Director

Rehearsal Diary

Set design

Costume design

This section focuses on the development of Act 3
scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The actors involved in this scene are (in order of appearance):

Rehearsals - 26 August 2003 - first day of rehearsals
Rehearsals -   1 September 2003 - running the scene
Rehearsals -   8 September 2003 - choreography is added
Rehearsals - 15 September 2003 - adding sound and planning lights

Day one of rehearsals 26 August 2003

Director Michael Grandage explains his approach to rehearsals to his new cast.
In the first week, Michael’s aim is to go through every scene. The actors are asked to take in a lot of information in week one of rehearsals, with the aim that this will free them up to have discussions in weeks 2 & 3. Initially the actors are asked to read through each scene aloud, then to repeat the exercise, stopping and checking that they are clear about the meaning of each word. Michael hopes that the actors feel comfortable to ask any questions they wish to, without feeling that they are asking too many or that they are asking ‘stupid’ questions. The most important thing is that they are all clear exactly what is being said, to whom, and why. Some of the actors have done some work prior to starting rehearsals – some know their lines already and have spent time examining the meaning of the text they will be speaking – others come to the text fresh on the first day of rehearsals. All of them need to understand what all the characters are saying on stage – not just what their own character is saying.

Once the group is happy with the language, Michael asks them the put the scene ‘up on it’s feet’. He explains how the Crucible stage works best and that they should remember they will be playing to 3 sides and so ideally should be working along diagonal lines on the stage. Michael explains that in weeks 2 & 3, when they revisit each of the scenes again, he will encourage lots of talk, discussion and questioning.

Michael Grandage briefing the company

Michael Grandage & Christopher Oram explain their ‘production concept’ and the design to the cast.

Christopher explains the design of the show by taking the actors through each scene using the 1:25 scale model box. Some of the actors in the company have not performed on or even seen the Crucible stage so the auditorium is explained to them too. Michael explains that this is not a production driven by a ‘concept’. They will be working to the ‘house style’ that has been created over the past few years, working on an open stage and a bare set, allowing free reign to the actor’s imagination. As all the tickets in the Crucible are sold at one-price, every person in the auditorium should have an equally good experience of the show. This is something that director, actors and the whole creative team keep in mind as the show is being created.

Christopher explains the differences between the worlds of the court and the forest, and how they are both affected by the immortal world being out of kilter. He describes the malevolent, scary and dark forest that contrasts with the austere, highly structured court. The journey of the play is from disharmony to harmony, and this will be reflected by the costumes, music, dance/movement and lighting – as well as the acting.

Scene 3 (Act 2 scene 1)
Click here for Scene 3

Michael discusses the context of this scene. We move from the court to the darker and more out of kilter world of the forest. Just how out of kilter the world is is eloquently described by the exchange between Oberon and Titania. Michael is keen that a gorgeous entrance by the King and Queen of the Fairies is starkly contrasted with the realisation that they are at each other’s throats. We know this play is set in midsummer, and yet the descriptive language used is all based in winter – this is how out of kilter the world has become. The world of the immortals being discordant has colossal impact on the mortal world as well as the world of the immortals. The play is an exposition in resolving this conflict.

The actors go through the meaning of the text in this scene. We clarify that a puck is a cheeky form of sprite with certain human qualities, and what mischief this particular puck – Robin Goodfellow - is renowned for. We discuss the nature of Oberon and Titania’s disagreement, and realise that Titania accuses Oberon of loving Hippolyta, and Oberon in turn believes Titania has had Theseus as a lover. Most particularly, Oberon is jealous of the changeling child that Titania is looking after, and wants him as one of his henchmen. This dispute has been going on for some time.

The scene is ready to be put up on its feet. Samantha Spiro (Titania/Hippolyta) will enter through the central aisle, down onto the stage, whilst Ray Fearon (Oberon/Theseus) appears in front of the moon at the back of the set. Samantha is keen that her speech beginning ‘The fairy land buys not the child of me’ can be explained to the fairies in her entourage. This means that the actors playing the fairies need to be in rehearsals for this scene, which is a change of plan. Ray and Samantha must resolve over the next few weeks WHY their characters have fallen out so catastrophically over something as seemingly insignificant as the changeling child. Michael asks to see moments of love and glimpses into the profundity of their relationship, which are contrasted strongly by moments of extreme anger. He wants to see a contrast between the beautiful poetry and an ugly scene that sets up the immortal world at loggerheads and pulls the audience into a vortex.

Oberon watches the lovers’ arrival from the stage at the back of the set. Michael encourages Nancy Carroll (Helena) & Orlando Wells (Demetrius) to play with their positioning on stage – Nancy is to hold her ground and Orlando to walk around her and taunt her. Michael is keen that at the next rehearsal, Nancy sees if it’s possible to grab Orlando physically, so that it becomes a physical and verbal battle.

