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Drama A Midsummer Night’s Dream Annotated Bibliography Advanced Higher 7871 . Autumn 2000 HIGHER STILL Drama A Midsummer Night’s Dream Annotated Bibliography Unit 3: Special Study Advanced Higher Support Materials CONTENTS Introduction from the Writer Play texts Critical works The World Wide Web Study guides Other sources Miscellaneous Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 1 Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 2 INTRODUCTION This annotated bibliography lists a large number of books, and other resources, that students may find useful when undertaking the Special Study. It also provides a source of information for staff. It is one writer’s view of these texts and is offered on that basis. ‘I have not struggled to find texts and resources for Unit 3: Special Study on Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the three option choices in the unit, nor did I expect to. The struggle has been to narrow them to within the constraints of a slim bibliography such as this. Many of the texts, especially the older ones, are out of print but easily browsed in a library or from an inter-library loan. Some are so new that I have not been able to read them because they had not been published when this bibliography went to print. I have not been put off from recommending texts due to either of these factors. A bibliography of this nature is almost destined to disappoint. Omissions are legion. There is not the space for everything, centres will not have the resources to purchase everything, and students will not have the time to research everything. Hence, resources like James L. Harner, (ed.), The World Shakespeare Bibliography on CD-Rom, 1980-1996, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, ISBN 0521625351, £540, fails on all three counts to make it to this list. I have tried to include as much as possible in order that a student or teacher should never come to a point at which research apparently dries up. I have, therefore, on occasion, kept some of my comments either brief or non-existent.’ Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 3 PLAY TEXTS There are many editions of the play. For the purposes of Unit 3: Special Study, I have identified two which I recommend because I consider them to be the best – doubtless others would have chosen differently. I then go on to list others which may, or may not, be considered of interest. The list is not, of course, exhaustive, but as wide as possible, and probably necessary, for this unit. The two recommended texts complement each other rather neatly. The first, edited by Harold F. Brooks, is traditionally used as an English Literature text. Its usefulness lies primarily in its notes on the concerns of the text. The second, edited by Trevor R. Griffiths, is a thorough examination of the play’s theatricality and is clearly more of a Theatre Studies text. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Brooks, Harold F, (ed.), The Arden Shakespeare, London: Methuen, 1979. ISBN 0174436068 Outcome 1 requires students to understand themes, issues and characters. This is probably the best text for this purpose. The Introduction has sources of the play, a discussion about editions of the play, date of composition, a synopsis and analysis, notes on design and plot (the interrelationship between the two) and notes on characters and on comedy. Brooks acknowledges that more recent critics have seen something darker and more malevolent about the fairies but his introduction tries to argue against this interpretation, preferring instead the argument that, in fact, the fairies banish evil from the world, even in their own mischief-making. Puck’s comic business in the ‘fog scene’ is, Brooks argues, the ‘malice of a practical joker, not a spirit capable of serious malevolence’ (p.cix). Bottom, though a clown (to Puck’s jester), is not merely a figure of fun but a man to be admired. These two characters, Brooks contends, are the comic centre of the play. Brooks also deals with the play’s lyricism, music and dance, setting and the principal themes (identified as love and marriage). A little old school, perhaps, but it is the best place to start. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Griffiths, Trevor R, (ed.) Series: Shakespeare in Production, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 0521575656 Outcome 1 also requires students to arrive at performance concepts based on the play and its initial production (and, presumably, subsequent productions). Of course, one of the difficulties of Shakespeare studies is that we know little or nothing about this. Griffiths does his best, and is extremely helpful in the notes by referring to other Shakespearean texts and productions as clues to help us make educated guesses. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 4 Griffiths supplies a thorough review of the play’s production history, its cultural context, and a thorough account of the play with detailed notes on actors’ interpretations and setting. In his research, Griffiths has consulted twenty-four different director/production promptbooks. It makes this, also, an outstanding edition of the play. Griffiths uses the New Cambridge Shakespeare text as edited by R.A. Foakes (listed below). Other texts Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Andrews, John, F, (ed.), The Everyman Shakespeare, London: J.M. Dent, 1993. ISBN 046087246X Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1660, Berger, Thomas, L, (prepared by), Oxford: Oxford University Press/Malone Society, 1995. ISBN 0197290337 This uses a facsimile of the First Folio edition. