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Flor Jacome
Professor Muth
DRAMA 1310 T/THU 9:30 11am
22 October 2016
A Midsummer Nights Dream
What is love? According to the dictionary it is an intense feeling of deep affection.

Celebrating 400 years of Shakespeare, the Alley Theatre presents A Midsummer Nights Dream, a

comedy directed by Gregory Boyed, it is playing from October 7th November 5th. A

Midsummer Nights Dream shows the true feelings between love and revenge, love being the

number one concept of the play and revenge having consequences between the characters. The

most important part the audience would have to concentrate is the environment of the theatre,

costumes, and the structure of the play.

A Midsummer Nights Dream was playing on the modern thrust stage of Hubbard Theatre

located on the 2nd floor, which capacitates 774 people. A lot of people around the theatre were

dressed nicely, not to the point of wearing a suit but a nice dress shirt and some slacks would do

just good. The atmosphere was relaxing, the Hubbard Theatre I can say is less intimate then the

Neuhaus Theatre which is smaller and intimate. The stage arrangement was very convenient,

because the stage was a modern thrust stage, which lets everyone face in the direction their seat

is located on. For example, for my seat I was seated on the far left side of the stage, I had a good

view of what was going on from one side of the stage, instead of the middle where the characters

were facing. The actors interacted well with the audience, it was on one scene where the lion of

the plays play was destroying a characters belongings and a prop flew across into the audience

making everyone laugh and have a good time. The environment was appropriate for the play
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because it was set in a forest and also a temple, so the environment created that space needed to

visualize the setting.

The costumes were appropriate for the play, considering it was the Elizabethan era. The

style was beautiful and from afar you could see the detail the costume designer (Judith Dolan)

incorporated in the costumes. They were perfect for the individual characters, for example the

Queen of the fairies (Hippolyta/ Titania) dress was well detailed and it fit her character because

the dress was sparkly yet elegant like a fairies dust. For fitted personality I would have to say

that the costume that the king of fairies (Theseus) wore fit him perfectly. The kings costume

created a sense of authorization in the forest and it also created a sense of power coming from his

character. The design was very beautiful especially comparing the different costumes each

character wore. The fairies costumes were very vibrant and intriguing, for example the side

fairies were wearing some type of transparent fabric and vibrant hair colors, and it gave the play

a more exciting atmosphere. Many differences were made to the costumes comparing the other

characters, especially in some characters where the costumes they were wearing gave you a

belief or a guess of their social status. For example, Lysander wore a more relaxed costume, the

sneakers and a t-shirt compared to Demetrius who wore a nice dress shirt and nice dress pants. It

gave you an inference between who had wealth and who did not.

The play is comic, featuring five workers planning a play to present to the King and

Queen of fairies, resulting into Bottom, one of the characters get turned into a donkey. The play

is fantastic, because in real life there is no such thing as fairies or a person turning into a donkey.

For most of the play there were many fantasy like scenes, for example, the scene where Bottom

is turned into a donkey and he is unaware, from then the Queen falls in love due to an enchanted

flower used by Puck (the kings main fairy). The play creates a message that, no matter who you
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love, you cannot force that person to love you. Another message could be, dont mess with nature

because somethings are unable to get undone. The play is farcical with exaggerations, especially

considering the fact that Bottom was turned into a donkey, the love that Helena had for

Demetrius, and the intensified love Lysander had for Hermia. A Midsummer Nights Dream has a

mixture of serious and comic, considering the fact that many of the scenes were comical and

some were serious when it came to Hermias father wanting his daughter to marry Demetrius.

Overall I really enjoyed A Midsummer Nights Dream, I recommend it to ages 12+ just

like the play requested. I enjoyed the whole atmosphere and the message the play gave, I loved

the characters, and most importantly I enjoyed the costumes. The play made me feel like I was

experiencing the Elizabethan era right in front of my eyes. It was truly a sensational play, I

would totally go see it again, maybe this time I will notice some things that I didnt notice the

first time.