#hermia x helena x lysander x demetrius

[mortal-sarah]

The four lovers being a ployquad in the Bridge Theatre/National Theatre 2019 production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

[lohstandfound]

thinking about shakespeare x bmc

[hitchell-mope]

Doctor Who meets A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Danny Pink. Demetrius.

Clara. Helena

Rory. Lysander

Amy. Helena

Twelve. Oberon

River. Titania

Eleven. Puck.

Jack. Bottom

Saxon. Theseus

Donna. Hippolyta.

[ladyannelister]

I want an adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream where, at the end of night, the final dose of Puck’s love potion causes same-sex pairings among the lovers: Hermia + Helena and Lysander + Demetrius. And then the two couples lived happily ever after!

[murphismycat]

If anyone hasn't seen this yet, you MUST. Not only do we have the amazing Kit Young (Jesper Fahey) as Lysander, singing, dancing, and acting his heart out (Wylan is quaking), we also have CANON Helena x Hermia, Lysander x Demetrius, Oberon x Bottom, and a bunch of other twists and additions that make it fun to watch no matter your experience with the original text. It's a really amazing example of how something like Shakespeare can be translated to modern times. Also, it's just a FANTASTIC production.

It's only available until July 2!!!

[moonprincess92]

ok ok ok so the pop-up globe theatre is back in Auckland and i went once again, this time to A Midsummers Night’s Dream and lemme tell ya it was a Hoot!! 

- it was an all-male cast, so all the female characters were played by males 

- Flute was played by a transgender actor, which made the line “Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming,” like 1000000x funnier 

- when Hermia was escaping into the woods with Lysander, she called out, “I have just a small bag!” and proceeded to chuck an entire fucking suitcase over the balcony 

- all of the main fairies were played by Māori actors, so they spoke Māori like the entire play 

- honestly u have not lived until you have heard shakespeare only in Māori lol 

- during a scene together, Lysander completely forget his line, and Hermia ended up finishing it for him. she added, “We love each other so much, we finish each other’s sandwiches!!!!” 

- she then promptly forgot what her next line was 

- the star of the entire show was clearly Helena. the dude playing her was ahdhjfdgf AMAZING she was practically sobbing as she cried, “How came her eyes so bright?” One girl in the audience then yelled out the answer, “MASCARA!!!!!” Helena promptly stopped crying and sassed out, “Not in this era, honeyyyy.” 

- when lysander was suddenly proclaiming his love her her, helena mouthed “WHAT THE FUCK?????” to the audience 

- lysander was literally rolling around the stage as he screamed his love, to the point where he nearly impaled an audience memeber with his sword 

- lysander and demetrius got into a glove slap fight over helena 

- Quince and his men were played as tradies working in a construction company who dabble in acting. their name was Sweet Ass Mechanical Solutions. 

- the climax of the whole Love Quartet involved an overdramatic fight scene of lysander/demetrius/hermia/helena all running, screaming and wrestling around the stage, at some points even falling into the audience and using audience members as human shields 

- after the giant fight scene and all was finally silent again, Puck exclaimed, “Aue! Pākehā...” which basically translates to “White people, amiright????” 

- Demetrius said, “Let us recount our dreams, I think you kicked me in the nuts at one point!!!” 

- when Theseus was reading out potential plays to watch, they were changed to include things like “The Bachelor: Season Finale” and “Brexit: a musical tragedy in nine acts” 

- when Bottom asked if they would like an epilogue to the play, the cast all groaned but the audience started cheering and chanting “EPI-LOGUE! EPI-LOGUE! EPI-LOGUE!!!!!!” 

- we didn’t get an epilogue 

- but we did get amazing dancing and acting and honestly, this was the best version i’d ever seen 

- YALL ARE WELCOME x 

[thereinafter]

Dear Yuletide Writer letter below (warning, this is a very long text post). I’m requesting:

Magdelene & Terazin/Terizan stories - Tanya Huff  Midsummer Night’s Dream - Shakespeare The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon The Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix E. Harrow

Hello, Yuletide writer! Thank you so much! I’m also thereinafter on AO3. I like and am delighted to receive a wide range of things. Feel free to mix and match my prompt suggestions or come up with your own idea. I’m good with whatever rating of fic you want to write and any tense/person/structure. (And to cover other types of gifts, I think interactive fiction is very cool if someone happens to want to do that, and would be happy to get art treats.)