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bloom, Harold, (ed.), Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 1987. ISBN 0877549338 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Buckle, Linda, and Kelley, Paul (eds.), Cambridge School Shakespeare, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (rev.) 2000. ISBN 0521787289 Updated from the 1992 edition, this contains the full text, a running synopsis, glossary and class activities which are very useful for Drama; however, it is designed for English schools at Key Stage 4, so it is not of the required standard for Advanced Higher. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Clemen, Wolfgang, (ed.), The Signet Classic Shakespeare, London: New American Library, (rev.), 1989. ISBN 0451521374 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Durband, Alan, (ed.), Series: Shakespeare Made Easy, Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes, 1984. ISBN 0748702784 (Also published with ISBN 0812035844 by Barron’s, Hutchison:London, presumably for the US market.) This is a modern version with the original version side-by-side. The ‘modern’ version is so unnecessarily abstruse as to make the enterprise redundant. An almost wholly pointless publishing idea. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Farrow, S.M, and Kennedy, R.B, (eds.), The Alexander Shakespeare, Collins Educational, Hong Kong: HarperCollins, 1982. ISBN 0003252477 Cheap and nasty. Avoid. (Though, when I say ‘cheap’, I am not referring to the price...) Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 5 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Foakes, R.A, (ed.), The New Cambridge Shakespeare, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. ISBN 0521293898 This is a well-illustrated edition and has a good production history, at least up to Peter Brook’s 1970 production for the RSC. Shakespeare, William, A Midsommer Nights Dreame, Freeman, Neil, (prepared and annotated), Applause First Folio Editions, New York and London: Applause, 1998. ISBN 1557832935 As its title indicates, this is a (mostly) unadulterated First Folio Edition. This is great fun, and some actor/directors swear by it, but it is sometimes unwieldy, often confusing and difficult and possibly not the best edition for this course. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gill, Roma, (ed.), Oxford School Shakespeare, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN 0198319754 This an unabridged version, with good student notes - a glossary, synopsis, summaries of scenes and notes on characters. There are also questions and activities, though it is designed for the 14-16 age range and therefore probably not of a suitable standard for Advanced Higher. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Halio, Jay, L, (ed.), Series: Shakespeare in Performance, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994. ISBN 0719034043 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Holland, Peter, (ed.), Oxford World’s Classics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0192834207 The introduction pays particular attention to dreams and dreamers, has a good production history and it has fantastic notes and commentary on the text. Designed for England’s A-Level and certainly of an Advanced Higher standard. A very good alternative to the two recommended editions. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, O’Connor, J, (ed.), New Longman Shakespeare, London: Addison Wesley, Longman, 2000. ISBN 0582427126 This series is designed to offer a close textual analysis with activities for drama. Due for publication in May 2000. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 6 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Texts and Contexts, Paster, Gail Kern, and Howard, Skiles, (eds.), London: Macmillan, 1999. ISBN 0333763963 (The original publication from America is available in U.K. bookshops under ISBN 1312166214) This uses the Bevington edition of the text. The book contains a very brief introduction and a cursory glossary to the text. The book’s real purpose is to parade a series of primary sources acting as contextualisations of the play. For example, a letter from Robert Laneham describing how the Queen was entertained at Kenilworth in 1575; a speech made by the Queen to Parliament on marriage and succession in 1566; a song, with vocal score, circa1600, titled ‘The Mad Merry Pranks of Robin Good-Fellow’, and much, much more. Certainly of interest to those looking in depth at the play’s historical context. Otherwise, there are better editions of the text. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sanders, Norman, (ed.), The Macmillan Shakespeare, London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1992. ISBN 0174323921 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Seely, Cherry, (ed.), Series: Heinemann Shakespeare, London: Heinemann, 1993. ISBN 435192027 Possibly, again, a little young, being designed for English schools up to 16 years. Heinemann as yet do not produce A Midsummer Night’s Dream in their Advanced Shakespeare series. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Walter, J.H, (ed.) Series: The Players’ Shakespeare, London: Heinemann, 1993. ISBN 435190059 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Warren, Roger, (ed.), Series: Text and Performance, London: Macmillan, 1983. ISBN 0333339983 Much more than a text, though sadly out of print; worth a trip to the library to look through. