This production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is set in a non-time that is heavily based on the first half of the 20th Century. The Opening War sequence drew heavily on the images and sounds of World War I, World War II and the Cold War. The costumes of The Loves, The Mechanicals and The Court are all based loosely on images from the 1900’s through to the 1950’s. As this was an extremely tumult 50 year time span for most of the world I drew a strong comparison between the continued confusion of this half century and the opening war between Athens and the Amazons. The idea of a post war society and the effect that this collective experience has on this play is one that I have never seen explored, I was keen to delve into these themes.
The Fairy Land represented the humanities ancient fear of the un-known. It looked at the idea of moving into a dark area time and emerging altered. In order to highlight this concept I chose to treat The Fairies as lost fairy tale characters. As people who entered the woods and were irrevocably altered by their experience; they have themselves become part of a darker world. It is for the audience to decide if our Lovers escaped this fate or if they themselves were significantly altered by their time in the wood. This theme was heavily explored through the characters of Demetrius and Helena. Perhaps their “happily-ever-after” wasn’t quite as happy as we would generally like to think.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was performed in 2013 at the Gremlin Theatre, St Paul, Minnesota.
Produced by Mission Theatre.
DIRECTOR
Penelope Parsons-Lord
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Shelley Burton
DESIGNERS
Set design Craig Fernholz
Lighting design Michael Kelley with Penelope Parsons-Lord
Sound Design Joe Gamble
Costume Design Penelope Parsons-Lord
CAST
THE FAIRIES AND THE COURT
Theseus/Oberon Michael Kelley
Hippolyta/Titania Andrea Rose Tonsfeldt
Philostrate/Puck Victoria Pyan
Snow White Fairy/Egeus Amanda Johnson
Little Red Riding Hood Fairy Amy Vickroy
Rapunzel Fairy Maria Signorelli
Sleeping Beauty Fairy Ilana Henckel
Gretel Fairy Lindsey Hunter
THE LOVERS
Lysander Matt Ouren
Demetrius Brennan Blickhan
Hermia Anneliese Stuht
Helena Abby DeSanto
THE MECHANICALS
Quince Antonio Duke
Snug Alex Barniskis
Bottom Craig Fernholz
Flute John Gebretatose
Snout Kim Egan
Starveling Rachel Linde