I’ve copied my signup below with a DNW list for each fandom, and those are followed by my long general fic likes list.

—————

Magdelene & Terazin - Tanya Huff Terazin/Terizan, Swan

(Note: this fandom tag covers a group of short stories by Huff that have appeared in a few out-of-print collections, and apparently the spelling of Terazin/Terizan varies by edition. I’m using Terizan, following the currently-available-in-ebook Swan’s Braid and Other Tales of Terizan.)

So, Swan’s Braid is a fun quick read about the master thief Terizan with a canon f/f ship that’s also quite fun (though the mercenary captain Swan only appears in a couple of stories). Some things I love about it: sword-and-sorcery-and-heist adventures, thievery competence porn, Terizan almost literally stealing Swan’s heart after having a big crush on her, the two of them being really into each other. I would like more of any/all of those. Fine to mention other characters like Terizan’s friend Poli, just not as the focus.

Prompts:

Terizan needing to steal Swan again from somewhere/break her out of somewhere?

Since Swan is away most of the time, do they ever write to each other? I like a good epistolary story. What if Terizan had to give thievery advice by letter?

A little shared adventure from Swan’s POV, since the stories are all from Terizan’s?

I missed nominating her, but these two interacting with Magdelene the lazy wizard from the other half of these stories (available as Third Time Lucky) could be fun, if you’ve read them/want to.

I would be easily pleased by something cute/humorous/fluffy about one of their reunions. Also not averse to PWP, although I do like a little plot.

Or use anything else from the long likes list at the end of this letter that strikes your fancy. A few that might be interesting in this world: holiday gifts, masquerades, magical accidents, time loops, bathing/caretaking, huddling for warmth, wilderness survival.

DNWs: setting AUs, pregnancy/parenting by requested characters, death of requested characters, unhappy endings, daddy/mommy kink, noncon, a/b/o, scat/watersports/vomit/spitting

—————

Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare Helena, Hermia, Titania

(Full text of the play is here, among many other places.) This request was inspired by seeing the National Theatre Live 2019 production with Gwendoline Christie, which is sadly unavailable to buy/stream now. If you've seen it and want to draw from it, great, but entirely not necessary! Just going by the text is fine.(That said: one unusual element I loved was that it swapped roles/lines for Titania and Oberon from act 2 scene 1 on, such that Titania is the one ordering the enchantment of the others, so if you feel like making this happen as an optional detail, lovely.)

No need to include all three characters if your idea doesn’t. Other characters from the play can be mentioned, just not a focus. I’m interested in Helena and Hermia’s friendship/rivalry, and in what else it could be, given lines like Helena’s speech here: “ … Two lovely berries moulded on one stem; So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart; Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, Due but to one and crowned with one crest. And will you rent our ancient love asunder, To join with men in scorning your poor friend?” and Helena being generally over the top about Hermia’s beauty.

Prompts:

There’s a long tradition of setting AUs for Shakespeare and it’s one case where I like them a lot. If you want to translate the story to a nontraditional setting like “in space” or “knights” or “small insular college” or “bohemian artists” or “Amazons” (considering the presence of Hippolyta) or something else I haven’t just thought of, I would be into that. Or if you want to focus on Titania more than the humans, something variations-on-a-theme like “X times fairies interfered with human romantic entanglements”?  Along similar lines, I feel like there’s crossover potential with other “fairies behaving badly” stories like Goblin Market, Tam Lin, Sir Orfeo, etc. (so if you want to try that, other such unrequested fandoms are OK to include for this request).

Or for other gen ideas, could be a slice of life past or future scene or Titania looking in on what Helena and Hermia are up to in the past/future. does the magic on Demetrius wear off eventually? Or what if they went back into the wood again, as older women, looking for the fairies?

