Lesson 1

In our opening lesson, we began by developing our understanding of the Shakespeare play 'A midsummer nights dream'. We started by discussing what we already knew about the play, and it was quite obvious that all the members of the group had a slight knowledge about the content and narrative of the classical play. We analysed the plot and that characters of the play by watching three video, each with a different interpretation. This was useful as it allowed us to view the play from different perspectives, styles and modern interpretations. We watched three videos in total; the animated Shakespeare tales video, the (year 2000) Hoffman video and the BBC's own adaptation.

The animated Shakespeare video was not as detailed as the original play, however it was useful to watch as it gave us basic knowledge and understanding of the narrative and the involvement of the characters. The animations were very 'child like', however this was understandable as it was only to give the basic synopsis of the play. Overall I found it very useful to watch, for basic knowledge and understanding of all aspects of the play.

The Hoffman (2000) film, was far more detailed, and this was due to it's length as a feature length film. The setting for the film is different from Shakespeare original setting, and it is presented in a more modern interpretation, but still with the classical language. as it was more detailed, this allowed us as a group to develop our understanding further, and introduce the idea of a modern adaptation of the classical play. This was useful as we would later have to do our own interpretation. In regards to the plot and characters, this was more useful than the animation and the deeper detail meant  we would be able to gain a greater understanding of each specific characters involvement to the plot, and to the other characters. Overall, the film was more beneficial as the detail of the film developed our overall understanding and knowledge.



The BBC's own interpretation was used many different aspects in comparison to the other two videos.  Firstly the narrative and setting had been changed, however the basic plot was still used but changed in a number of ways. The setting was modern as it was based at an holiday park, and also the classical language was mixed with some more modern text. This mixture of classical and modern made it slightly hard for  us to understand, but as a group we did enjoy the unique twist on the Shakespearian classic. When it came to our understanding, this video was not the most useful, as it made it very confusing between the original concept, and this modern adaptation. Also, this interpretation used a lot of comedy which compared to the others, was presented in a way that we could understand more. With the original genre being a comedy, we often do not understand the humour, as the understanding of the classical text is more complicated. Overall, it was nice to see a modern a funny take on the classical, but in terms of our understanding to the classical plot and setting, it was not the most beneficial for us as a group.











A brief synopsis of the play: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” William Shakespeare's most popular comedy, was written around 1594 or 95. It portrays the adventures of four young lovers and a group of amateur actors, their interactions with woodland fairies and a duke and duchess. Taking place in a mythical Athens and an enchanted forest, there is a handsome fairy king, a misguided parent, star-crossed lovers, a weaver who's transformed into a half-donkey, wood sprites and elves. This work is widely performed around the world, and no wonder - it's about the world's most popular pastime, falling in love. But as Puck knows, falling in love can make fools of us all. Will love win out in the end?


The Athenians:
Theseus – Duke of Athens
Hippolyta – Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus
Philostrate – Master of the Revels
Egeus – father of Helena, wants her to marry Demetrius
Hermia – daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander
Helena – in love with Demetrius
Lysander – in love with Hermia at first but later loves Helena but then goes back to Hermia
Demetrius – in love with Hermia at first but later loves Helena

The Fairies:
Oberon – Titania's husband and King of the Fairies
Titania – Oberon's wife and Queen of the Fairies
Robin Goodfellow/Puck – servant to Oberon
Peaseblossom – fairy servant to Titania
Cobweb – fairy servant to Titania
Moth – fairy servant to Titania
Mustardseed – fairy servant to Titania
First Fairy, Second Fairy

The Mechanicals: (An acting troupe)
Peter Quince – carpenter, leads the troupe and plays Prologue
Nick Bottom – weaver, plays Pyramus
Francis Flute – bellows-mender, plays Thisbe
Robin Starveling – tailor, plays Moonshine
Tom Snout – tinker, plays Wall
Snug – joiner, plays Lion

Character Diagram to aid my understanding of each character:

After we had watched and analysed all of the video's, we were given a quiz to test our knowledge and understanding of what we had learned. I got 4 out of a possible 10, which was not very good, but from this result, I know which specific aspects of the play that I need to learn and focus on in order to develop my knowledge.

Looking back on all of the last few lesson. I have gained a very detailed understanding of all aspects to do with 'A midsummer nights dream' as well as its original Shakespearian conditions. Also I have been able to look at possible characters that I would like to use for my own interpretation. I am particularly interested in the character 'Puck' because of his unique movement and vocals, and also his acting and portrayal is relative to my preferred acting style.