margaret. He performed, approaching me as an audience and the Duke of Gloucester and he did so with confidence and was firmly in character however ‘corpsed’ when he forgot his line. Despite this, I assured Max that his performance was at a good standard and suggested that he may want to vary his tone during his performance to Karen otherwise it is at risk of being flat.

I then read my monologue to Max from paper, in attempt to familiarise myself with the speech and the complex language used. Nevertheless, it is one of the easiest to understand in my opinion as it obviously treats on the seven stages of man in the eye of melancholy Jaques, with his pessimistic views very much explained in depth. Jaques outbursts in the play with his speech so I wanted to indicate that in my performance of it; prompting me to throw myself into the audience’s ear and thus prove my vocal range has improved and that I have put my restrictions such as my slight lisp at bay. So, I rehearsed at home frequently and did so with a football as a prop – which I thought a risk at first but it would be worth it if it was effective in performance, that and I also rehearsed without it just in case. I then performed to Karen and some classmates and I had a very positive reception from them, some saying it was ‘borderline genius’ but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, I focused on the criticism Karen had said which involved fading out of the end of sentences; meaning what I was saying was sometimes unclear.

My second choice for a classical speech comes from Shakespeare’s ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ – where the character Launce compares his Mother and Father to his shoes and differentiates them by which has the ‘worser sole’. Launce also likens himself to his dog but goes onto say how menacing his dog is for not feeling human emotions. It was fair to say I loved the concept of this speech, yet I was dedicated to ‘All the world’s a stage’ as it was a very physically demanding monologue, and this was also. Therefore, I decided not to spend to long rehearsing and invested my time in finding something contrasting to my first choice.

Next, I came across another Shakespearian play, Othello, and was intrigued by the main antagonist Iago. Iago is known for his deceit and lack of motives in the play as he is described as ‘pure evil’, ’master of mischief’ and ‘an accurate portrait of a psychopath’, having been portrayed by supreme actors such as Laurence Olivier, Ian McKellen, Kenneth Branagh and Andy Serkis. However it is the latter, Serkis, that believes Iago is not as evil as others are making him out to be; he explains, “I believe Iago was once a good soldier, a great man’s man to have around, who feels betrayed, gets jealous of his friend, wants to mess it up for him, enjoys causing him pain, makes a choice to channel all of his creative energy into the destruction of this human being, and gets completely addicted to the power he wields over him,’” and relates it to his performance of the character; “I didn’t want to play him as initially malevolent. He’s not the Devil. He’s you or me feeling jealous and not being able to control our feelings.”

I took this into my stride and wanted to bring the same energy that Serkis did into his performance of the character; for this, I felt I needed to ‘tone-down’ the evil and communicate that Iago is a good person who feels that he has been wronged and so becomes overcome with jealousy. The first half of the monologue I had chosen – ‘What’s he that says I play the villain?’- shows aspects of his sarcastic and vicious personality, questioning the audience half-heartedly why Roderigo thinks him so deceitful and treacherous. He then compares these accusations thrown at him to the actions of Satan; then he reveals his true intentions; to turn Othello against Desdemona and get Cassio in trouble in the process – he later states that the death of Cassio is a necessity. This sharp contradiction is my favourite part in the speech as it then provides a challenge for me; I am not used to that sort of dexterity in a monologue as I have not yet performed one like this.

I practised frequently but every time I would find myself struggling with the contrast. Nonetheless, my group were invited to the library to perform extracts from Shakespeare’s plays, providing me the perfect opportunity to get used to execute my chosen monologues in front of a vast audience. Admittedly, I stumbled on a few lines of both ‘All the world’s a stage’ and my Iago monologue as I was nervous to perform in an unusual environment, but it was a good stepping-stone before I am to perform my finished versions to Sally and Karen.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare's Globe performance and analysis

GOING GLOBE-AL

Shakespeare's infamous Globe Theatre was home to his plays and was generally the public hot-spot for entertainment in the 17th century. Its no-roof rounded and intimate setting made it so that performances were almost that of a pantomime, what with entrances even for 'goodies' (those seen as the protagonist with socially acceptable ethics) and 'baddies' (characters who defy the 'rules' regarding religion and law), named heaven and hell's mouth respectively. The stage also has multiple uses with trap doors scattered around centre stage, acting as graves or if someone appears from beneath; an example being the ghost of Banquo in 'Macbeth', where he comes back to taunt the title character and provide a horrific moment for the audience in order to draw them in. In addition to this, another trap door is placed above the stage and 'godly' like characters might make their way down to symbolise their authority and so the audience would know instinctively their position in the play's hierarchy, much like with heaven and hell's mouth.