If you want to go with me on shipping Helena/Hermia, do they have repressed feelings for each other? Does the night make them realize it without magical encouragement? Or do they get the flower juice in their eyes and act on said feelings to whatever extent? (Open to going in a sex pollen direction with this, but I’m more into it for the disinhibition/magical sex aspect and would prefer no humiliation or regrets. Also open to including Titania if you do.) Do they end up running off together or with the fairies somehow instead of staying with Demetrius and Lysander? Do they go back to their lives but remember that night?

DNWs: death of requested characters, genderswap of requested characters, high school AU, underage sex, daddy/mommy kink, noncon (the canonical dubcon of the fairy enchantment is OK), a/b/o, scat/watersports/vomit/spitting

———————-

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon Eadaz du Zāla uq-Nāra, Sabran Berethnet, Cleolind Onjenyu

(This is a standalone epic fantasy novel published in 2019 and can be found wherever you get books.) Things I loved about this book: canon slow-burn queen/protector f/f romance, dragons both evil and good, order of dragonslaying assassin mage nuns, court intrigue, sprawling world with lots of intriguing details. No need to include all three characters I requested (although if you think of a way to, that would be interesting). Fine to mention other characters, just not as the focus.

Prompts:

So, I loved Ead and Sabran individually and together and would be very happy to read missing scenes between them during the timeline of the book, or long-distance pining afterward, or time(s) they reunite.

I was really drawn in by the worldbuilding and all the varied places we see, and I’d love further exploration of any part of it through these characters. The dragons and dragonspawn creatures, the different mythologies/religions, the different courts. The trees: What happened to the hawthorn and mulberry? Are there other undiscovered ones/will new ones ever grow? Sterren: What else can it do? Can Sabran learn it given her ancestry?

I wished the book had spent more time at the Priory itself. What does Ead do when she goes back? What was her youth/training there like?

Following that: I requested Cleolind because I would just like to read more about her than the book gives us. Something exploring her more as a person, her experience being a sacrifice to/fighting and defeating the Nameless One, her rejection of Galian Berethnet, her relationship with Ead’s ancestor Siyati, her founding of the Priory, or whatever else would be great.

DNWs: setting AUs, death of requested characters (exception: Cleolind’s canonical death is OK), pregnancy/parenting by requested characters (Sabran’s canonical pregnancy is OK, mentoring successors is OK), daddy/mommy kink, noncon, a/b/o, scat/watersports/vomit/spitting

———————-

The Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix E. Harrow Adelaide Lee Larson, Jane Irimu

(This is a historical fantasy/portal fantasy novel published in 2019 and can also be found wherever you get books.) When I read this I liked January’s story, but her intrepid portal-adventuring mother Ade and governess/protector Jane were the characters who most interested me. I’d love to see them develop a friendship. Or: they both have such compelling backstories that I’d equally love a fic centered on just one of them, before or after the events of the book.

I don’t really ship them with each other, so this is mainly a gen request, apart from wanting to know more about Jane’s past relationships. I was very fond of the Ade/Yule love story and it’s fine to mention him or January or other unrequested characters, just not as the focus.

Prompts:

A story from Ade’s travels: a Door where she didn’t find Yule (the St. Ours mansion, the selkie door, Toussaint Louverture’s door, Red Cloud’s door, the door to Locke’s homeworld, the door in Istanbul where she came back with dragon scales? and how did she learn about them all?), run-ins with the Society, building the boat, the time she spent sailing in the Written before finding him, the Doors she searched from there after she lost him again.

A story from Jane’s 22 years in her adopted homeworld of the wereleopards—her experience of discovering it and meeting the leopard-huntresses, or adapting to their society, learning to hunt monsters with them? Or she mentions having “two husbands and a hunt-wife” and I’m especially interested in the latter—what does that mean, how did they get together, do they find each other again?

Helping Jane find her way back: How does Jane get in contact with January’s family again? Does Ade decide she’s not done with adventure and go along if January reopens the ivory Door in Kenya? Or if that’s thwarted for some reason, use her knowledge to help Jane look for another Door? Does Jane visit them in the Written? Do the two of them help hunt down the remaining Society members or return Locke’s stolen collections?

