Need help with play (shakespeare)

[backstagejeff]

hey everyone, I now return for my school's spring play...and to see if my account is still active ( which it still is) and see if anybody had done this show. Well, the play is by shakespeare...and happens to be "a mid-summer's night's dream" -(not sure if that's completely correct) ummm..if anybody has had any problems or suggestions or things you did for scenes..etc.. anyways, ill be back on later this month to ask a few more questions. anything that could help would be greatly appreciated...thanx a million to anybody who can help...

[Tomo]

Shakespeare is one author that nobody can help you with at all, and Midsummer Night's Dream is even more impossible!

 

The reason for this is that every single production of this play is extremely different, as the work can be interpreted in a million-and-one different ways.

Not to mention the oft 'cutting' that goes on - I've yet to see a single production of a Shakespeare work that used 100% of the text. (And most were better for this!)

 

You need to sit down with the rest of the production team and talk about the themes and interpretations for this particular production.

- MSD is a very flighty, imaginative work with a lot of sexual undertones. The emphasis could be in almost any direction!

[Bobbsy]

What Tomo said.

 

Just to give an example, the last production of AMND I did was staged "promenade style" outdoors in some lovely gardens, with the Audience walking around following the action. There were some fascinating production problems to solve on THAT one but I doubt any of our solutions would do the least bit of good for you! (Hmmm...I should see if I can find any stills to put in "Show Your Show"....it was a fun project.)

 

There's only two things worth saying at this point:

 

First, get a copy of the script (you can download it from the Internet so it's free) and read it. REALLY read it until you understand it.

 

Second, realise that, not for nothing is it considered a Shakespearian COMEDY. There is a great deal of humour (sometimes slapstick, sometimes bawdy) in it and if you're not laughing out loud you should go back to point one!

 

Finally, an now with a moderator hat on, your original question was really too general to get any really helpful responses. Once you're actually working on the show, a specific question like, for example, "how can I change the lighting state to indicate the transition to the dream scene" will likely get a lot more useful replies than "any suggestions".

 

Good luck.

 

Bob

[paulears]

I did a tour of this one in stately homes and old castles, all outside. Probably the best looking lighting I've ever designed - AND the simplest. Started with a single God light and ended in a bunch of open white waterproof floods. Lots of long builds and a few area specials. There is nothing as green as real leaves. When Lee make an insect filter, I'll by a roll!

[iamchristuffin]

I've worked on two productions on MSND- one was set in the60's with hippies (titania) and a buddhist cult (oberon) complete with orange robes, and another set, funnily enough, in the middle ages. The 1960's one was a LOT better, because it was in a time probably half of the audience could relate to, and the other half knew about. It was very surreal, with big colour patches, a vivid set, and 'sexy' dancing. If anubisrules comes on again, ask him, as he was the LD

[the source]

Sorry to go off-topic... but I'd love to hear more about Bobbsy's show where the audience followed the action around outdoors... Sounds like a really crazy/genius idea. Very intriguing!

[Bobbsy]

Well, I guess since we're talking about AMND, it's not TOO far off topic!

 

The production was a few years back when I was a trustee/technical helper for a local youth drama group. We were lucky enough to have a professional writer/director (professional enough to have had plays done in London and to earn his living off royalties) working with us as an instructor/workshop leader and the "promenade style" was his idea.

 

To be precise, it was a case of a location inspiring the staging. The grounds at a local school had everything from manicured lawns to (almost) wild redwood forest and even had a mock Greek temple. Anyway, after several years of not managing to go ahead with the project (other commitments, trouble getting people or the location and so on) it all came together about four years ago.

 

What to tell you about it? Well, we planned the start time with a table of sunset times in hand and broke the show into two halves. Part one (sort of real life) was done in daylight with Part two being the dream, done after dark with lighting. The audience were encouraged to bring blankets or folding chairs with them. Getting them to move on cue was handled in a numbr of ways: sometimes actors would play a scene actually walking. Other times we had a live band who would either walk the audience along...or start playing in a new location to lure people over. I also hid some speakers in trees or bushes in strategic locations so I could use FX playback to catch their attention.

 

We got permisssion from a local park/nature reserve to rehearse the show outdoors as well in order to get the kids (12-18 years) used to the need to project outside. It was amazing how much more willing they were to speak up out in the dead acoustic of the outdoors...I think hearing themselves echoing in a real theatre can sometimes be what "scares them quiet".