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Wells, Stanley, (ed.), Series: New Penguin Shakespeare, London: Penguin, 1967. ISBN 0140707026 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Penguin Popular Classics, London: Penguin, 1994. ISBN 0140620958 Cheap, complete and unabridged (no editor is cited for this edition). It has a brief introduction to Shakespeare, Elizabethan theatre and the play itself, and very brief notes and a glossary at the end. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 7 CRITICAL WORKS Aykroyd, J.W, Performing Shakespeare: A Guidebook, London: Samuel French, 1979. ISBN 0573190356 Includes an examination of staging, directing and design, sources and accounts of plays. Armstrong, Katherine, and Atkin, Graham, Studying Shakespeare, London: Longman, 1998. ISBN 0134867882 A text which deals with Shakespeare’s language, performance of his plays, his context, etc. Aronson, Arnold, American Set Design, New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1990. ISBN 0930452399 A series of American designers are profiled, with a liberal dose of illustrations. Useful for those on the designers’ option. (Theatre Communications Group titles listed in this bibliography can be bought in the UK through Nick Hern Books.) Auslander, Philip, From Acting to Performance: Essays in Modernism and Postmodernism, London: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0415157870 A survey of the development and changes in acting and performance from the 1960s, looking at various practitioners, including Artaud, Brook, Boal and The Wooster Group. Very advanced. Banks, R.A, and Marson, P, Drama and Theatre Arts, London: Hodder & Stoughton, (rev.) 1998. ISBN 0340711787 This is a handy text book, giving a survey of theatrical periods and a guide to directors and directing. Barber, C.L, Shakespeare’s Festive Comedy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1959. ISBN 0691060436 Worth a trip to library for a skim read. Barroll, Leeds, (ed.), Shakespeare Studies, Vol. XXVII, Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1999. ISBN 083863835X An annual collection of academic essays, this being the latest edition. Look it up, with past issues, in the library. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 8 Barton, John, Playing Shakespeare, London: Methuen, 1984. ISBN 0413547906 RSC director John Barton wrote this examination of how to rehearse and present Shakespeare to accompany a television series shown in 1984 on Channel Four. It is a fascinating insight into the works which is, of course, of great significance to those taking the acting option. Moreover, those taking either the directing or designing options will also find intriguing information in this book. For instance, Ian McKellen on the differences in preparation and presentation for different venues/spaces; or Barton himself on the issue of ‘contemporary’ Shakespeare. Bate, Jonathan, and Jackson, Russell, (eds.), Shakespeare: An Illustrated Stage History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0198123728 Contributions from academics, directors (including Sam Mendes) and actors (including Judi Dench). Benedetti, Jean, Stanislavski: An Introduction, London: Methuen, (rev.), 1989. ISBN 0413500306 Very slim, easy to read. For those on the acting option. Bentley, G.E, The Profession of Dramatist in Shakespeare’s Time 1590-1642, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1971. ISBN 0691062056 And... Bentley, G.E, The Profession of Player in Shakespeare’s Time 1590-1642, Princeton New Jersey; Princeton University Press, 1984. ISBN 0691065969 You will do well to find these two titles in anything other than a library. This Gerald Eades Bentley, born 1901, is not be confused with Gerald Eades Bentley, born 1930, who prefers to write books about William Blake. Berry, Cecily, Voice and the Actor, London: Harrap, 1973. ISBN 024552021X Useful for those choosing the acting option. Of particular interest as Berry was the Voice Director at the RSC at the time of Peter Brook’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and worked on the production in this capacity. Berry, Cecily, The Actor and His Text, London: Harrap, 1987. ISBN 0245543821 More application of the methods and techniques, this time directly on the speaking of Shakespeare (as well as other, more modern, playwrights). There are many references to, and exercises on, extracts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Bloom, Harold, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, London: Fourth Estate, 1999. ISBN 1841150479 A companion to all of Shakespeare’s plays, concentrating on the characters. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 9 Brandt, George W, Modern Theories of Drama: A Selection of Writings on Drama and Theatre, 1840-1990, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0198711395 Every conceivable aspect of theory on the subject from the past 160 years, by every thinker on the subject, from Richard Wagner to Howard Barker, in their own words. A very valuable reader for directors, designers and actors. Bly, Mark (ed.), The Production Notebooks: Volume 1: Theatre in Process, New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1996. ISBN 1559361107 Fascinating diaries of theatrical productions from design and rehearsal stages through to performance. Bowskill, Derek, Acting and Stagecraft Made Simple, London: W.H.Allen, 1973. ISBN 0491007248 These kind of books tend to receive the worst bashings imaginable in academic and practical ‘respectable’ circles. Despite