I’m massively fascinated by all of the other worlds through the Doors referred to in the book, and further exploration/worldbuilding of any of them (even the ones only mentioned in a few words) would be great, whether from Ade’s or Jane’s POV as an explorer post-canon, or told in found documents or artifacts, or from the POV of the residents visited by these strangers.

DNWs: setting AUs, death of requested characters, unrelenting bleakness/hopeless endings, PWP for this fandom, daddy/mommy kink, noncon, a/b/o, scat/watersports/vomit/spitting

———————-

General likes

If something’s not on this (long and probably overkill) list, that doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t like it, but I enjoy these things pretty reliably. Take from it as you wish, all of them are good alone or combined. (It’s mainly a fic-oriented list, but if you do art for me for an exchange and want to incorporate something here, great!)

for both gen and shipfic: Friendships, partnerships, rivalries, and relationships between women, complex and powerful female characters, adult characters with some level of life experience Lighthearted fluff and humor Slice of life/ how the characters manage everyday life stuff in canons where the focus is more on big dramatic events Casefic if the characters do cases or missions: anything like another episode or chapter or adventure from the canon Epistolary or “found documents” stories, and other unconventional story structures Time loop stories, Rashomon-style stories, and other sets of variations on a theme (including “five times” fic) Canon divergence AUs, meaning “what if x event in canon went differently” Worldbuilding/exploration of the canon world and backstory, especially parts unexplored in the canon; also, in-universe stories, songs, mythologies, histories, etc. Holidays, rituals, celebrations; balls, masquerade or not; dancing, romantic or not Magical accidents causing weird things to happen Heists, rescues/jailbreaks, solving mysteries Court plotting, etiquette/complex social rules, intrigue, spying Road or sea or space trips, wilderness survival situations, exploring ruins/haunted places/caves/dungeons/etc. Swordfights, duels, tournaments, sparring, training for all kinds of fighting Monastic communities, priestesses, witches, hermits, anchorites Characters doing things in disguise, whether they’re good or bad at it; bodyswap as a subcategory of both this and forced intimacy Characters making things for others, whether it’s art or music or crafting or food or magic or whatever, and giving gifts Artists (in any art form), artistic rivalries, artist/muse dynamics, artists inspiring each other, artist or crafting communities Competence/being very good at what they do (but perhaps awkward or lost in other contexts); relatedly, learning/practicing/teaching others new skills

for shipfic (pre-relationship, get-together, and established-relationship stories are all interesting to me if I like the ship) Everything above plus: Pining and crushes, preferably requited in the end Intensely emotional romantic moments or cute fluffy/silly/playful moments Angst with happy endings Repressed feelings, extended UST, slow burn, revelations of feelings Loyalty/dedication/faithfulness/devotion, us against the world, knight/queen dynamics (either one-way or where both consider themselves the knight to the other), bodyguarding, protectiveness, love conflicting with other loyalties, noble self-denial and sacrifice, courtly love Longtime friends to lovers, partners in adventuring or work or crime, old friends meeting again, old enemies who aren’t really anymore and have to admit they like each other, rivals who respect each other (enemies to lovers is more likely to work for me if they become friends/allies first, and I love pairings with a long history together) Ascetic/hedonist or repressed/libertine or inexperienced/more experienced pairings Stoicism, bad at feelings but has a lot, good at feelings and good at hiding them “The grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one,” or alternatively the two grumpy/intimidating ones who are soft for each other when no one’s looking Secret/forbidden relationships as a source of angst and/or for the excitement of sneaking around (though I prefer infidelity not be the reason, unless it’s a forced/political marriage situation) Forced-intimacy-by-circumstance tropes like bedsharing, huddling for warmth, fake dating, marriage of convenience, handcuffed together, dreamsharing/psychic bonds, whether in a lighthearted or angsty way Hurt/comfort, fighting beside each other, facing external threats together, rescuing each other, tending each other Snuggling/bathing/dressing/playing with hair/other caretaking Moments where the couple just gets a break from everything to be together

