A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Introduction. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is very aptly named by William Shakespeare. It mixes reality with fantasy in such a way as to make the audience feel as if they’re truly dreaming. The central themes are love, uncertainty, and mischief. Oberon attempts to reduce the complexities of the lovers’ relationships, but due to the mistakes of his assistant, Puck, he actually complicates them instead. Theseus and Hippolyta take no part in the play, but surround it as the framework through which to see the lovers’ quarrels and Oberon’s meddling unfold.

Costumes. In designing costumes, the idea is to separate the two distinct areas of reality and fiction. The lovers and the theatrical troupe, however, are firmly between the two realms, and thus their costumes should be a cross between the two areas. In addition, one of the most fascinating things about Shakespeare is the uncanny ability to place his plays in any time period, crossing eras of fashion in a heartbeat. I think this could come into play here, as well.

I think it would be interesting to have a historical approach to the “reality” half of the play. Instead of the Elizabethan England, let’s set it in the French Baroque period. There should be a huge class difference between the two adults, Theseus and Hippolyta, and the lovers, Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia.

Consider a more woodland-style for Oberon, Puck, Titania, and the other fairy creatures. The more organic the fantasy characters can be, the better — leaves, moss, twigs, etc. Titania and Oberon should have a more majestic appearance — laurel crowns, higher quality moss-jacket. In other words, fewer twigs, nicer leaves. Puck’s should be messier, less formal but not less impressive. Puck is essentially the Forest of Arden Chief of Staff, so he needs to carry some authority in his looks.

Lighting. The lighting can aide in bringing the audience out of reality and into fantasy. Since we have two distinct areas, we can have two distinct lighting designs — one for reality, one for the forest. Both should be full-stage. The whole stage should change when the lights change, not just specific areas. For the reality bit, the lights should show a beautiful, sun-lit forest glade with golden rays shining through the treetops. Within the dream, the lights should turn into a dark forest with the sun going down, giving the feeling of a mischievous maze or the potential for a dangerous encounter.

Scenery. The set needs to be semi-flexible. It needs to shift from “reality” with Theseus and Hippolyta to a dream-like Forest of Arden. There should be multiple ways to get onstage, as Puck and the lovers will be entering and exiting, entering and exiting, and there should be the feeling that the lovers are lost in a maze, while Puck knows each nook and cranny of Arden. Hidden entrances and obvious entrances should help confuse the lovers and enhance the audience’s perception of Puck’s native intuition. There should be plenty of obstacles for the lovers to trip over and use to dodge each others’ affections.

Titania and Oberon should have two separate areas where they appear when alone, and one space where they appear when they’re together. Oberon’s area should give a clear view of Titania’s area, as he’s often daydreaming about her while talking to Puck. The more hidden Oberon and Puck’s area, the better.

Objective. The objective is to firmly establish reality with the wedding, then quickly and fully submerge the audience into the dream of Shakespeare’s Arden. The audience should be taken on a roller coaster ride, where they are fully able to suspend their disbelief and ask themselves, to take a word from Ronald McDonald, “Do you believe in magic?”

Mother Courage

Director’s Note: This concept was designed with collaboration from Wil Robinson, light designer.

Introduction. Bertolt Brecht wrote Mother Courage to make a point, not to entertain. The whole play attacks the notion of war, and the characters themselves spend more time talking about how horrible war is than anything else. Even as they decry war, because of their greed, they support it. The idea here is to be as nonrealistic and obvious as possible. Let’s break the fourth wall and push these ideas across to the audience.

Scenery. This is the fun part. Let’s put a backdrop of scaffolding and pipes. Let it look like a work in progress rather than a finished scene. There should also be some rear projection screens for the quotes that begin each scene. Mother Courage and her family spend a great deal of time pulling a cart around. Consider putting it on an elliptical turntable to throw the audience off and again remind them that this is theatre. Up-stage center should be an entrance from which the wagon will appear in the beginning and towards which the wagon will disappear at the end. In fact, all entrances and exits should come from upstage.