the brickbats, they are never quite as bad as all that, and this one is actually rather good, even if currently out of print. The first two-thirds of the book is devoted to acting: rationale, attitude, absorption, improvisation, breathing, movement, working with a text, etc. The remainder looks at the work of a director and a designer. It is intelligently written and full of practical exercises. Briggs, Julia, This Stage-Play World: Texts and Contexts, 1580-1625, Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2nd edition) 1997. ISBN 019289286X A thorough look at the period. Briggs, K.M, The Anatomy of Puck: an examination of fairy beliefs among Shakespeare’s contemporaries and successors, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1959. Another trip to the library is recommended for this study. Brook, Peter, Evoking Shakespeare, London: Nick Hern Books, 1998. ISBN 185459303X Brook on dealing with Shakespeare as a director, as he so famously did with A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the RSC in 1970. A quick, cheap, fascinating read. Brown, John Russell, Studying Shakespeare, London: Macmillan, 1990. ISBN 0333319419 Brown, John Russell, William Shakespeare: Writing for Performance, London: Macmillan, 1996. ISBN 0333639227 A very useful book which looks at the plays as texts for performance and at Shakespeare as a peerless practitioner of this art, one for whom the reception of the audience was so important. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 10 Brown, Richard Danson, and Johnson, David, (eds.), A Shakespeare Reader: Sources and Criticism, London: Macmillan, 2000. ISBN 0333913159 Another rather large volume, with a collection of criticism, sources and essays. One such essay is ‘The Staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by J.L. Halio. Bulman, James C, Shakespeare, Theory and Performance, London: Routledge, 1996. ISBN 0415116252 Calderwood, James, L, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992. ISBN 0745008178 Callaghan, Dympna, (ed.), A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare, Oxford: Blackwell, 2000. ISBN 0631208062 There are numerous essays of interest in this collection, e.g., ‘Women and Boys Playing Shakespeare’, and a few outwith the scope of Advanced Higher. The book starts with a general overview of the history of feminist Shakespeare criticism. The most relevant of the collection is Ania Loomba’s ‘The Great Indian Vanishing Trick’, an essay which links aspects of colonialism, race, gender and economics with a reading of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Carroll, William C, The Metamorphoses of Shakespearean Comedy, Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1985. ISBN 0691066337 Chaikin, Joseph, The Presence of the Actor, New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1991. ISBN 1559360305 A widely-respected actor trainer. Chambers, E.K, The Elizabethan Stage, 4 volumes, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923. and... Chambers, E.K, William Shakespeare, 2 volumes, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930. Edmund Kerchever Chambers’ classic studies. In all good libraries. Clurman, Harold, On Directing, New York: Fireside Books, Simon and Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0684826224 This is the latest reprint of the 1972 volume. Cole, Toby, and Chinov, H. K, (eds.), Directors on Directing, (rev.), London: Collier Macmillan, 1963. ISBN 0023233001 The whole of section four is devoted to the staging of Shakespeare with contributions from, among others, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Peter Brook, Peter Hall, Joseph Papp and Franco Zeffirelli. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 11 Cooper, Simon, and Mackey, Sally, Theatre Studies: An Approach for Advanced Level, Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes, 1996. ISBN 0748721215 A super text book dealing with how to analyse a text, the process of production (staging, design, etc.) and also a worthwhile section on how to approach the analysis of contemporary productions. Handy for both the analysis of the play and the directing and designing options. (The last section is also extremely valuable for Unit 2: Twentieth-Century Theatre: Theories of Performance, as it deals with Gordon Craig, Stanislavski, Artaud and Brecht.) Coyle, Martin, and Peck, John, How To Study a Shakespeare Play, London: Macmillan, (rev.) 1995. ISBN 0333641264 Delgado, M. M., and Heritage, P., (eds.,) In Contact with the Gods?: Directors talk Theatre, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996. ISBN 0719047633 Particularly useful for those choosing the directing option. The editors have consulted major figures about their theory and practice, including Peter Brook, Declan Donnellan, Robert Lepage, Peter Stein and Robert Wilson. Dennis, Anne, The Articulate Body, New York: Quite Specific Media Group, 1994. ISBN 0896761339 For those on the acting option. (Quite Specific MG books listed in this bibliography are available in the UK through Nick Hern Books.) Desrochers, Rick, Playing Director: A Handbook for Beginners, London: Heinemann, 1995. ISBN 0435086685 Definitely practical but also definitely for beginners. Donnellan, Declan, Acting the Truth, London: Nick Hern Books, 2000. ISBN 1854591274 A new text by the celebrated theatre director. Draper, R.P, Shakespeare: The Comedies, Series: analysing texts, London: Macmillan, 2000. ISBN 0312227035 An analysis of Shakespeare’s obsession with love and romance in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (and Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It and Twelfth Night). Draper takes the view that the conflicts on which these issues thrive is not just comic but deserving of our sympathy due to their complexities and serious undertones. This is a great book. It takes issues/concepts and analyses sections of the texts as an example of how Shakespeare has induced the comedy. For example, Draper uses issues/concepts such as ‘Atmospherics’, ‘Illusion’, ‘Dupes’, ‘Clever Fools’ and ‘Set Pieces’ (among others). Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 12 In ‘Set Pieces’, Draper analyses Oberon’s speech to Puck in Act II, scene i, in which the flower ‘Love-in-idleness’ is described: this being what Draper says is a common kind of interlude, like a song in a musical, which can be free-standing and either related or unrelated to the action or narrative thrust at that point in the play. The book ends with a useful introduction to ‘Theories of Comedy’. Dutton, Richard, (ed.), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macmillan New Casebooks, London: Macmillan, 1998. ISBN 0333601971 This is a collection of critical essays on the play. None of the essays in this collection are repeated from the earlier Casebook Series, which is still in print (see Price, below). The New Casebooks take account of more modern critical theory. Eagles, Jonathan, Watching Shakespeare: a theatregoer’s review of the RSC, London: Minerva, 1999. ISBN 1861061420 A survey from the stalls. Eagleton, Terry, William Shakespeare, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986. ISBN 0631145540 A Marxist re-reading of seventeen plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream falling under the heading ‘Desire’. Eagleton sees desire as deeply impersonal in the play, controlled by the unconscious, desperate in its search for truth but continually denied it. Desire’s elusiveness, its illusion, Eagleton believes, has a wholly unsettling effect on the nature of identity, and Puck, who is everywhere and nowhere, voyeur and participant, real and unreal, controls the traffic in bodies as capital controls the nature of human relations. Fender, Stephen, Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Studies in English Literature (No. 35), London: Edward Arnold, 1968. ISBN 0713154241 This is no run-of-the-mill guide but one of a series of in-depth studies designed for students who already have some knowledge of the play. It offers an academic interpretation which is personal and challenging to the writer in order to further stimulate and challenge the student. Fraser, Neil, Lighting and Sound, London: Phaidon, (rev.), 1993. ISBN 071482514X A good handbook for those on the designing option. Giannachi, Gabriella, and Luckhurst, Mary, (eds.), On Directing: Interviews with Directors, London: Faber and Faber, 1999. ISBN 0571191495 A good collection of articles by various directors, including: Declan Donnellan; Phyllida Lloyd; Gerry Mulgrew and Deborah Warner. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 13 Gibson, Ben, Teaching Shakespeare, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0521577888 Designed for teachers of all age ranges, from school to HE. Gibson, Ben, Shakespeare’s Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 0521578116 This book has 150 photocopiable worksheets for teachers to design their own lessons to suit the level of their students. It is designed for 14-18 year-olds. Gielgud, John, Acting Shakespeare, New York and London: Applause Theatre Book Publishers, 1999. ISBN 1577833745 Granville-Barker, Harley, Preface to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, London: Nick Hern Books, 1993. ISBN 1854591770 A classic text, now reissued and very cheaply. (You may well find this in its original form – Prefaces to Shakespeare: Volume 6, – in a library.) It includes the prefaces to Twelfth Night and The Winter’s Tale. Graves, R.B, Lighting the Shakespearean Stage, 1567-1642, Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1999. ISBN 0809322757 The book looks at the history and aesthetics of the title, the tradition of sunlit amphitheatres and candlelit hall playhouses. It describes different lighting techniques and estimates their effects and effectiveness. Greenhill, Wendy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, London: Heinemann, 1999. ISBN 1575722844 An introduction to the play which discusses plot, characters, sources, the history of early performances and how productions have evolved over the years. Very simple and straightforward and a fairly useful introduction. Greenhill is the former Head of Education at the RSC. Greenhill, Wendy, and Wignall, Paul, Shakespeare, Man of the Theatre, London: Heinemann, 2000. ISBN 43107514X An accessible biography, looking at the plays (and poems) within their historical and cultural context. Possibly a little young, but clearer than some more advanced or old biographies. Greer, Germaine, Shakespeare, Series: Past Masters, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. ISBN 0192875388 In which she examines many plays in detail, concentrating on their, moral dilemmas. Grotowski, Jerzy, Towards a Poor Theatre, London: Methuen, 1968. ISBN 0413349101 Bursting onto the theatre world all the way from Poland in the 1960s, amid social upheaval and political oppression, with first hand experience of Hitler’s Nazism and Stalin’s Terror, came (no, not Jan Kott, see below) Jerzy Grotowski. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 14 Apart from being a seminal text regarding modern theatre practice, those students choosing the acting option may find something of interest in here. Essays on actor training and technique take up most of the second half of the book. Gurr, Andrew, The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (3rd edition) 1992. ISBN 052142240X Probably the best book on the staging of plays in Shakespeare’s time. It offers details of the different companies, their theatrical practice, the architecture and use made of the playhouses and the relationship between the actor and the audience. ‘Directing Performances’ (pp.208-211), though very brief, is a joy, describing the conveyor-belt style of repertory work which the companies had to adopt due to lack of time, scribing and delivery of scripts and uncertainty of audience reaction and reception. Chapter 5 looks at staging, design, props, costume and directing. Chapter 6, ‘The Audiences’, has sub-sections such as ‘Social Attitudes to Playgoing’ in which it is possible to see how Henslowe’s Blackfriars Theatre Box Office takings rose from January to May; ‘Social Divisions in the Playhouse’ (pp.215-222); and ‘Audience Behaviour’ (pp.222-229). In this latter section we learn that play-going seemed much like a cross between going to a Millwall football match in the Seventies and an Alternative Comedy gig in the Eighties; and we also learn about ‘Roaring Moll’, a female transvestite theatregoer who defies simile. A very good buy. Gurr, Andrew, The Shakespearian Playing Companies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN 0198129777 This is an excellent history of theatre. The first half of the book gives a general outline of the companies from the 1560s to their closure in 1642, while the second half concentrates on individual histories of each company. Gurr, Andrew, Playgoing in Shakespeare’s London, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (2nd edition) 1996. ISBN 0521574498 Just brilliant. This is an outstanding piece of scholarship and a great read. The playhouses, the act of theatregoing and the people of Shakespeare’s London are all given detailed and credible life in this book. Gurr, Andrew, and Ichikawa, Mariko, Staging in Shakespeare’s Theatre, Series: Oxford Shakespeare Topics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 0198711581 This text reconstructs how plays were originally staged and shows how physical possibilities and limitations affected writing and performance. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 15 Hackett, Helen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Plymouth: Northcote House (in association with The British Council), 1996. ISBN 0746307543 An academic text with a fresh approach to the play and its meanings, stressing the darkness of Shakespeare’s comedy, its moon imagery and the importance of Elizabeth I’s representation in the play. Halliday, F.E, Shakespeare, London: Thames and Hudson, 1956. ISBN 0500260214 Wonderfully readable account of Shakespeare’s life (such as we know it), times and context. There are 151 illustrations, and good ones, too. Harrop, John, Acting, London: Routledge, 1992. ISBN 0415059623 An examination of what acting is, how it is informed by actor training and practice from Stanislavski to the present day, and what its purpose is. Harrop, John, and Epstein, Sabin R, Acting with Style, London: Longman, (3rd edition) 2000. ISBN 0205295827 Another manual of ‘how to’ – the rehearsal process, characterisation, using textual clues, etc. and approaches to acting styles of different periods and different kinds of plays. Hodge, Alison, Twentieth Century Actor Training, London: Routledge, 1999. ISBN 0415194520 Hodge analyses the theories, training exercises and productions of 14 directors. Hodges, C. Walter, Enter the Whole Army: A Pictorial Study of Shakespearean Staging, 1576-1616, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 052132355X C. Walter Hodges seems to have been around forever, and this is a new edition of fifty imaginatively drawn ‘reconstructions’ of how he believes scenes from Shakespeare’s plays may have been staged originally. Great fun. Hoffman, Michael, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, London: HarperCollins Educational, 1999. ISBN 000257117X A well-illustrated companion to Hoffman’s film, including on-set photographs and an introduction by the director. Hoggett, Chris, Stage Crafts, London: A & C Black, 1975. ISBN 0713615575 Just in case you are the only Drama Department in the western world which does not have a copy of this, it is the book that tells you how to do everything. Holkeboer, Katherine S, Patterns for Theatrical Costumes: Garments, Trims and Accessories from Ancient Egypt to 1915, New York: Quite Specific Media Group, 1993. ISBN 0896761258 You might not do any better than this as a resource for those choosing to design, trace, cut out and assemble costumes as part of their option choice. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 16 Holland, Peter, English Shakespeares, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 052156476X An account of Shakespeare productions in England in the 1990s. Holland discusses the strengths and weaknesses of these, the general themes found in them, gives a chronology of productions by several companies and then goes on to compare them with productions elsewhere. Holland, Peter, (ed.), Shakespeare Survey, 53, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0521781140 The Shakespeare Surveys are published annually; this latest is titled ‘Shakespeare and Narrative’. The previous year’s was edited by Stanley Wells and titled ‘Shakespeare and the Globe’. They are very expensive but worth skimming in a library for essays on a range of topics. Holt, Michael, Stage Design And Properties, Oxford: Phaidon, 1988. ISBN 0714825158 Indispensable for those thinking of choosing the designer option. It contains everything from designing, to drawing a groundplan, to making a model set. Honan, Park, Shakespeare: A Life, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0192825275 A hugely entertaining, modern biography. Honan gives his own guess as to the first staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, plus further insights into the biographical derivation of Snout’s ‘Wall’, the darkness at the heart of comedy (or, at least, this comedy), the comparison between the character of Peter Quince and Shakespeare himself, and the play ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ as parody of Romeo and Juliet. Honigmann, E. A. J, Shakespeare: The ‘Lost Years’, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998. ISBN 0719054257 Another addition to the Shakespeare biography industry. Honigmann asserts that Shakespeare’s time between school in Stratford and theatre in London was spent as a schoolmaster, first in Lancashire and then for the Earl of Derby: and what’s more, that he was brought up a Catholic, therefore explaining hitherto difficult references in the plays. Hyland, Peter, An Introduction to Shakespeare: The Dramatist in his Context, London: Macmillan, 1996. ISBN 0333598806 Hyland looks at the historical, social and political pressures of Shakespeare’s England and therefore the conditions under which he wrote. The book then surveys the plays and examines issues in them. Jackson, Sheila, Costumes for the stage: a complete handbook for every kind of play, London: Herbert Press, 1992. ISBN 0906969778 If you thought the title of this book was rather grand and tempting fate, you were right... Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 17 Jackson, Sheila, More costumes for the stage, London: Herbert Press, 1998. ISBN 1871569540 (Herbert Press is part of A & C Black.) The sequels are never quite as good... Johnstone, Keith, Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre, London: Methuen, (rev.) 1981. ISBN 041346430X Another vital book for those choosing the acting option. Johnstone’s book is tremendously useful, full of ideas and techniques and methods to unravel an actor’s spontaneity. This is a particularly helpful item for students faced, perhaps for the first time, with a Shakespearean text. Kasten, David Scott, (ed.), A Companion to Shakespeare, Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. ISBN 0631218785 A very comprehensive collection of essays on all aspects of Shakespeare’s life and times; its history, his works, the political and theatrical context. Part Six, ‘Playing’, is particularly worth a look, with essays on the Chamberlain’s-King’s Men, the Repertory system, the Playhouses (by Andrew Gurr), Licensing and Censorship, and the Economics of the theatre at that time. Kennedy, Judith M, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Series: Shakespeare, the critical tradition, London: Athlone, 1999. ISBN 0485810034 Designed for undergraduates, a study which traces the response to the play from Shakespeare’s day to the present, including Britain, Europe and America. Kermode, Frank, The Language of Shakespeare, London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 2000. ISBN 0713993782 Kiernan, Pauline, Staging Shakespeare At The New Globe, London: Macmillan, 1999. ISBN 0333662733 It is difficult to know how to begin to describe just how thoroughly intriguing and how commendably practicable this book will be to a study of the initial staging of Shakespeare’s plays at the Globe – even if it is more than probable A Midsummer Night’s Dream was not originally staged there (most critical research places it as a production of The Chamberlain’s Men at The Theatre or in a private ‘household’ to celebrate some nobles’ forthcoming nuptials). Kiernan’s book is a record of the experiments and discoveries made by the team of theatre practitioners who moved into the reconstructed Globe Theatre on London’s Bankside in 1996. It deals with how the physical space affects the actors’ art, the directors’ job, the actor-audience relationship, rehearsal, design, etc. A very worthwhile purchase. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 18 Kimber, Kenneth, and Wood, David, Stages in Design, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995. ISBN 0340558520 A good introduction to design, aimed at 14-19 year-olds, with many assignments, all with teachers’ notes. Kott, Jan, Shakespeare Our Contemporary, London: Methuen, (2nd ed., rev.) 1967. ISBN 0416696805 Bursting onto the theatre world all the way from Poland in the 1960s, amid social upheaval and political oppression, with first hand experience of Hitler’s Nazism and Stalin’s Terror, came (no, not Jerzy Grotowski, see above) Jan Kott. This book has been massively influential on Shakespearean production and remains so even today. The essay most pressing for the play in this unit is ‘Titania and the Ass’s Head’ (pp.171-190). Here, Puck is seen as a devil, a precursor of The Tempest’s Ariel (the whole play is seen as a rehearsal for The Tempest), a Harlequin: not a clown but an intelligent ringmaster. Kott likens him to a stage manager and producer who orchestrates Oberon’s show. Kott tries to visualise the original staging (taken from A.L.Rowse’s biography, and as unreliable as all others) and the private audience