Interrogating a Text
How To Interrogate A Text
1) Read through the text.
2) What are your initial thoughts?
3) Work out the themes.
4) Collect data from the play.
5)Work out what questions the play asks.
6) Test various concepts on the play.
7) What skills/assets do we have as a company?
2) Initial thoughts on Midsummer Night's Dream:
After the read through of the text, I feel excited to do the play because I think the skill needed to over exaggerate when performing Shakespeare is new and different to me. I didn't find it too hard to understand the general plot of the play but some of the words/language used were quite difficult. However, when performing it, I think that it doesn't matter what the words are to get the message across to the audience because the line rides on the action therefore if our actions are elaborate and exaggerated, we can communicate the message clearly. The play is also quite fast paced therefore our transitions need to be smooth and quick when we work on the play.
A summary of the play:
The play begins with the two sovereigns of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta, in their palace. They are due to wed and are very excited. Egeus enters, a high status man of Athens along with his daughter Hermia, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus is angry because Hermia will not marry Demetrius, the man of his choice for her. Instead, she wants to marry Lysander. Demetrius is interested in Hermia and quarrels with Lysander over who she loves. Themes of conflict begin to emerge very early on in this scene and the idea of forced marriage stems onto further themes of patriarchy, a huge factor of the play. Hermia and Lysander decide to run away into the forest, but before they do, we encounter Helena, Hermia's best friend. Throughout the play, Helena is portrayed as an insecure and jealous character who vies for the attention of Demetrius. Hermia's rejection of Demetrius angers her deeply therefore she tells Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander's plans, making them follow Hermia and Lysander into the forest. This portrays themes of jealously and how it can influence us.
Meanwhile, the Mechanicals are having a meeting in the forest, a group of men casting a play due to play at Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Quince is the leader of the Mechanicals and the director of the play. Bottom is an arrogant man who wants to play every character and who sees himself as more superior than he actually is. Next, we meet the fairy spirits. Oberon, the leader of the fairies and Titania, the queen of the fairies who are having an argument over who wins the possession of an Indian boy. Puck, a trickster like character who goes on henchman like tasks for Oberon, including putting a spell on Bottom (from the Mechanicals) to grow a donkey's head and for Titania to fall in love with him. He does this using special 'juice' from a flower.
Helena chases after Demetrius resulting with him rejecting and insulting her. Oberon over hears this. Hermia and Lysander sleep in the forest and Puck the fairy puts a spell on all of the Athenians, except Helena, which confuses who they love. Instead of loving Hermia, Lysander loves Helena. Demetrius now loves Helena too. Hermia still loves Lysander and this leaves Helena confused, thinking it's all a trick. One of the final scenes of the play is a massive argument between everyone and this represents conflict in society, the idea of illusions and what is and isn't real.
After the spell is reversed, a massive wedding takes place, ending with the play by the Mechanicals.
-See Play Research post for any other information on the play-
A summary of the play:
The play begins with the two sovereigns of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta, in their palace. They are due to wed and are very excited. Egeus enters, a high status man of Athens along with his daughter Hermia, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus is angry because Hermia will not marry Demetrius, the man of his choice for her. Instead, she wants to marry Lysander. Demetrius is interested in Hermia and quarrels with Lysander over who she loves. Themes of conflict begin to emerge very early on in this scene and the idea of forced marriage stems onto further themes of patriarchy, a huge factor of the play. Hermia and Lysander decide to run away into the forest, but before they do, we encounter Helena, Hermia's best friend. Throughout the play, Helena is portrayed as an insecure and jealous character who vies for the attention of Demetrius. Hermia's rejection of Demetrius angers her deeply therefore she tells Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander's plans, making them follow Hermia and Lysander into the forest. This portrays themes of jealously and how it can influence us.
Meanwhile, the Mechanicals are having a meeting in the forest, a group of men casting a play due to play at Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Quince is the leader of the Mechanicals and the director of the play. Bottom is an arrogant man who wants to play every character and who sees himself as more superior than he actually is. Next, we meet the fairy spirits. Oberon, the leader of the fairies and Titania, the queen of the fairies who are having an argument over who wins the possession of an Indian boy. Puck, a trickster like character who goes on henchman like tasks for Oberon, including putting a spell on Bottom (from the Mechanicals) to grow a donkey's head and for Titania to fall in love with him. He does this using special 'juice' from a flower.
Helena chases after Demetrius resulting with him rejecting and insulting her. Oberon over hears this. Hermia and Lysander sleep in the forest and Puck the fairy puts a spell on all of the Athenians, except Helena, which confuses who they love. Instead of loving Hermia, Lysander loves Helena. Demetrius now loves Helena too. Hermia still loves Lysander and this leaves Helena confused, thinking it's all a trick. One of the final scenes of the play is a massive argument between everyone and this represents conflict in society, the idea of illusions and what is and isn't real.