for sex scenes: cuddling, kissing, laughing, eroticized hands and voices, clothed/semi-clothed sex, complicated undressing, talking whether emotional or joking or dirty, asking for things, curiosity/discovery, playfulness/inventiveness, eagerness/desperation, being overwhelmed by feelings, having to keep silent or hold still, interruptions and delayed gratification and intentional teasing/drawing things out, body worship, sex against walls, informal mild kink (e.g., tying up, holding down, blindfolding, taking direction, scratching/marking, tearing clothes, mutual roughness), sexy letter writing, one fantasizing about the other, decadence, voyeurism/exhibitionism, writing/painting on skin, sex pollen, magical or magic-enhanced sex

[midsummer-nights-horror]

Midnight Horror’s Music Masterpost

Mili- Gertrauda (the song with a secret meaning)

This song fit perfectly with the prologue as it has a fantasy vibe to it and at the same time it’s sung in a language that doesn’t exist. It uses the bases of both Latin and Ukrainian. Nobody knows the real meaning behind it except for Mili. 

Narumi-Gravity (Chapter 1) 

I thought this song  would be fitting for the start of a story like this (especially as it is based of a specific video-game genre) It’s soft but gets faster and more intense as it goes. 

Mili-Rightfully A song about reclaiming what is yours (Chapter 2 )

this song has some pretty interesting Lyrics. there’s a part where that says  “No fairness is needed for pigs” and it talks about reclaiming something that was originally theirs. This is pretty much the way that Demetrius sees his love towards Hermia (the love being something that belongs to him, and the pig being Helena and Lysander.) 

A nostalgic dream - Peter Gundry (Chapter 3) 

this song states Lysander’s downfall pretty well. Aside from the name it’s a soothing piece of music that fits pretty well with the dreaming theme 

Mili - Bathtub Mermaid (Piano version) (Chapter 4)

This describes Helena’s character and her love towards Demetrius pretty well. She degrades herself for the sake of the love that she feels for him and would even be capable of hurting herself just for the sake of seeing him happy. (A toxic and dependent type of love)

Utopiosphere - Mili (A world that seems perfect) (Chapter 5) 

Describes how Lysander and Hermia confine themselves in a bubble where they believe they can do anything for the sake of love. Thinking that once they escape, their world can become an utopia

Marigold -  M2U & NICODE (Chapter 6) 

Marigolds represent light, enlightenment and a new beginning 

M2U X NICODE - Stellar (Chapter 7) 

Just the general vibe that the song gives off is similar to what Helena is feeling. Her moods go from sweet and soft to something more intense and fast. 

Mili - Fable (Chapter 8) 

The name of the song stands for what Hermia and Lysander both are going through. Lysander’s peacefulness and serenity come from a state of lucidness in dreams while whatever Hermia sees with her own two eyes seems like only a fable to Lysander. 

Bathtub Mermaid - Mili *umber cover* (Chapter 9 ) 

It is the same as Helena’s song back in chapter 4, the big difference being that it is now sing by a male. The roles have been reversed and now this is how Demetrius feels. He is quite literally observing the world through her eyes.

Mili -   With a Billion Worldful of Love (Chapter 11)

Helates to Helena’s growth and view of  love. She would always wish to be loved by Demetrius and she wished to be the one who gave him strength. As time passed, she realized that in that life it would be impossible for them to love each other truly, so she gives up in the hopes of them being able to do so in their  next life. 

Mili - Boys In Kaleidosphere (Chapter 12) 

The protagonists in the song had a forbidden love for each other. One of them was killed by the Jabberwocks that lived in that world. As the other jumped off with the corpse in his arms he said “If we get another life I hope we’re not human at all” Then, they are both reincarnated and able to love each other

That is similar to Hermia’s last wish  

[lohstandfound]

..... hypothetially, which combination of the popular kids should make up lysander & hermia and demetrius & helena? no particular reason, definitely not planning a midsummer night's dream au fic

richbrooke and royal pains? royal pains and richbrooke? richjake and pinkberry? pinkberry and richjake? rich x chloe and brooke x jake? brooke x jake and rich x chloe?