Helena and Demetrius

Rehearsals - 1 September 2003

Before rehearsals begin, Michael rearranges the trap position on stage with Kath, the DSM. Via rehearsal notes written up at the end of each day, Kath will pass on this information to the staff in the theatre workshop and the production manager to ensure the trap is built in the correct position.

Before we begin to work on the scene, Dylan Brown who plays Puck reveals he has recently had a double hernia operation. Michael checks with him that all the flying and movement that he is asked to do on stage will not hurt or cause him any damage, and also checks that Dylan doesn't have vertigo so that he can fly in on the lantern.

Michael asks all the actors playing fairies to rehearse wearing a version of the blindfolds they will have as part of their costumes, so that they can become accustomed to wearing them. Samantha, playing Titania also has to wear high heeled shoes when she's working, for the same reason.

The Fairies

Fairy/Puck
Rehearsals for the scene begin with Stuart Burt and Dylan Brown playing the Fairy and Puck. Michael asks Stuart to show us the journey he's been on 'Over hill, over dale…' through his language and movement, and to ensure that the fairy is moving in a different way from the joiner! (Stuart doubles in the play as Snug the joiner.)

Dylan who plays Puck tells us about some of the decisions he has made about his character. He has decided Puck is angry and frustrated by the whole situation between Oberon and Titania. They're arguing over another boy (the changeling) and so he feels a little insecure, and he's being asked to run after someone he doesn't like very much! So he just lets out his bile on the fairy - the person who works for Titania. It is unusual to see an angry Puck and very effective.

We spend some time concentrating on the arrival of Oberon and Titania. Michael is keen that the audience can tell that Puck and the fairy are able to 'sense' their arrival before they can actually be seen. This provides Michael with the 20 seconds he requires to change the scenery from court to forest.

Oberon/Titania/Fairies
The arrival of Oberon and Titania is dramatic and at this rehearsal all the fairies that arrive with Titania are present. Scarlet Mackmin will work with the fairies on their movement on Friday, so in this rehearsal Michael arranges them loosely around their queen, aware that their positions may change once they have worked with the choreographer.

Fairies & Titania

Michael spends some time working with Ray Fearon and Samantha on their speeches. He encourages Samantha to give herself time between the arguments she is making to help with the clarity of the text for the audience and to be clear why Titania is feeling so much anguish at the situation she and Oberon have created. Ray decides that Oberon knows the information he is hearing to be true. He and Samantha agree that they know the consequences on the mortal world of their relationship being out of kilter, but this is the first time Titania has spelled out the details for Oberon. This is useful for Ray to know as he is responding to Titania in role as Oberon. His response to her first speech 'Do you amend it then, it lies in you.' is a threat that undercuts her argument.

Samantha has decided she wants to address her next speech 'Set your heart at rest:' to her fairies, justifying her own actions in keeping her 'little changeling boy'. She is positioned on the stage so that Oberon can hear what she's saying to them too.

Titania with her fairies

We spend some time working on Oberon's speech to Puck about finding the 'love-in-idleness' flower. Ray needs to make it completely clear to the audience what the words Oberon is saying mean at this point so that the rest of the play makes sense.

Helena/Demetrius
We focus on the arrival of the lovers at the end of the scene. Michael asks Ray to make it obvious through his movements that he becomes invisible on the arrival of the lovers. He spends some time with Nancy and Orlando, asking them to improvise the scene that has happened just before they came onstage. They are asked to apply the rule that the characters in each situation do not know what the other is about to say, and to play this clearly.

Michael decides to insert the first of the lovers' lines 'I love thee not' into the end of Oberon's speech, after 'I'll make her render up her page to me'. This adds to the dynamic feeling of the scene and means that we are aware of the lovers before we actually see them arrive on stage.

Finally, Puck arrives with the magic flower and we have some discussion about how the flower he brings is split between Oberon and himself. This discussion needs to be continued and shared with the designer and the props maker before a final decision is reached.

Rehearsals 8 September 2003

In this rehearsal Michael is joined by Scarlett Mackmin, the choreographer. They work alongside each other - Scarlett watching the actors' movement and Michael listening to language. At various points in the rehearsal Michael will take one actor off to work on a speech whilst Scarlett works with the Fairies or Titania on choreographed movement.

Fairy/Puck
Michael asks Dylan to ensure that his tone for the line 'How now, spirit, whither wander you?' is simple, not accusatory. He wants to make sure that Puck and the Fairy both 'play a different colour' to each other - that they are not both angry. He is happy for Stuart to use his native Scots but wants him to make sure that it's quite a gentle version - similar to how Stuart actually speaks rather than a more theatrical Scots. Michael would like Dylan to be aware that Puck sets the scene for the arrival of Oberon and Titania - if he has done his work correctly by framing their argument then the audience will expect Oberon and Titania to be at loggerheads when they arrive on stage.

