1970 Royal Shakespeare Company production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The 1970 Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' was directed by Peter Brook, and is often known simply as Peter Brook's ''Dream.'' It opened in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at
Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
and then moved to the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End in 1971. It was taken on a world tour in 1972–1973. Brook's production of ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
'' for the
RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...
is often described as one of the 20th century's most influential productions of Shakespeare, as it rejected many traditional ideas about the staging of classic drama.


Concept

Shakespeare's play is set in Athens and a fairy-inhabited forest nearby. Brook's aim was to reject the
19th-century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolish ...
traditions of
realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...
and
illusionism Illusionism in art history means either the artistic tradition in which artists create a work of art that appears to share the physical space with the viewer"Illusionism," ''Grove Art Online''. Oxford University Press, ccessed 17 March 2008 or ...
in the theatre, and focus instead on locating the play in "the heightened realm of metaphor". He also wanted to liberate the play from encrusted "''bad'' tradition" so that the actors could feel that they were encountering the text for the first time. As such, he avoided any realist scenery or props. Instead, the set, designed by Sally Jacobs, was a simple white box, with no ceiling and two doors. In Stratford, black drapes were hung above the box to hide the stage machinery; on tour, Brook decided to remove them, leaving stagehands and lighting technicians visible. The purpose of this was to return the stage to the simplicity of the
Elizabethan theatre English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. ...
, in which there was little scenery and the sense of location was generated by the poet's words. However, this approach was blended with modern elements: the trees of the forest were represented by giant
slinky The Slinky is a helical spring toy invented by Richard James in the early 1940s. It can perform a number of tricks, including travelling down a flight of steps end-over-end as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its ow ...
toys, and Titania's bower was a huge red feather. The fairy magic was represented by circus tricks. For example, the fairies entered on trapeze bars, and the love potion that Puck fetches was a spinning plate on a rod, which Puck handed to Theseus from a trapeze fifteen feet above the stage. When Bottom turned into an
ass Ass most commonly refers to: * Buttocks (in informal American English) * Donkey or ass, ''Equus africanus asinus'' **any other member of the subgenus ''Asinus'' Ass or ASS may also refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Ass'' (album), 1973 albu ...
, he acquired not the traditional ass's head, but a clown's red nose. The costumes were non-Athenian and non-English Renaissance. Instead, they were a colourful mixture of elements from different times and places. Oberon wore a purple satin gown. Puck wore a yellow jumpsuit from the Chinese circus. The mechanicals were dressed as 20th-century factory workers. The young lovers looked like 1960s " flower children" in tie-dye shirts and ankle-length dresses. There were also unusual casting choices. It had been traditional for the fairies to be played by children or women, but Brook cast adult men instead, an effect described as "disconcertingly strange and threatening", and which made the forest a more frightening, adult place than in earlier productions. Brook also decided to double the roles of Theseus/ Oberon, Hippolyta/ Titania, Philostrate/ Puck and Egeus/Quince. This was partly to create a smaller, more intimate company, but also to suggest that the fairies were not so much different characters, as different aspects of the human characters' personalities, an idea signified when Theseus and Hippolyta 'became' Oberon and Titania simply by putting on robes. Brook believed that Theseus and Hippolyta have failed to achieve "the true union as a couple" and work through their quarrels as Oberon and Titania. The production emphasized, to a level never before seen, the supposed sexual undercurrents of the story of Titania's infatuation with Bottom after he turns into an
ass Ass most commonly refers to: * Buttocks (in informal American English) * Donkey or ass, ''Equus africanus asinus'' **any other member of the subgenus ''Asinus'' Ass or ASS may also refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Ass'' (album), 1973 albu ...
. Brook was influenced by
Jan Kott Jan Kott (October 27, 1914 – December 22, 2001) was a Polish political activist, critic and theoretician of the theatre. A leading proponent of Stalinism in Poland for nearly a decade after the Soviet takeover, Kott renounced his Communist P ...
's study of the play in ''
Shakespeare Our Contemporary William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
'', in which Kott notes the phallic properties of the
donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
, and argues that Oberon deliberately degrades Titania by exposing her to this monstrous sexuality. In Brook's staging, Bottom entered Titania's bower carried by the fairies, one of whom thrust his upraised arm between Bottom's legs to represent a phallus. In a jab at more traditional stagings, the sequence was accompanied by
Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...
's Wedding March, a piece of music originally written to be played as an intermezzo between Acts IV and V, but often used in more genteel productions for the final marriage scene of the play. Despite the disturbing undercurrents of this view of sexuality, many audience members found the play witty and affectionate in its treatment of sex, in tune with the spirit of 1960s permissiveness. The end of the production stressed the idea of community between audience and actors. As Oberon spoke his final lines about sunrise, the house lights slowly rose, so that the audience was visible to each other while Puck spoke the play's closing speech. Upon the line "Give me your hands, if we be friends", the entire cast rushed into the auditorium to shake hands with the audience, turning the theatre into a "lovefest".