After the spell is reversed, a massive wedding takes place, ending with the play by the Mechanicals.
-See Play Research post for any other information on the play-
3) The main themes:
Magic
Love
Transformation
Trickery
Chaos
Nature
Journeys
Dreams
Reality
Order
4) Collecting data from the text:
- Characters
- Locations
- Time of day
- Atmosphere
- Props or set
- Do we need any SFX/LFX? (sound/lighting effects)
5) What questions does the play ask?
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play of questions. It is about love, conflict, reality and control. Here are some of the questions the play asks and what the play is about:
- Who has control over you?
- How do you see yourself versus how others see you?
- How does living in a patriarchal society to living in a matriarchal society change you?
- How can jealousy be impacted by love and hate?
- What is the difference between love and lust?
- Who has hierarchy in society?
- What is real and what is not real?
6) Test various concepts on the play.
What does it mean when a director imposes a concept on a text?
- This is when a director puts their own spin/interpretation on a text which gives the whole play an overall theme.
- The concept may evince ideas from the text.
- A director will put a concept on a text dependent on it's relevance to the events happening at the time. It asks relevant questions to an audience today about society and makes an audience think.
- A play is a vehicle to promote change in the world.
- This is called Brechtian: we use theatre to change society.
How to create a test concept:
- Location
- Can relate to a real event
- Transpose characters (e.g Puck: drug dealer)
- Make sure that you can use the concept on the entire play. Have a piece of sample text to test this with.
Test Concept 1: 'Tube'
The location would be on a tube. When you go on the tube, you see people from all walks of life. You can find businessmen, school children, artists etc. Everytime a new character enters and exits, the tube could come to 'the next stop' and characters would enter the tube or leave the tube. We could also play with the idea of sound scape to show that the tube doors are opening and closing. This really works with the text because there are many transitions.
My inspiration for this idea was the themes of Reality and Chaos portrayed in the play. Often on a tube, people have their heads buried in newspapers or are completely unaware of their surroundings as they sit playing games on their phone or listen to music with headphones. Just like characters in the play, you can sometimes wonder whether they are really in tune with reality and what is going on around them.
In terms of transposed characters, there is many options. As mentioned before, on a tube you see people from various backgrounds.
Having this on the tube can relate to our audience more and therefore make them think more because for some audience members, tubes might be a common method of transport that they take.
However, there are some restrictions with this idea because it might not be easy to set up.
Test Concept 2: 'America 1920s'
The next concept was an idea that was created by Zafra.
From 1920-1933, America was put in Prohibition where supplying alcohol was banned (but drinking alcohol wasn't). Gangsters like Al Capone set up illegal bars called speakeasies and supplied alcohol. Flappers would often attend speakeasies. Also, people illegally supplied substances such as moonshine which were feared by the government to be very harmful. These may have made people have hallucinations and see things that weren't real under the influence of drugs and alcohol. This applies to the context of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Theseus and Hippolyta are the high status figures that own the bar.
Puck could be an undercover agent (the government hired agents such as Isadore Einstein to investigate the speakeasies and arrest people)
The fairies could be flappers.
I really like this idea because I think it's creative and it works with our play very well. It is a legible idea at this point because it's rather straightforward to set up a bar/pub.
Test Concept 3: 'Prison'
Another idea is that there could be a prison where people are given drugs that make them see things that aren't real.
High status figures like Egeus could be guards because they're the ones in control.
This concept works as in America they have decided to cut fundings for many mental institutions. Therefore, many mentally ill people roam the streets, commit crimes and are immediately sent to prison, which is meant to be their help. It also works with the concept of the play because they may see things that aren't real.
However, I think that this concept is unlikely to be used in the process because as a group, we've already used the concept of being in a mental institution in 'A Vampire Story' therefore this concept would deem quite similar.
However, Mia came up with the similar concept of it revolving around women who have left prison. They are released into the 'real world' and cannot cope with the overwhelming, new feelings of being in love, jealous, hating something etc. However, this wouldn't work with our cast because we have males as well as females.
Test Concept 4: 'LGBT'
Laila incorporated the idea that the concept of sexuality and LGBT can be included in our piece. Today, this is a really key issue and therefore this is definitely a feasible option that we should include to question our audience. It can definitely be tied into other people's concepts too.
For example, Oberon and Titania could be two women. Puck/Bottom could be transgender etc.