[hitchell-mope]

I’m thinking of a celebrity au for supergirl

Karamel. Highly successful triple threats. Actors. Singers. Models. Kara models Prada. Mon El models Ralph Lauren. Mon El is a stage name that he uses for his music career. His real name in this is Mike Matthews. Their niche is Shakespeare. They’ve won multiple awards for a cross cast musical production of Hamlet. It secured them an EGOT each. And now they’re working on a sci-fi epic film version of Romeo and Juliet.

James x Lucy. James used to be a highly serious dramatic actor but now he’s breaking into comedy. Luckily. Lucy’s a very caustic standup comic (think Don Rickles and Patton Oswalt). So they’re creating their own show together. They just need to convince the studio to let James play a wacky optimist

Samantha x Winn. Samantha’s a soap opera actress. Ten nominations. And only one consolation award. But that hasn’t stopped her from trying though. Winn’s a multitalented stage actor. Singer, actor, lyricist, choreographer, writer and director. In fact. His directorial debut was the Hamlet production that Kara and Mon El won awards for.

Brainia. Also Shakespearean actors. They once played Lysander and Hermia alongside Mon El and Kara as Demetrius and Helena in a midsummer night’s dream. It was actually how they all met. Now they’re starring in a big screen remake of cheers. With Nia as the fun loving barkeep and Brainy as the stuffy intellectual

J’onn x M’gann. J’onn used to be an actor. He even won an Oscar for his first film role. But a personal tragedy led him to retire and now he’s Kara and Mon El’s bodyguard. M’gann works at Grant Talent as a 50% shareholder and personally represents Samantha and Winn

Lord’n’Luthor. Lord is a washed up action star. His biggest claim to fame was a bit part as Nicholas Cage’s murder victim in a Z lost horror film ten years ago. Lena’s not that much luckier. She’s been kicked off every tv and film set she’s been a part of for absolutely ridiculous prima donna behaviour. And now she’s being sued by Eve Tessmacher for cultivating an unhealthy work environment

Lillian x Morgan. Lillian is a highly respected but extremely volatile soap opera actress playing Samantha meddling aunt. And she keeps trying and failing to use the goodwill she has to save her tearaway stepdaughters concrete headed career. Morgan plays her on again/off again ex husband on the soap. A relation that mirrors real life quite closely.

Cat. A former child actress. Now she’s one of the leading talent agents in the country. She personally represents Kara and Mon El. Would be the first to admit that she somewhat favours Kara more. But she’d cause a scandal just to protect either one of them from harm.

Carter. Prospective child actor. His most wanted role is either Salem in a Sabrina movie, Bart in a live action Simpsons movie or Ariel in the Tempest. And thanks to his his hard work. He’s just got his first role. The voice of the AI on the USS. Montague in Mon and Kara’s sci-fi epic version of Romeo and Juliet.

Ruby. A tad more experienced than Carter. Scared everyone shitless and brought them to tears as the manifestation of her mother’s split personality on the soap opera she stars in. She won a daytime Emmy. Her mother did not.

Alex. Used to be a stunt double until she fractured her ankle. Now she’s looking to break into acting. Her first role. Benvolio in karamel’s R&J sci-fi epic. She’s looking forward to something not too strenuous

Eliza. Alex and Kara’s mother. Famous in her own right. Terrified audiences across the world as Lady Macbeth in an early naughties miniseries. Which was immediately followed by an equally chilling turn as the eponymous character in a Hercules show from Hera’s point of view. Now headlines a medical series examining the politics of a hospitals administration department in the 1980’s. Although she’s also eyeing up a sabbatical so she can return to the stage as King Lear

[amidsummernightsdreambynafi]

LOG 6: REST OF SCENES

In this log I will be talking about the rest of the scenes which are from scenes 7 onward. I haven’t taken any photos of this lesson but took notes and expanded on my blog here.