Traditionally, Globe performances are held at approximately two o'clock in the afternoon as that was when the day was at its peak weather-wise and therefore would provide the stage with a sufficient amount of light for the actors and audience to see what was occurring. Furthermore, candles would be time-consuming to light up all that was needed and would be a fire hazard as well as expensive because wax was in the 17th century.

The stage from a gentleman's balcony view

Treatment of actors was monumentally different in the days of Shakespeare as they were usually lower-middle class men as women weren't allowed to perform, compared to nowadays where actors are seen as pampered celebrities and are treated with the utmost respect. Actors in those days were given a literal 'role' as, for a part in a play, they were given a scroll consisting of their cues and character lines to avoid any leaks of the script itself. Moreover, if you were an actor in role as someone of a higher class and were caught outside the theatre, you were arrested. The stuttering difference in treatment of actors may be down to the profession getting more popular over time, thus one would have to be more qualified to get a certain role that he or she wanted as there would be more competition.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S THEME

'A Midsummer Night's Dream' was written by William Shakespeare around the year 1600 and is one of his most celebrated and well-known; it is set in Athens, Greece and involves a clash of three 'worlds' or three very different sets of people- The Athenians, The fairies and The rude mechanicals. The play is is popular for its key themes; Magic, Power, Obsession, Love and Lust.

Magic
The play is heavily based around the idea that the more magic you have in your possession, the more powerful you are; as is the idea with Oberon as he almost conquers the fairy and human world through Robin "Puck" Goodfellow, a mischievous fairy. The only flaw to this theory is that Oberon isn't in full control of Puck as he likes to 'stir the pot' so to speak; and the fact that Titania is full of magic and yet she is fooled into sleeping with Nick Bottom in his Ass form by Oberon's magic.

Power
Power is an incentive. And that still is very much the fact in this play. The battle of power and wits is on between the fairy gods Oberon and Titania as they fight over a child Titania has in her possession, who has been passed over from the child's mother, a worshipper of Titania. So this theme could potentially link to jealousy and could then involve part of the relationship between Helena towards Hermia and Demetrius towards Lysander. Both examples linking to Love and Lust.

Obsession

Oberon features again in this theme as he is seen to be obsessed with competing with Titania about the child she has in her possession. This theme could be seen as a weak characteristic in a person as it often drives the character mad and ultimately leads to a sort of downfall on their part. However, in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', key characters like Demetrius and Helena,in theory, get what they want as they end up marrying each other; despite the fact that Demetrius is obsessed with Hermia, he could really just want to spite Lysander and retain the respect he has from Hermia's father, Egeus. Lastly, I think Puck might share this flaw with the others as he has an obsession with mischief; he contributes a lot to the action/ potential problems that arise in the play.

Feminism
Many examples of feminism feature in the play, despite common beliefs at the time that being a defiant woman was unlawful and wrong and that they were in every way inferior to men. This could be, if popular rumour were true, that Shakespeare was an enthusiast on this matter and tried to support his beliefs in his plays.

Hermia is an outstanding example of this as she is defiant towards many powerful men in the play; she defies Demetrius of his false love and her father for his allegiance to him and, simultaneously defies Duke Theseus of his advise to 'think your father as a god'. This shows strength in the character and provides a contrast to Shakespearean times as arranged marriages were non-negotiable, yet all the supposed 'lovers' make it out marrying the one they love. Helena, for instance, is probably the most defiant character in the play as she goes against popular belief that men should be chasing after the women (much like Lysander does as he is desperate to marry Hermia) and then pursues Demetrius against his will and is perhaps the reason, beside Oberon's influence, why the lovers do end up with their preferred other halves.

SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Historically, Titania serves as a very important character as she can be linked to Queen Elizabeth I through her appearance and characteristics. There are references towards her virginity as quoted "vestal throned by the west" and the fact that she is independent and does not rely on her husband for anything and instead defies him strengthens the link. Furthermore, The rude mechanicals can be seen as a parody of Elizabethan actors as Flute plays a woman in 'Pyramus and Thisby', the play within a play; along with Bottom thinking he is higher status than he is, both linking to typical attitudes of actors in their time. These comparisons could have been inputted for the queen's amusement as it brings a special light to the country's 'darkness' and empowers supposed weak characters to differentiate theatre and reality; therefore 'The Globe' acting as a play-on words as it is as if you are escaping to another world.

Robin 'Puck' Goodfellow and the fairies are characters from English folklore and were seen in Halloween events in Medieval times and were seen as pagan and mischievous and as a result were not approved by the puritans - perhaps a further blow to the religion as theatre was also frowned upon and banned when Puritans were in power shortly after the death of Charles I.

ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY?

In today's society, many more things are socially excepted in performance, especially key changes such as women actors and sexual versatility; supported by the modern adaption of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' which could also be seen to perhaps have its flaws. This is suggested in the idea that the play has been modernised yet they still enforce the idea of arranged marriage in which the parents of the children are organised by; with Egeus (Katy Owen) still furious with his daughter's relationship with Lysander (Edmund Derrington). This gives me the impression that they have only modernised it to assist with telling the difference between the three worlds and to reach out to the audience to explain authority through clothing (eg. Oberon with his expensive shades and flashy, fashionable suits, Bottom (Ewan Wardrop) with how he wears his 'theatre staff' uniform and his prepared gear that he wears on his journey from the mechanicals to spending a night with Titania). However, they may have also done this to preserve the play's stakes and it's resolution as to the words of director Emma Rice.

In addition, I would heap praise on how they created Bottom's donkey head as with the complex wooden stick design, they made it possible for us to recognise that it was still the same character and the actor was still 'in the moment' as Nick Bottom.

The performance of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was vibrant as it was eye-opening. Themed in a middle eastern setting, the play focused on a modernised version of itself; with the human and fairy worlds being separated by the obvious difference in clothing - modern costuming representing the human world and Gothic medieval garments in the fairy world. Double cast characters such as Oberon (Zubin Varla) and Titania (Meow Meow) were pivotal to this as they played their equals Duke Theseus and Princess Hippolyta in the human world. Their appearance was brief as the latter therefore they were accustomed to eccentric tudor-like gowns, with Oberon's appearance influenced by how mad he is driven by his jealousy of Titania for having a child in her care; his eye make-up is smudged throughout and his shirt unlaced. Titania's costume is based upon her sexual inclination and appeal as she is always seen in a tight-fitting dress or garments and 'Madonna's Bra'-esque pointed brassiere; perhaps a nod to her overall likeliness to the pop star.

The costumes for Puck and the fairies were an interesting choice as you would not typically liken them to ones of a stereotypical Tinkerbell fairy, however they provided a terrific contrast like that of both Varla and Meow's characters. Puck was seen in all green body warmer and tights with sparkly trainers and horns to perhaps foreshadow the mischief she creates in the play- which actress Katy Owen captures brilliantly; acting as a handful from the very beginning, squirting the audience with her water gun and having to move constantly otherwise bored - giving the impression she has 'ants in her pants'. Her stage presence is duly noted as the audience tended to react positively around her - as she frequently would find herself floating in and out of the standing area to find her way on and off the stage or when action was taking place on the white tables dotted around the 'penny stink-hards'.

The fairies, however, were dressed in extravagant exotic tribe like gear, with materials ranging from ripped up clothing to leaves and flowers. This supported the play's adopted middle-eastern theme as it delivered a fresh insight into a 'fairy world' and their dedicated singing and dancing attitude. Face make-up was also a factor to why I loved their costumes as it appeared as war paint with black stripes across the bridge of the nose; having an affect on me as I would liken their active dancing and threatening appearance to New Zealand's 'Hakka' ritual.