Test Concept 5: 'Action Figures'
An idea I really liked was from Max. Similar to Toy Story, the action figures are being used to tell a story by two children. We can use lighting, objects and a projection of kids playing with the toys to help bring this to work. This highlights the ideas of who is in control of you and what is real/not real too. Although set wise it could be challenging, I think that this idea is so creative that it'd be really interesting to explore during this unit.
Final concept: Pub Concept
The concept our class has decided to go with is the idea of a 'Pub'/'Gay Bar'. These were my initial ideas on the layout of a pub:
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Having this on the tube can relate to our audience more and therefore make them think more because for some audience members, tubes might be a common method of transport that they take.
However, there are some restrictions with this idea because it might not be easy to set up.
Test Concept 2: 'America 1920s'
The next concept was an idea that was created by Zafra.
From 1920-1933, America was put in Prohibition where supplying alcohol was banned (but drinking alcohol wasn't). Gangsters like Al Capone set up illegal bars called speakeasies and supplied alcohol. Flappers would often attend speakeasies. Also, people illegally supplied substances such as moonshine which were feared by the government to be very harmful. These may have made people have hallucinations and see things that weren't real under the influence of drugs and alcohol. This applies to the context of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Theseus and Hippolyta are the high status figures that own the bar.
Puck could be an undercover agent (the government hired agents such as Isadore Einstein to investigate the speakeasies and arrest people)
The fairies could be flappers.
I really like this idea because I think it's creative and it works with our play very well. It is a legible idea at this point because it's rather straightforward to set up a bar/pub.
Test Concept 3: 'Prison'
Another idea is that there could be a prison where people are given drugs that make them see things that aren't real.
High status figures like Egeus could be guards because they're the ones in control.
This concept works as in America they have decided to cut fundings for many mental institutions. Therefore, many mentally ill people roam the streets, commit crimes and are immediately sent to prison, which is meant to be their help. It also works with the concept of the play because they may see things that aren't real.
However, I think that this concept is unlikely to be used in the process because as a group, we've already used the concept of being in a mental institution in 'A Vampire Story' therefore this concept would deem quite similar.
However, Mia came up with the similar concept of it revolving around women who have left prison. They are released into the 'real world' and cannot cope with the overwhelming, new feelings of being in love, jealous, hating something etc. However, this wouldn't work with our cast because we have males as well as females.
Test Concept 4: 'LGBT'
Laila incorporated the idea that the concept of sexuality and LGBT can be included in our piece. Today, this is a really key issue and therefore this is definitely a feasible option that we should include to question our audience. It can definitely be tied into other people's concepts too.
For example, Oberon and Titania could be two women. Puck/Bottom could be transgender etc.
Test Concept 5: 'Action Figures'
An idea I really liked was from Max. Similar to Toy Story, the action figures are being used to tell a story by two children. We can use lighting, objects and a projection of kids playing with the toys to help bring this to work. This highlights the ideas of who is in control of you and what is real/not real too. Although set wise it could be challenging, I think that this idea is so creative that it'd be really interesting to explore during this unit.
Final concept: Pub Concept
The concept our class has decided to go with is the idea of a 'Pub'/'Gay Bar'. These were my initial ideas on the layout of a pub:
Frantic Assembly, a theatre company, did a production of Othello set in a pub. This could help inspire our piece.
From the pictures and trailer, we can tell that they set this piece in modern day England and I like this because it questions the audience because it can be more relatable to them. I also particularly like how they used furniture to do physical theatre, which is interesting and different. 
Here are some of my ideas/some brainstormed class ideas for our gay wedding concept:
Final Map of The Space
Opportunities and Restrictions of this plan:
If the toilet is put on the left side of the stage, the audience's cite line could potentially be obscured. However, having the toilet in this area opens up an opportunity of having an actual toilet that the audience can see, instead of not having a toilet. We can use this for many scenes.
Kailash also mentioned during our discussion that we can use physical theatre to move large scenery items, for example the toilet, to other areas of the stage so different audience members can see things at all times, instead of having their cite line obscured for the whole play.
We also discussed the legibility of striking Audience 2 out of the right side of the stage and giving Audience 2 an immersive experience by putting them on tables with actors. This would be great for the audience 2 because they're involved however Audience 1 might be excluded. However, different audience members have different experiences and interpretations of plays so this idea further enforces that.
Furthermore, Amelia said that because most of the action happens on the left side of the stage (with most of the important props there such as the sofa, toilet and bar), there will be a lot of dead space on the right side of the stage. This is also shown on the diagram of the floor plan.
Another idea is that the audience could be on higher platforms so they can see better but there are safety concerns.
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