Performance elements of USQ's adaptation
Directions
- Eyes out no matter what!
- Always remember that the audience will be 35-40 meters back from the stage and you need to accommodate for everyone.
- The style of playing is very different. The blocking must be right or people will not understand. We should be able to turn down the volume and still understand it. After all not everyone can understand Shakespearean language.
- A lot of the directing will take into consideration the actors' interpretation. 90% of the time what comes organically to them will appear more natural and believable.
Musical numbers
The musical numbers in this year’s production will be rewritten to popular tunes from more recent times. This makes to production more relatable to the audience.
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So What by Pink - this is the song that introduces the mechanicals. They are wannabe superstars.
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I Want You to Want Me by Cheap Trick - Helena pursues Demetrius begging him to love her. The play is all about finding love and that rocky road that we take to get there at all costs.
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Born This Way by Lady Gaga - the fairies sing to the Goddess Philomel asking her to protect Titania while she sleeps against all the horrible and manipulative men in the world.
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Am I Ever Going to See Your Face Again by The Angles - the song that Bottom sings when he is changed into a footballer by puck this is the song that Tatiana hears and she wakes to fall in love with Bottom.
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Mambo #5 - the opening of the second act - Puck recaps what has happened in the first act. It is a fun dance with many different dance styles. During this song the characters fully encompass the atmosphere of Midsummer’s Eve and start hooking up with whoever they want.
Please note: at the time that these notes were put together, other musical numbers were being considered including Like a Virgin by Madonna and Sweat by Snoop Dog.
Dancing
- During England’s Renaissance period, people were extremely interested in geometry and this was reflected in any dance choreography. Lots of triangular and circular formations.
- They loved the decade/the number ten and any multiples or numbers that revolved or added up to ten. So they might have four on one side and six on the other. This also explains the excessive partner work.
- Elizabethan dance varied according to social class. Lower classes danced in a more relaxed freestyle fashion while the upper class danced in a more stylised, organised manner.
- Court dances were often imported from Italy, Spain and France who went through the Renaissance period earlier than the English.