The rude mechanicals were clothed as if they were part of the crew at The Globe and that provided a useful tool for people to understand what their role in society and how their company works. It was an interesting addition that saw them make various puns about their setting to perhaps appear instantly more likeable to the audience as they are a comedic group that provide most of the humour in the play.

Staging was a major piece of why I loved watching this adaption of the comedy drama; its minimalist set left the setting open to the imagination. This was then up to the actors to present to the audience where they were through movement, use of the stage and proxemics.

The people of Shakespeare's day would have seen the original, a completely different version of what I saw at The Globe. Firstly, conditions were much worse back then with no toilets, no interval and a risk of disease or fever as the people were not and could not be as hygienic. Additionally, the performance would have been much heightened in its deliverance as audiences were not as educated and drama was fairly new to them. The idea of homosexuality and sexy, revealing costumes would have baffled past audiences as there were laws against both in public and was even punishable by death. Therefore, they more than likely would not have taken too kindly to the recent adaption of the play.

Earthquakes in London

EARTHQUAKES IN LONDON

 

FAMILY AFFAIRS

 

For our first class for our preparation towards our performance of Mike Bartlett's catastrophe play 'Earthquakes In London', our group were introduced to a workshop revolving around relationship- mostly on characters relationships with one another. Firstly, we were put into small groups to form the Crannock family before and after the Mother (Grace)'s death- through a series of tableaux- with half in the naturalistic style of Stanislavski/Chekhov and the other in the exaggerated and truthful Brecht style. I had the idea that everything should pan out as a family photo shoot to see how character's feelings towards each other change as we could experiment with space (perhaps becoming less close towards one another as time goes on to show a physical disorientation in the family. We also enforced my idea of Freya and Jasmine relying heavily on I (as Sarah) as they did so in their younger years, we demonstrated this during our presentation by (during the Brechtian tableaux) the girls getting closer to Sarah after the passing of her mother, although directly after we staged her death, I thought it necessary that Sarah would be reaching out threateningly towards her father whilst her siblings would be reaching out also, but in need of support as they are blinded by the death of their mother to see the true colours of their father. Therefore, our tableaux could be seen to base themselves around the family dispute from Sarah's point of view.

 

'PERSPECTIVE'

 

We were then asked to create an emotional response to the play; for example how we feel about the characters and any symbolic drawings to display our personal connection with the play and then give it a suitable title. I focused on the views of each character as I drew a 'family chart' and placed Robert on top, staring helplessly at a diagram of the world burning. On it was his beloved wife Grace, saying her line 'How hot am I?'- this indicates that Grace is Robert's world and that she dies with Robert's happiness.

 

Underneath Robert in the family chart were his children, with Sarah looking up towards her father in disgust as she utterly despises the man and would do anything in her power to disown him; under Sarah is Colin, Carter and Simon as they are the characters in the play that she seemingly looks down upon throughout, as they all look up at her in dismay. Beside Sarah is Freya, looking in the same direction as her father as she is focused on the annihilation of the world and is manipulated by Robert's views into believing that she should kill the baby. I have shown this further in my drawing as she lets go of Baby Emily to stress about what she is seeing- with Steve then below her; trying his best to catch Emily and save her from his wife's delusion. Then, next to Freya is Jasmine with Tom by her side. Jasmine appears unsettled, looking down and unsure- uninterested with everything that is occurring as she is in the play; she is cynical and careless, much like her father.

 

Above Robert in my drawing is 2525 drawn with treble clefs around it as it is frequently mentioned in the play; with it first appearing in 1968 in the cafe scene with Robert and Grace, then again with Freya and Steve then finally when Freya meets Grace in a sort of purgatory world where Grace states the year is 2525 and that the world was saved by 'Solomon'- which she then mistakes for Sullivan and thinks she has changed the world for the better and therefore need to return.

 

Furthermore, next to the family chart I drew Parliament and the River Thames with a figure appearing on it, without any footwear as it is addressed in the play that in “mankind's greatest hour of need, Solomon came; a young woman accompanied by only one faithful companion, packed her bag, and came to the city of London. After three days, walking barefoot, she arrived on the bridge across the river, at the centre of the earth, and she spoke.”