SCENE 7   

This scene is when the fairies come back onstage after Demetrius and Helena run off and inform the audience about what has happened. The fairies job is to tell the story as it progresses. When the characters disperse from the stage the fairies must linger on and bring that stage presence that they always bring. Children love fairies and magic and so the fairies should show a sweet side of their personalities, almost like the children should look up to them as role models; doing what is right. This is a simple scene in which the fairies explain what has just happened. the end of this scene is a preparation for scene 8, the movement scene between the four lovers. the scene ends with the line “oh look, here they come!” which is an indication that it is time for the next scene and lovers should be in position. 

SCENE 8

This scene is where Lysander and Hermia try to run away but are also met in the forest by Helena running after Demetrius. Their paths cross so we thought of infusing the four lovers in one movement piece. Lysander and Hermia shall be first, slow running across the stage doing large lovey dovey gestures followed by the other couple. Demetrius is literally running away from Helena. The four lovers both go the same way (from one side to the other) before being frozen by the fairies centre stage. The fairies have to give the characters a signal so they know when to freeze. We have a tambourine which would be useful. it should be hit so the lovers know their cue to play ‘musical statues’ and freeze. 

SCENE 9

This scene is where the lovers are being put to sleep from their frozen positions (for our home performance at the theatre, since this is a magical moment the light will change). The king of the fairies Oberon orders the fairies to put the lovers to sleep. The fairies come onstage and start to use the characters as puppets, moving them by using their limbs to place them onto the floor, ready for the next scene. The fairies have to be clear as to where they lay the characters so it does not affect their stage positions for the next scene which is important and the climax of the play. audience interaction could be used by the fairies simply telling the audience to say “SHHH” as they put the lovers down. The child audience would feel as if they helped put them to sleep.

SCENE 10

After the lovers are placed on the floor, they stay ‘asleep’ for a few seconds then wake. This is where the confusion begins so all actions and lines must be clear so that the audience know what is going on. The lovers have to wake up dazed and confused but suddenly love Helena, who isn’t loved by anyone in the play. Hermia wakes up later than everyone and sees that her lover doesn’t lover her anymore, so she picks a fight Helena, thinking that she has made a move on Lysander. There is almost a fight until Lysander and Demetrius hold Hermia back. Helena then leaves the stage. The fairies shall be at the sides of the stage, looking on at how they have messed up true love so by the bang of the tambourine, it is the lovers cue to freeze once again so the fairies can fix things in the next scene. For this scene to work, the boys must act completely in love with Helena, so that the audience can see exactly what the magic has done. The girls must show the anger between each other so that the freeze moment can be effective. 

SCENE 11

This scene carries on from the other scene with the lovers frozen. The king of the Fairies comes back on stage to address what has happened and as always orders the fairies to correct their mistakes. We were thinking of some drifty music with instruments for this scene to accompany the corrections. The fairies once again use the characters as puppets and put them with their rightful lovers e.g. placing Hermia’s arms around Lysander and placing his head on her shoulder and so on for Demetrius and Helena. A tambourine is heard and the lovers then snap out of their ‘trance’ then open their eyes to each other. Everyone must look overly happy and excited to see their partners again. The fairies also must look over the moon that they have corrected the situation.

SCENE 12   

Everything is back to normal with the lovers back together with their partners and everyone is onstage, including Titania who we haven’t seen since the beginning scene. To end the play on a high, we have thought of a song to play for everyone to have a dance to including the children who we will be inviting up to have a dance with us also (we have to pick an appropriate song). We have chosen Tom Jones’ - Its Not Unusual because it goes with the story line that magic is unusual and falling in love is a casual thing. We may have a bit of choreography to make sure that the ending does not look messy. We shall end every performance with a bow in a line. Because of our staging, we have to bow twice; one for each side of the stage. 

Now that we know what to do for every scene, there is no reason that we can’t run though the whole play for the rest of our time that we have left to rehearse. We can start thinking of the play as a whole instead of sections. We need to execute what we have written down what has happened in the scenes and if there are things we need to tweak, we need to make sure we write it down so we can refer back to it. 

by nafi x 

[amidsummernightsdreambynafi]

LOG 5: Changing up the intro

this lesson we had worked on how to introduce ourselves to the audience (script in previous post if no one has a copy)  then worked on scenes 4,5 and 6.