 

Lighting and sound had to be kept very simple, especially since we had to rig it each afternoon and tear down again at the end of each performance. Lights were a few strategically placed stands of parcans, some TV lights I owned then gelled and hidden in bushes plus a number of birdies being run off 12v broadcast camera batteries...with these the tech crew would leapfrog ahead of the action and re-aim in each new setup. Sound, as mentioned, was just some FX playback into battery powered speakers hidden in trees and bushes.

 

Lots of simple but effective tricks were used by the director. For example, one scene represented fairies by giving all "off stage" members of the cast cheapie (£1.50 at Homebase) torches with bits of gel over the light and have them moving at random in the bushes (out of the main lights) behind the main action. It would have cost oodles to get the same effect with conventional lights!

 

All in all, lots of fun. I may have a few pics on a removeable drive...if so I'll post some links!

 

Bob

[Modge]

It's also a production I should imagine nigh on everyone on here can say they've done....

My weird one was a version set in a night club (worked surprisingly well). All I can say is I learnt an awful lot from it, including a fair bit of what not to do. One tip I would give looking back on it (that I'd say if anything I didn't take enough advantage of at the time) is that the since the second half is set in a dream you can, if you and the director so desire, be really quite surreal.

[the source]

Thank you Bobbsy, fascinating. I would love to see some pics. Never heard or seen anything like it before... I presume audience numbers had to be kept quite low... or should I say "exclusive" sounds better. I'm trying to imagine it, and all I can think of is Golf, where the audience move up the fairway to the green... but watching actors in a play instead...

[Bobbsy]

I've found a few pics and posted them HERE though I know I should have some others that show more of the tech setup. I suspect I've archived them to DVD-ROM and, if so, they're enroute from the UK to Australia, due to be delivered any day.

 

Yes, audience numbers had to be kept low for this to work...we aimed for 50 per night but, on one performance this crept up to nearer 75 without people stumbling over each other. For once the limiting factor wasn't the capacity of the venue but rather just the need to be able to move them fast enough. The biggest issue we found...at first...was the natural crowd reluctance to be "in front" but as people got used to it they lost their inhibitions...in the photos, the daytime shot was early in the show and you can see how people are hanging back...by the pic with Bottom in it, you can see the audience is only feet away and not worrying.

 

Bob

[the source]

I'm going to create a new topic about Bobbsy's show, even if he hates me for it, and even if it only has a short life-span, as I'm so fascinated, and I REALLY don't want to distract from the OP's original post about finding help with his show...

 

Good luck, backstagejeff.

 

Bobbsy, I hope you find the other topic. I will call it open-air theatre - for want of a more educated description.

 

James.

[Andrew C]

Just a couple of thoughts:-

 

Outdoors I tend to go for "Illumination" rather than "Lighting". That's not to say it can't be done, but it IS harder, and the director I've worked with has little idea what he wants, gives few clues and isn't a good communicator to technicians (VERY good with actors though!)

 

For MSND, we bought each of the fairies a mini-Maglight, (maybe a AA) and if you take the lens off, you get a very workable 'fire-fly'. Gave them to the kids at the end of the run for brownie points

[backstagejeff]

Finally, an now with a moderator hat on, your original question was really too general to get any really helpful responses. Once you're actually working on the show, a specific question like, for example, "how can I change the lighting state to indicate the transition to the dream scene" will likely get a lot more useful replies than "any suggestions".

 

Good luck.

 

Bob

Yes, you're right, I'm sorry about the general question, I hadn't really read the play quite yet and just wanted some fresh ideas before some got crammed in my head from a video or something like that. Well now we've begun production and are once again stuck with our measily amount of overused platforms. Upstage left we have a six foot platform about 4ftx4ft(roughly, 1.2mx1.2m) and a 1m high one in front of it (1.2mx1.2m). We want to incorporate "curves" into this section since it is meant to resemble Titania's lair, or whatever it is they call it. We are looking for some kind of wood/material that will bend around the platforms so we can get rid of the 90 degree corners and make it rounded -- more smooth looking to the eye. What kind of material would bend -- not break, and still resemble a curve?

[GridGirl]

You can buy MDF which has lines cut into it to allow it to curve (sorry, I can't think of a better way to describe it!) or if you're careful you can curve ordinary 3mm MDF relatively easily. I have seen people wet the MDF then curve it, which works, but it doesn't always dry into the shapes you want it to...