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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.2193  Tuesday, 14 December 1999.

From:           Carol Morley <C.A.Morley@westminster.ac.uk>
Date:           Thursday, 9 Dec 1999 14:53:12 +0000
Subject:        Midsummer Night's Dream

I've still not seen the new film version, but was thoroughly amused by
the summer's other big hit about rampantly moody American adolescents
crossing the spooks in the woody depths. Prof.  Hawkes mention of Mrs
Bottom is very enticing though- many years ago I directed the play and
was determined to avoid the almost compulsory modern doubling of
Theseus/Oberon and Hippolyta/ Titania. Four couples at cross purposes,
including two pair with a full-on promiscuous history to bait each other
withal. We not only explored all the permutations indicated in the text,
but as director, I was left with a useful and potentially bored
Hippolyta with nothing to do between Acts 1 and 5. She ended up having
great fun being tea-lady at Quince's auditions, and showed more sense
than to be talked into the post of bucolic ass thereafter. We've all
been there.  The other fun thing was dressing the Theseus/Hippolyta dawn
hunting scene to make it perfectly plain that they'd been thoroughly
enjoying their respective stag and hen nights and, unlike Romeo, were
too experienced at all-night partying think it worth mentioning. We've
all been there, too.  Best wishes...

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