Responses

The production was extremely popular, both in terms of box office and reviews. On the opening night, the audience gave a standing ovation at the interval. The majority of critics were in raptures over the production. It was a box office success, and was instantly recognized as a theatrical landmark, and the product of a great artist: the ''
Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' reviewer called it "the sort of thing one only sees once in a lifetime, and then only from a man of genius". There were naysayers, and the commonest criticism was that the production distracted the viewer from the play by prioritizing Brook's cleverness over Shakespeare's; one reviewer called it a "self-indulgent display of directorial gimmickry". Theatre historian John Russell Brown felt that the play was constrained by Brook's eccentric personal interpretations. However, even those critics who disliked the staging choices praised the verse-speaking for its clarity and freshness. One Shakespearean scholar supposedly watched it with his eyes shut, loving the acting, but hating the visuals. Theatre historian Gary Jay Williams says the production was so influential that it became "the reference point for Shakespearean performance practice in general over the next decade". It encouraged the exploration of the play's darker, adult themes, which had been overshadowed by the tradition treating it as a play for children. So innovative and distinctive was the production that it almost became a problem for directors, because "the burden of reinventing the play now fell on every director." However, it opened the door to much greater experimentation, so that "twenty-five years after Brook's staging, the diversity of approaches is staggering to review".


Cast

The casting changed somewhat during the production's Stratford and London runs and its world tour. The original 1970 Stratford cast was as follows: * Alan Howard as Theseus/ Oberon * Sara Kestelman as Hippolyta/ Titania * John Kane as Philostrate/ Puck * Philip Locke as Egeus/Quince * Christopher Gable as Lysander * Ben Kingsley as Demetrius *
Mary Rutherford Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
as Hermia *
Frances de la Tour Frances J. de Lautour (born 30 July 1944), better known as Frances de la Tour, is an English actress. She is known for her role as Miss Ruth Jones in the television sitcom ''Rising Damp'' from 1974 until 1978. She is a Tony Award winner and thr ...
as Helena *
David Waller David Waller (27 November 1920 – 23 January 1997) was an English actor best known for his role as Inspector Jowett in the British television series ''Cribb''. He also appeared as Stanley Baldwin in ITV's ''Edward & Mrs Simpson'' (1978), and in ...
as Nick Bottom *
Glynne Edwards Glynne may refer to one of the following. *Glynne baronets *Stephen Glynne (disambiguation) *William Glynne (disambiguation) * Jess Glynne *John Glynne (disambiguation) *Mary Glynne See also * Glinn (disambiguation) * Glynn (disambiguation) * ...
as Francis Flute * Norman Rodway as Snout the tinker *
Terrence Hardiman Terrence Hardiman (born 6 April 1937)Biographical detail
Barry Stanton Barry John Stanton (23 January 1941 – 21 January 2018) was an English-Australian rock and roll musician. He performed on pop music programs, ''Six O'Clock Rock'', '' Bandstand'', ''Johnny O'Keefe Show'', '' Sing Sing Sing'', ''Saturday Date'' ...
as Snug the joiner The following changes were made for the 1971 London run. *
Terence Taplin Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...
as Lysander * Patrick Stewart as Snout * Philip Manikum as Starveling The following changes were made for the 1973 tour: ''Designing Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Brook/Jacobs, Royal Shakespeare Company, January 1973
''AHDS Performance Archive''
* Gemma Jones as Hippolyta/Titania *Robert Langdon Lloyd as Philostrate/Puck * Denis Carey as Egeus/Quince *Barry Stanton as Bottom * George Sweeney as Flute * Malcolm Rennie as Snout * Hugh Keays-Byrne as Snug * Zhivila Roche as Hermia *
Philip Sayer Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
as Lysander *
Jennie Stoller Jennifer Stoller (26 April 1946 – 18 November 2018) was a British actress. In a career spanning almost 40 years, she appeared in TV, film, stage and radio productions. Early life Stoller was born in Finchley, north London, to Jewish parents. ...
as Helena * David Meyer as Demetrius *Richard Moore as Starveling Musicians 1970 Robin Weatherall, percussion Tony Mcvey, percussion Martin Best, Guitar Musicians 1971 Robin Weatherall, percussion Tony Mcvey, percussion Edward Flower, guitar Musicians 1973 Robin Weatherall, percussion and trumpet Tony Mcvey, percussion and trombone John Zaradin, guitar


References

Royal Shakespeare Company programs 1970, 1971, 1973


External links


Images from the production
from the AHDS performance archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Rsc Production Of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970) 1970 plays Midsummer Night's Dream 1970
RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...
RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...
1970 in England 1970s in theatre