Introduction

To switch it up and to not just go on stage and perform we thought it was a good idea if we had introduced ourselves and interact with the audience. Seeing as we are in their space, we owe them a little talk about the company we are with and ask some questions about Shakespeare to widen their knowledge. Questions we could ask:

- does anyone know who Shakespeare is? put your hands up

- has anyone here seen a Shakespeare play?

- does anyone know a play that Shakespeare has done before?

Simple questions like these the children would be able to answer (certain year groups). the benefits of us asking these questions is that we would know that the children know about this amazing guy who has written loads of plays including the one we are going to perform. Some children would know the story line a bit (even though we have stripped it down to the four lovers and the fairies). Asking the kids questions shows that we care about what they know and that we would be expanding their knowledge if they know the answers.

SCENE 4

carrying on from our last lesson working on scenes 1,2,3 we moved on to scene 4. Scene 4 is when Hermia reads out her letter to the audience. There will be a bench on the stage where I (Hermia) will be drifting on to ‘mind my own business and be in my own element and space’ when a letter suddenly appears. We need to work on how that letter gets to me. The fairies could bring on the letter but I have to act as if there is nothing in front of me. When the letter gets to me, I would just have to look left and right to show the audience that the fairies are ‘invisible’. When i also read the letter, i have to make sure that my facial expressions have to show how upset I am that my father has wrote this letter about me that I am going to die if i don’t ‘adhere to his wishes’. When I have finished reading this letter, I think I should stand and say my last line to the audience which is “My father does not want me to marry my lover.. oh the Gods forbid”. I should be looking for Demetrius so that it leads into scene 5.

SCENE 5

In this scene, Hermia plans to run off with Lysander since her father does not agree with them being together. In this scene, Myself and Ethan (Hermia and Lysander) have to think of the stakes. Thinking of Hermia, her life is at stake as she is leaving her home and starting afresh with her lover but her father may find her and killing her for disobeying him. Since she is running off and disrespecting her father the love he has for her is at stake because he doesn't agree with what she is doing and as she is running away, it would make the situation worse. While I am still on stage looking for my lover, he suddenly appears and he runs to me and declares his love. Both characters have rhyming poems in this scene so points to think of when we perform them:  we do not just perform it face to face, we use the space, go off and seem so entangled in love that we start performing it to the audience so that they know the love is real. We should also be quite cheesy to enhance the performance of me and Lysander to make the love seem over the top. At the end of this scene, we exit off the stage (we still need to work out if we will be exiting left or right to the stage).

SCENE 6

when this scene starts Hermia and Lysander should be offstage and Helena still looking grumpy. Demetrius comes onstage for his first debut to the audience. In this scene we see Helena begging for Demetrius’ love but he clearly does not feel the same. To show this, Laura (Demetrius) should show in her body language and facial expressions that she simply does not feel the same. something as simple as a shoulder nudge while Helena is clinging on to him shows that he is not interested. We want to make sure the exaggeration is there so the facial expressions could be more wider and etc. This scene moves from one end of the stage to the other and I feel this shows that Demetrius is trying to move away from Helena who is way too keen for his love. After he has had enough, he runs off stage, leaving Tavannah (Helena) onstage to have a Bianca moment and scream “DEMETRIUS” and chases after him which concludes the scene.

This rehearsal today has taught me that we need to be at one with our characters and bring them to life onstage. I feel as though some parts of the play I feel quite nervous doing with Ethan but I should use the nervousness to push my character further and the relationship I share with Lysander. Things I could personally work on is sounding more heartfelt and more upset when I read the letter. I feel as if I sound quite flat emotionless. I think I should think about someone actually writing this about me and to bring out the same emotion that I would if it was real. Collectively as a group we could work on energy again this week. it seems as if even though we aren’t on the tour yet, it gives everyone an excuse to perform with low energy and that shouldn't be the case. When we rehearse, we should be performing like we are on the tour already.

by nafi x