Unit 2.1: Changes In Performance And Interpretation Homework

Changes in Performance and Interpretation

A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as being played at the theatre has also been made into ballet, opera, books, film and television programmes.

Benjamin Britten wrote the music for the opera performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which premiered on the 11^th June 1960 at the Aldeburgh Festival. It was again performed in 2005 at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden with the Tiffin Boys Choir and many well-known singers.

In 1999 The Royal Shakespeare’s Society director, Michael Boyd, instead of portraying the play in the middle of a warm summer chose snow falling with the characters in winter clothes.

In Shakespeare's Globe the audience did not expect realism from the props and believed anything in the script. When Oberon said, `I am invisible,' the audience believed this as there were no camouflaged costumes or blended backdrops. These days, the audience expect much more than just words.

A modern playwright uses much more detailed stage directions compared to the basic ones used by Shakespeare, who used straightforward instructions such as, `Enter Puck.' Detailed directions were not necessary because Shakespeare would have been there at the time telling the actors what to do, and how to do it.

Due to the lack of stage directions telling us exactly how Shakespeare imagined his play, modern playwrights must make up their own interpretations of the play and they do this through their own choice of actors, lighting, music, effects and direction.

This explains why there are so many interpretations of the play, for example the BBC version directed by Jonathan Miller, which portrays Hippolyta with a tan and a modern hair style. Theseus and Hippolyta do not seem to be in love and Helena who is supposed to be blond and fair is actually ginger, ugly and has glasses. There is hardly any lighting and the set and atmosphere is dull and dark, as are the costumes. Although the play was meant to be set in Athens, at the beginning it is as if the characters are in an English castle.

In contrast, the Twentieth Century Fox Version of 1998, directed by Michael Hoffman, was set in Italy and contained classical, cheerful music and lit up, flying fairies. In this version Theseus and Hippolyta were very much in love and Hermia was pretty and so was Helena who had long blond hair. The costumes were very bright and colourful and the production exciting, lively and bright.

Paddy Johnson 10S1