Puck & Fairy

Oberon/Titania/Fairies
When the fairies arrive, Michael asks them to share with Scarlett some of the preparation work they have done. The fairies will have a 'darker' feel than in many productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The actors playing fairies have discussed with Michael the potential symbolism of the blindfolds they wear, and have decided that their other senses are more heightened as a result of their loss of sight. This is something that Scarlett will be able to put into her choreographed movement when she works with them. They also feel that as 'eyes are the windows of the soul', and they have no eyes, a person that is talking to a fairy cannot tell if they are being looked at, which makes the fairies more powerful.

Scarlett asks if Titania should be carried onto stage. Michael decides that at other points in the play she will be, but that at this point the fairies are protecting her so should run down the steps in front of her to make sure it is safe. The fairy world is out of sync so it makes sense for Titania to be earth bound at this point in the play. Scarlett encourages the fairies to be aware of their bodies and to remember that as the fairies cannot see they should take care not to jut out their necks but should consider how their character's might use their senses to 'hear' or 'feel' what is going on, rather than seeing it.

Samantha explains that she feels Titania draws strength from her fairies and needs their support at this difficult time, so Scarlett responds to this by asking the fairies to move towards Titania at various points in her speech - not with obvious movements, but with a 'tiny essence or breath' of a movement that strengthens Titania. Scarlett also encourages the fairies to think of themselves as 'strong, sexy guards' rather than 'prissy fairies'. She helps them find a series of 'strong' and unusual sitting positions on the floor that link to their particular fairy personalities. Each will respond in a different way, using a different sense.

Titania and her fairies

We spend some time working on what Michael has identified as the climax to the scene - Oberon's speech that begins "Do you amend it, then: it lies in you.' This is the point that Titania needs to build to during her speech, and we as the audience don't know if she will concede or continue fighting.

Titania faces Oberon

As we move onto the speech 'Set your heart at rest: / The fairy land buys not the child of me.', Michael and Scarlett work together with the fairies to encourage them to try to become an extension of Titania, feeling her emotion and her grief - showing us her true emotion when she's being stoic. The fairies' response to Titania's description 'When we have laughed to see the sails conceive/And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;' is to breathe in unison - an inhalation of joy.

Oberon/Puck
Michael adds detail to this scene with Ray and Dylan. He is delighted to see that Ray takes the energy and fury that Oberon has generated during his scene with Titania to drive this scene with Puck. Puck responds by getting his sense of purpose back because he is delighted to have a scheme again! He is no longer the angry Puck we have seen at the beginning of this scene.

Helena/Demetrius
Michael begins this part of the rehearsal by asking Orlando to paraphrase his first speech so that he can fully appreciate the meaning he is trying to convey. Rather than allow Demetrius moments of internal debate and discussion, Michael would like Demetrius to show and share his pain with the audience, but to keep the energy of the scene up at the same time. Demetrius can show us how trapped he is by his actions and pacing up and down on the stage as she talks. Orlando has decided that Demetrius doesn't just storm off because he must have the last word, and Michael reminds him that Demetrius would kill Helena if murder was legal - he is to show that the energy of a contained animal on stage!

Finally, the whole of this long scene is run through from start to finish. This is the first time that the actors in this scene have watched the parts of the scene that they are not actually in. As next week the company will start to run the whole play, this helps begin the process of familiarisation with the rest of the play.

Rehearsals 4 - Monday 15 September 2003

At this stage in the rehearsal process, Michael invites Hartley Kemp (Lighting Designer), Adam Cork (Composer) and Nick Greenhill (Head of Sound) to rehearsals, as well as Scarlett Mackmin (Choreographer).

Hartley is in rehearsals to gather information about each scene and he brings with him his lap top computer, onto which he designs the lighting rig as each scene progresses. This will in turn be given to the lighting technicians in the theatre so that they can rig and focus the lights prior to the technical rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday next week.

Nick is operating the sound board to play music composed by Adam. He is cued by Kath, the Deputy Stage Manager, who knows when each cue should begin. Adam has been into rehearsals in previous weeks to get a feel for each scene, and then has gone away to compose, having agreed with Michael where music should be placed in the production.

Michael introduces the idea of the two very different sound worlds of court and forest to the actors. This rehearsal is an opportunity for them to get used to hearing music playing under their speeches, or learning to take cues from the music. Before each cue is played he introduces the ideas that Adam and he have been working on. For example:

Music and sound effects within this scene are mainly used to highlight emotion and to reinforce the idea of magic on stage. For example, when Puck exits to find the 'love-in-idleness' flower, or to emphasize Oberon's ability to create magic and become invisible.

^ top of page