 

The questions proceed: who is the young woman? Freya or Emily? Who is the faithful companion? Peter or Tom? So my drawing is open to interpretation as I thought this was the case until I knew when I was reading the play.

 

Therefore, I labelled my drawing 'Perspective' as it clearly shows the main character's feelings towards each other and is, as I say, open to interpretation.

 

James also appeared to have used the same theme of a physical representation of global catastrophe- however just focusing on the earth and represents the catastrophe through spilling the contents of a large coffee cup all over the planet. I thought this a clever insight from James as coffee is another recurring thing in the play. He demonstrates understanding as he has taken extracts from the play that mention coffee and toyed with the idea of it being so popular.

 

THE RELATIONSHIP WORKSHOP

 

Next, we were instructed to pair up with a person who shares a scene with us- therefore as all of my scenes are with Katrina, we paired up and began working on our first encounter- where Carter is frustrated with Sarah's policies and opposing views, and intimidates and patronises her in order to get under her skin to get what he wants. Karen then said to work on dividing our scenes into at least eight still images, four revolving how the characters want to look around the other and the other four about how they actually feel. For this, Katrina and I settled on 6 tableaux that clearly mark the main events in the scene. The main examples include our introductory sequence where we first meet and we act professional to each other’s faces however we would rather not be in each other’s company therefore we transition ourselves from almost ‘plastic’ happy to low energy and unenthusiastic body language (e.g. I roll my eyes with hands to hips and slouching).

 

Our penultimate sequence revolved around Carter being certain that he could persuade her to change her mind about their ‘agreement’. This entails my character offering biscuits as a sarcastic gesture and Sarah being taken back by it. We showed this in our body language this time by showing what was happening in the first sequence then we went on to show authority through physical embodiment as I stand tall over her, a hand gesturing towards the biscuits. Finally, we came to the end of the encounter between the two and focused purely on who thought got ‘one up’ on the other (It being Carter of course) and showed this in our last tableau through movement; the sequence sees me running off in confidence while Katrina is left with a busy mind.

 

I felt that this workshop was useful as it enabled me to see more dynamics to my character and his relationship with Sarah and how I can fully embody Carter for when we enter the rehearsal stage.

 

ONE OF YOUR OWN, PLEASE

 

Like the first task, we were introduced to a workshop involving performing in a naturalistic and Brechtian style; this time involving one of your own memories. For this, we were put into small groups and each told a story describing an event in our lives. Pau gave an example about witnessing a suicide attempt and firstly told the event then put it into action, acting as all characters involved in his story, including the victim. The story was of course more interesting and even added a humorous tone to the obviously serious content, however it just goes to show that the delivery of a story has an impact on how it is received.

 

Next, I told the story of my eventful plane journey home from Florida, and how, in the early hours of the morning, everyone was awakening from the sudden turbulence that rocked the plane. Drinks were spilled, people feinted and I remained in my seat, continuing to watch my third film in a row. Of course, this is a slightly light-hearted story, but when my group came together to recreate it, we brought it to life. Karen then spun it on its head and said to repeat the story but stop when there is anything of note to keep as a tableau, to notice how it also changes the audience perspective on the scene.

 

CHARACTER TYPES

 

We then were introduced to the typical character types by Karen and discussed who could represent these in 'Earthquakes in London'. Firstly, there is more or less a Protagonist in every play- a character that is usually central and drives the action forward. The Protagonist can have high status but always has to make a decision that leads to their demise. Most of the class had no second guesses that it would be someone other than Freya as the story is almost a journey to her demise, however it can be argued that Steve and Robert could be contenders too- as I thought the action follows Steve for a majority of the narrative and he makes the decision to go to Scotland to see Robert, which leaves Freya alone and vulnerable and to her death- acting as his demise also.