The wagon is the centerpiece of the play, being the main set piece and object referred to over and over again, but it is also symbolic of the greed and selfishness that Mother Courage so well represents. In order to establish that she keeps the wagon for greedy purposes, let’s fill it with items that are only useful from a sales point of view, things that would only generate profit in times of war, such as bullets, belt buckles, medical supplies, an extra wheel, etc. Don’t include anything that Mother Courage would use herself, as that would be counter-productive to the profit principle.

Costumes. The fun part about the costumes is that they can be anything. The costume designers have the go-ahead to make them whatever era and time period they wish to use. The entire cast should be a hodgepodge of caricatures from different time periods and geographical locations. For example, The Cook can be a French chef, The Chaplain an Irish priest. Mother Courage, naturally, should look like a bag lady. Yvette needs red boots, but the rest is unimportant.

Lighting. Harsh, bright, focused lights. As many breakups as you dare — gobos galore. No frosting lights.

Props. Every prop should be worn, dusty, old. Most of these props will go in the wagon. Canned food, jars of items, bullets, rags, a wheel, rusty tools, etc.

Objective. Brecht is making a point about war being horrible, with greed ruling over all. He is not trying to entertain audiences. Break the fourth wall, make this obviously epic theatre and nonrealistic. Harsh lights, an “unfinished” set, an elliptical turn-table, and shifting costume periods will all contribute to smashing the audiences’ perceptions and push this point home. Mother Courage’s choices brought this onto her and her family, not God, not the government, not Fate, not anybody else. Her greed brought the tragedy down upon her. Everything should point towards this revelation.

A Raisin in the Sun

Introduction. Lorraine Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun to be a brutally honest portrayal about a black family trying to find its place in white society. She meant for the play to show that whites and blacks want the same things: to live in comfort, in dignity, and with a reasonable amount of success. She also meant for the play to show that whites and blacks have the same problems: poor decision-making, greed, discrimination. In that light, my concept for A Raisin in the Sun is a traditional, but stylized one. In the interests of originality, I’ve added my own little twist.

Scenery. Some of my favorite TV shows growing up were “Get Smart”, “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, “Mr. Ed”, and “I Love Lucy.” When I first read A Raisin in the Sun, I thought of those TV shows. In light of that, let’s make the sets black-and-white (actually, shades of gray). Let’s make it look like an old TV show’s set. The idea is to show how stuck in the past most of the family is, to show how old-fashioned they are, and to add some extra symbolism regarding the underlying racism themes.

Costumes. The script describes the time period as “Sometime between World War II and the present.” I think it would be fun to set the play in the 1970s. This is a time period in which the actual Civil Rights movement is over, but there is still a lot of lingering troubles for African-Americans. The wide variety of fashion styles in the 70’s gives plenty of options for costumes for the characters in the play. Staying true to the black-and-white TV style, consider making the costumes for most of the characters either shades of gray or khaki. Beneatha, on the other hand, is the wave of the future. She’s years ahead of her time, as far as African-American equality and feminist equality, and as such, her costumes should show a bit of color. Not too much, but enough to make her stand out from the rest of the family. Asagai, as a foreigner and a true African, should wear a tribal dress, obviously, but we can give him a little color too (again, not too much, and probably not as much as Beneatha).

Lighting. In order to maintain the old-fashioned TV show set, the lights need to keep the set looking gray and old. There should be little color. The lights should cover the whole set, mostly lights-up and lights-down. In a few scenes, it’s night time, so let’s turn on a lamp and add some lighting to bring more light to the actors’ faces.

Objective. I feel a mostly traditional approach is best, because this play is written to make certain points about a certain time period and certain people. However, I also feel the black-and-white approach will help highlight the differences between Beneatha and the rest of her family, between the Youngers and the white community, and the underlying symbols of racism, distrust, and crippling tradition.