In the play Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare constructed a range of theatrical characters that has allowed actors to engage audiences over centuries. In this comic play, the characters that provided audiences with extreme comic entertainment are no other but the Mechanicals, amongst the Mechanicals, all the actors have a different way of bringing to life and consequently, engaging the audience, through voice, movement and their own motivation of their character as performers. However, within the play there are also elements of love, like the Athenian Lovers. By physicalizing the specific objectives that drives between the Athenian Lovers strongly engages the audiences, but supernatural is also an evitable element of the play which also strikes the audiences attention. Titania, the Queen of the fairies can definitely be brought to life on stage by using strong vocal skills as performer need to appeal to Titania’s superiority as a Queen. As a performer on stage the above skills are skills which will not only bring the characters to life but definitely engages the audience, and the perfect way to start is by harnessing their voice and movements.
When we think about the play Midsummer Night’s Dream, the first thing that comes up in our mind are the Athenian Lovers, but I believe it is the Mechanicals that attracts the most attention consequently entertains and engages the audience the strongest. The occupations of The Mechanicals provides an excellent platform for creation for performers who plays them on stage, specially with coordinating voice and movements truly brings them to life. This bunch of ‘wanna be Thespian actors’ each and every single one of them holds jobs which would be considered lower class and such back in time, audiences who could relate to them would have definitely enjoyed watching a slice of life on the stage. A very good example could be when I actor as Robin Starveling, who is someone that is very undernourished or emaciated character. With that sort of character in my mind I changed my voice into a soft tone and speaking in a very low volume with pauses in between words, “All I have to say is to tell you that the lanthorn is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this thornbush, my thornbush; and this dog, my dog,” when speaking like this it gives the audience a sense of feel of just how uncomfortable and scared Starveling is on the stage performing. Then even better, I in cooperated the moves, by walking up on stage with both foot very closely together, taking little baby steps and lowered my back a little to make myself look fragile and self conscious. By cooperating voice and movement associations can definitely enhance and bring all The Mechanical characters to life but there are also skills that needs to be kept in mind which will also bring the character’s qualities and personalities to life, and entertain audiences.
The love triangle between the Athenian Lovers can be a useful performance tool, as these situations occur to us in real life and the audiences can relate to it. To engage the audiences even more, the performer should physicalise the specific objectives that fuel the complicated errors and confusing tangles between the Athenian Lovers. In a practical work shop, I acted as Helena throughout Act II scene I, when Helena was desperately clinging onto Demetrius where as, Demetrius attempts to escape from Helena’s desperate attempt to win him over. The first idea I got was to portray this scene as Helena as if she is a beggar chasing after someone she sees. In the practical workshop when I played Helena I lay on the ground and grabbed on Demetrius’ leg while delivering, “And even for that I do love you the more. I am your spaniel. And, Demetrius, the more you beat me, I will fawn you.” By doing this it shows the audience how infatuated she is towards Demetrius, to even top it off more, I got Demetrius to continuously kicking Helena off his leg while harmfully uttered,
Shakespeare is renowned for his dramatic works, he is the most accessible playwright; adults and children both educated and uneducated can appreciate his contribution to the cannon. However, his sonnets can also be considered as an important contribution to poetry. Use his sequence of sonnets to compare and contrast the style and tone of both his plays and poetic works to describe his cultural significance to a modern audience. Muse, Patron, Lover - Shakespeare had all three but were they all…
Owen Carey Per.1 English 9 int. Ms. Jackson Shakespeare Essay There is much controversy over the actual author of the plays supposedly created by Shakespeare. The unproven truth is that Shakespeare did not in fact write the plays accredited to him. There is not enough evidence that ties Shakespeare to his work. There are also no real reason as to why Shakespeare would have been intellectually capable of creating this plays due to his background, along with eat quality. Most importantly there is…
Othello 4 Paragraph Essay Prompt 3: Handkerchief Helen Fisher once said, “ Once you fall for someone, their smell can be a powerful thing. Women will wear their boyfriend's' T-shirts, and throughout tales in history men have held on to their lover's handkerchief.” Items are given symbolism even something as insignificant as what wipes one’s nose. Things can become tokens of love, remembrance, tests, fidelity and much more. In Othello , written by Shakespeare, Iago is angry with Othello…
Search of Shakespeare Who is William Shakespeare? Well, he is definitely not just some guy that wrote all those famous plays. William Shakespeare had so much more to his life than just writing. His life was filled with secrets, tragedy, and love and just about everything else that ended up in his plays. He lived in the Elizabethan times, and had a very mysterious personal life, this all took effect on his writing and professional life. We do not know the actual date that William Shakespeare was born…
Dhevyn Webb English 10 Honors March, 27, 2015 John Sweeney once said,” I wanted to think I was invincible, at least that’s what I wanted you to think, and I wanted to think it too.” In the play the “Tragedy of Julius Caesar,” by William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar had many motives. His motives were to obtain absolute power over the Roman Empire, revel in the worship he would receive from others, and ensure that he would be remembered as a figure who was forever invincible in the minds of all men…
England. Which molded Shakespeare into changing how plays were produced. He had a "devotion to character development, stage direction, and mood-setting props, he combined lifelike realism with style to produce 38 plays coveted by actors and audiences alike." Paraphrase: In this section of the article, it talks about William Shakespeare's life. Where and what date he was born. It also talks about who his father was and what he did for a living. Tells the reader about how Shakespeare did not go to college…
misconception about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. Many argue that others wrote them, and even some believed he did not exist at all. One of the main examples that most use as a reference is Act three, scene five in the tragedy of Macbeth by Shakespeare where the witches are introduced to Hecate. Many say that an Author known as Thomas Middleton wrote this portion but throughout the play there are many examples that prove other wise. It follows Shakespeare’s formats of using “prose”, ten syllables…
Renee Tawil EN-306 Dr. Starke Shakespeare Essay 2 The Power of Isolation Coriolanus, Hamlet, and Othello are all plays that follow protagonists who carry the weight of their own tragic death. Shakespeare’s plays however, differ in plots and personalities of the protagonists. Readers are brought into the lives of three very different characters: the prideful one, the mentally unstable one and the jealous one. One commonality between the plays is the theme of isolation. The consequences of physical…
characters emerge as potential leaders of England. Although the ruling ability of King Henry is touched upon in the play, the principal focus is on the abilities of Prince Hal, Falstaff, and Hotspur. As these characters are examined, a picture of what Shakespeare considers to be a good ruler emerges. The first of these three characters that the reader encounters is Prince Hal. In this initial moment Hal appears an irresponsible joker, carousing with Falstaff and making snide remarks about his companion’s…
Sidney L., Jr. “Was “Shakespeare” a Woman?” College English 15.8 (May, 1954): 445-449. JSTORE. Web. 6 Mar. 2013 Gulick’s essay provides evidence that Shakespeare had to be a woman. Gulick is right! Who was the woman behind Shakespeare? That should be the question of concern because Gulick’s evidence proves Shakespeare is a woman. As a man, Gulick provided truth to the idiom, “it takes one to know one” and highly doubted the masculinity of Shakespeare’s works. Shakespeare lived from 1564-1616…