 

Adversely, Robert could act as the Protagonist but only as an anti-hero as when his wife Grace dies, he makes the decision to abandon his children as he has been pretending to love them in order to feel normal. This then leads to him turning into a lonely old man with only Mrs Andrews, his maid, to keep him company. This is ultimately his downfall yet it can be argued that the important decision he makes is when he accepts the offer from Roy and Daniel to lie about how gases and emissions will have little or no effect on the environment as he could have alerted the government and not have solely been interested in keeping his family’s financial troubles at bay forever with the massive fee given to him as an incentive to the project.

 

Furthermore, we were introduced to the role of the Antagonist- a person who has opposing views of the Protagonist and contributes to conflict. There was only Robert and Carter mentioned for this role, however Peter could also be on the shortlist for Antagonist as he troubles Freya throughout the play and leads her to grow confused as Peter turns into her unborn daughter Emily and says that in the future, there is nothing but pain and suffering for everyone, and mentions that her and Steve split as she “Only sees Dad on Saturdays”. This throws Freya off the rails and ultimately leads her to her suicide.

 

The Foil shows the opposite traits of a/the main character and as a result, provides a contrast. There are many examples of this in ‘Earthquakes in London’, such as Peter to Freya, The Businessman to Steve and Steve to Robert. I think Steve and Robert serve as the most dramatic contrast as Steve would do anything for his child that hasn’t even been born yet while Robert found it hard to love anyone other than Grace.

 

Finally, the Raisonneur is simply the mouthpiece for the playwright, alerting the audience to what they think is an issue in modern society. In this case, it is both Robert and Tom who serve as the mouthpiece as they address the audience (via Steve, Sarah and Carter) to alert them about the worrying environmental issues that desperately need undertaking or it means the end of humanity.

 

CAN YOU SMELL THAT?

 

In our next session, Karen asked us something peculiar that would then lead on to a mini-workshop; we were asked to introduce smell into our minds when thinking about the play then to think about the themes. For smell, I could only think about Freya's journey in the play and therefore the scent of wet concrete came across my mind as typical London weather would be rainy and, in her trek along the capital, she walked barefoot which made me think only of how the floor would feel like under her feet, leading me to think about wet concrete.

 

We were then asked to consider the themes of ‘Earthquakes in London’ and combine it with how we think the play would smell and come up with a small devised piece focused on both. In the piece, we recreated Waterloo Bridge (Jack saying that he could smell burning and the rotting sea); with four people acting as the bridge and two as the water beneath.

I thought we could have a transition into over working ourselves so then the bridge would crumble due to excess use (a metaphor for the planet) and we would rise in canon to say how we as a species could rise from the ‘mess’. However, due to time constraints, we opted to rise one-by-one and throw scrunched-up paper at the remaining person and, with each throw; we would state a factor of global warming, with most turning out to be key themes in the play.

 

SO, THIS IS TENSE

 

After our first blocking session of Act Three, we (in groups of 3) were asked to draw a diagram of an Act we were assigned to form an 'Action/Tension chart' to realise how the scenes pan out and relate to one another. Logan, James and I were given Act Four to Study and we considered all aspects of emotion in the scenes. Arguably the act with the most action, Act Four or 'Thomas Hood' as its known explores in depth the action of every character's interactions with one another and is the steady build up to a big finale.

 

After this I came across the English poet, Thomas Hood, whom Act Four is presumably named after and discovered that he wrote a poem exclusive to The London Magazine called “The Bridge of Sighs” which entails a young homeless woman throwing herself from Waterloo Bridge to her death. The poem describes the woman as having been immersed in grimy water, but having been washed so that whatever sins she may have committed are obliterated by the pathos of her death. Multiple clues in the poem suggest that the woman was pregnant in this act of suicide and had been thrown out of her home- linking very strongly with Freya's situation in 'Earthquakes In London'.

 

The poem is as follows:

Make no deep scrutiny

Into her mutiny

 Rash and undutiful

Past all dishonour,

Death has left on her

 Only the beautiful.

 

Sisterly, brotherly,

Fatherly, motherly

 Feelings have changed:

Love, by harsh evidence,

Thrown from its eminence;

Even God's providence

 Seeming estranged.

 

In addition, there have been many interpretations of this poem through art, with the most popular response from George Frederic Watts (below, left)in 1850, where the young and potentially pregnant woman is found drowned.

Although Thomas Hood (above, right) is usually regarded as a humorous poet, towards the end of his life, when he was on his sick bed, he wrote a number of poems commenting on contemporary poverty and saw this subject as a valid point to address at the time and as it is proven by 'Earthquakes In London', it still may be. However I think another point Mike Bartlett is trying to raise in their work is that both him and Thomas Hood are both writing about what they think is a relevant point that needs desperately addressing (in Bartlett’s case overpopulation and our ignorance towards human damage to the planet) - this would, as a result, suggest that we needed to, as performers, act in a Brechtian style to imply that we are performing Epic Theatre. This is suggested by the typical nature of a play in the style of Epic Theatre as it breaks the traditional linear pattern of storytelling, which Naturalism encased,  and of course to address a subject of importance so it has a major impact on the audience and makes them think further than the plot and acting and rather the recurring point that the playwright is trying to make.

 

THE START OF SOMETHING NEW

 

Today we started to block the beginning of Act One, after coming to a firm decision on staging for Part One (Acts 1-3) and Part Two (Acts 4&5). It was decided that we divide the stage into three catwalks with extra spaces in between them; at the back we shall have a projector with images shown on the screen relevant to the setting of a scene (for example a colourful image relevant to Young Robert as he is happy and full of joy whereas a bleak, colourless image would be suitable for Old Robert as he has lost his spark and the love of his life whilst developing a narcissistic and self- proclaimed version of himself).

 

It was clear that this first session was not so much focused on our approach to scenes but setting them up instead as it was vital that we organise ourselves before we go on to rehearsing. Karen therefore placed us individually on the stage to get an insight into how we could combine all the scenes as it does in the play. I was then stood behind Katrina on the central catwalk as our first scene together would then take place where James and Chloe are introduced; and my first line allows me time to reach the stool (acting as an office chair- however space is limited as staging is restricting) and toy around with our conversation as Carter is seen to have the upper hand in authority when the two first meet.

 

Although we did not have a great amount of time on stage together, I felt that Katrina and I had developed a good working relationship which I think is essential for these two characters to have as they spent a lot of time in each other’s company and I think it is good to have that contradictory mutual dislike of one another on stage. However, as I auditioned for Carter many times before and worked beside many people as Sarah, I thought Katrina was the strongest candidate as I think each person were judged on chemistry with me as it seemed that I had won everyone over as Carter- perhaps the fact that I have been complimented on my approach to playing an ‘Antagonist’ role as I was most suited to it and secretly had a passion of portraying these exciting roles.

 

OVER TO US…

 

To further our understanding of the play, we put ourselves into groups to explain all dynamics of ‘Earthquakes in London’ as if we were promoting it and trying to persuade an audience into investing in the production to be performed at the National Theatre. For this, we had to explore plot, characters and information surrounding the themes.

 

My first thought was to talk about the playwright, Mike Bartlett and his success with his other works to fixate the idea that we are trying to promote the play; and during this research period, I found something out myself. Bartlett had actually written the story to the BBC drama ‘Doctor Foster’- a six episode thriller that won Suranne Jones a NTA for best dramatic performance; alongside this, Bartlett had seen his plays ‘King Charles V’, ‘Love, Love, Love’ and ‘Cock’ succeed at the National Theatre and has been labelled as ‘One of the most exciting young playwrights around’.

 

After talking about the plot, I thought it would be a suitable time to mention the characters in the play and what role they play in it. Whilst thinking about this, I thought it would be appropriate to bring the characters to life and present our understanding of the play by acting as our roles in our production. This way we could explore the characters and chemistry between them. As Logan and I were in role as Carter and Roy, we could test James as Tom as we have very similar characters as they are in similar positions at different times. Furthermore, this altercation allows us the opportunity to speak about environmental issues and excess, themes that are vital and spoken about by the Raisonneurs of the play, Robert and Tom. And as we had James in character as Tom, it was simple for us to use this device effectively as we wanted a hard-hitting meaning behind our presentation and then exploit the ignorant behaviour of Carter and Roy and potentially our audience. I thought that this was fully justified during our presentation as we made the audience feel guilty for laughing at what was on screen as we used a picture of a tortoise in excruciating pain as it had a McDonald’s straw wedged in its nostril after showing comical images of animals getting stuck. Nonetheless, we stalled a little with pace due to some over-acting on all our parts as we had not long introduced our characters into the presentation before actually showing it.

 

After our lesson, Katrina and Daniella’s presentation came to mind as I thought it was a very well-rehearsed piece that focused on the impact of Natural Disasters and Human consumption. However, it came across to me as if they were trying too hard to impress whilst explaining the plot - which Katrina timed herself  at and I thought it a pointless exercise and could have possibly came across as slightly patronising as they were speaking as if they were presenting to a younger audience. On the other hand, you could tell that they had revised the facts and figures that they presented us with and it was very impressive to see given the amount of time given to complete and submit their presentation.

 

BEING JOHN CARTER

 

For my role in 'Earthquakes in London', I play UK airline owner and entrepreneur John Carter. Carter is obviously very business-minded and orientated and shares his thirst for power and respect with that of his predecessors, named only as Roy and Daniel, seen with Young Robert in 1973 when they persuade him to do a 'study' for their airline. My character uses this as a tactic to get under Robert's eldest daughter Sarah's skin and manipulate her into approving a plan for expansion- introducing more runways and facilities to accommodate as she is the senior government official responsible for any environmental factors.

 

John Carter's 'Over the Top' and exaggerated persona engages audiences as, in the audition period heading up to casting, I played Carter frequently and discovered that I received a better response when presenting the character in a Brechtian manner (Playing him the way the audience would see a typical businessman e.g. cocky and arrogant, prolonging words and use of decadent dialect). I would also encourage myself to liken Carter to many other popular conniving pop culture characters such as Kevin Spacey's performance in 'House Of Cards' as he plays Frank Underwood, a conspiring presidential candidate who would do anything in his power to achieve his goal, to be President and to destroy anyone who gets in his way. This links very heavily with Carter as he is almost willing to conspire against Sarah and Tom to get his way and expand his airline- which is already the UK’s largest, as he says when he attempts to blackmail

Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood

Sarah into approving his plan into getting more runways.

 

In addition, I have also likened Carter to Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish from 'Game of Thrones' as actor Aidan Gillan's performance of the character is very impressive as he shines a light on how selfish and devious Baelish is and how he plays mind games in attempt to get his way- much like Carter with Sarah.

 

Aidan Gillan as Petyr Baelish

During rehearsals, I have been complimented on my approach to playing the character as Karen says my mannerisms are very good and suited to the character but I will have to learn all of my lines to get properly immersed into John Carter. My scenes with Katrina are looking more polished as the weeks go on and I am finding that I am in less use of my script each time.

Mike Bartlett Biography (without pictures)

Biography

Author of ‘Earthquakes In London’, Bartlett was born and raised in Oxford, England and has been active since 2002. The acclaimed catastrophe play, which was staged at The National Theatre in the summer of 2010 and was described by Michael Billington of the Guardian as an "epic, expansive play about climate change, corporate corruption, fathers and children". Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph called it "the theatrical equivalent of a thrilling roller coaster ride", delivering "a rush of invention, humour and raw emotion".

Other notable works

Bartlett's five-part television drama series Doctor Foster was broadcast in September and October 2015. The series achieved an average of 9.51 million viewers, and was one of the most viewed television drama series of the year. In addition to being a critical success, the drama won two awards at the 2016 National Television Awards in the categories of Best New Drama and Drama Performance for Suranne Jones. It's been announced that there will be second series that will begin filming in September 2016.

In December 2015, Polly Hill, the Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, announced a six 60-minute episode television series entitled Press that had been written by Bartlett. Commenting about the series, Bartlett said “From exposing political corruption to splashing on celebrity scandal, editors and journalists have enormous influence over us, yet recent events have shown there’s high-stakes and life-changing drama going on in the news organisations themselves. I’m hugely excited to be working with the BBC to make Press, a behind-the-scenes story about a group of diverse and troubled people who shape the stories and headlines we read every day.”