for which it may have been knowingly performed. He tries to assert the intensity of desire within this play (and others by Shakespeare). He also argues that the heightened (for Shakespeare) eroticism or promiscuity within the play, the brutal, sexual, animal imagery, leads to a very different interpretation of Titania’s liaison with Bottom’s Ass. This, he says, is not an excuse for laughs or slapstick, as it is commonly performed, but what he identifies as a very British instance of black humour. This essay is extremely fertile ground for actors, designers and directors, teeming, as it is, with challenging ideas. Krasner, David, Method Acting Reconsidered, London: Macmillan, 2000. ISBN 033391547X It is a pity part of the reconsideration was not to drop the awful term ‘method’, but American Cultural Imperialism spreads its wings wide and we are powerless under its span. However, this book will be a serviceable text for those on the acting option. Langley, Andrew, Shakespeare’s Theatre, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0199105669 There is something of a tourist’s coffee table gift book about this, but it is wellillustrated with watercolours by June Everett and photographs charting the rebuilding of the Globe. An interesting history of how the Globe Theatre was used in Shakespeare’s time, and an account of its rebuilding for our own time. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 19 Leacroft, Richard, The Development of the English Playhouse, London: Methuen, 1988. ISBN 0413606007 An illustrated survey of theatre buildings in England from medieval to modern times. This is a thoroughly researched, important work, and should prove particularly useful for designers. Leggatt, Alexander, English Drama: Shakespeare to the Restoration, 1590-1660, London: Longman, 1988. ISBN 0582493110 A broad history. Part One, section 3, deals with Shakespeare’s early comedies. Leggatt, Alexander, Introduction to English Renaissance Comedy, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999. ISBN 0719049652 Turn to Chapter Four, ‘Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (pp.46-69). It contains a superb analysis of the play, its historical context and its theatricality. It is very useful for actors as well, providing excellent notes on motivation for, and relationships between, various characters (for example, between Theseus and Hippolyta; Titania and Oberon; Helena and Demetrius, etc.). Lewis, Robert, Advice to the Players, New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1990. ISBN 1559360038 Another actor’s handbook. Linklater, Kristin, Freeing the Natural Voice, New York: Quite Specific Media Group, 1978. ISBN 0896760715 and Linklater, Kristin, Freeing Shakespeare’s Voice, New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1991. ISBN 1559360313 Although the latter is clearly the more obvious choice for the course, the former will be of use for those on the acting option, too. McCafferty, Michael, Directing A Play, Oxford: Phaidon, 1988. ISBN 0714825131 A handy little book, very accessible and with specific, short, chapters on casting, directing ‘classics’, directing business, etc. Mackey, Sally, Practical Theatre: A post-16 approach, Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes, 1997. ISBN 0748728570 A wide-ranging text book, dealing with acting, directing and designing (and other aspects of theatre), and specifically written for this level of student. With chapters on acting, directing and designing (as an added bonus, there is also one on devising, interestingly, for Unit 1 of the Advanced Higher Drama), this is a tremendously pupil and teacher-friendly resource. Though geared toward qualifications and syllabuses in England, like its companion publication (see Cooper and Mackey, above), it can be easily adapted for use in Scotland’s post-16 drama curriculum. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 20 Mangan, Michael, A Preface to Shakespeare’s Comedies, London: Longman, 1996. ISBN 0582095905 This includes an analysis, the historical background and context, the social perspective, the social function of laughter in Elizabethan/Jacobean society and a reaction to the play in the light of recent research. Merchant, Moelwyn, Comedy, Series: The Critical Idiom, London: Methuen, 1972. ISBN 0416750508 The nature of comedy is explored, with some references to the play. Michaels, Wendy, Playbuilding Shakespeare, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 0521570255 This book explores five plays through the technique of playbuilding, aiming to enable students to present their own version of the play from both improvisation and Shakespeare’s text. Chapter 2 deals with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Mulryne, J.R, and Shewring, Margaret, (eds.), Shakespeare’s Globe Rebuilt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 0521599881 A great book. A fully illustrated account of the rebuilding, with contributions from academics and researchers (e.g. Andrew Gurr), designers, the architect, the carpenter and Mark Rylance, the actor and now Artistic Director at the new Globe. It contains everything, from the design and the materials used, to the use to which it is now being put as a theatre. Neelands, Jonothan, and Dobson, Warwick, Drama and Theatre Studies at A/S Level, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2000. ISBN 0340758600 Due for publication in May 2000. It will contain exercises and introductions to theorists and practitioners, useful for the options offered in Unit 3: Special Study. Neelands, Jonothan, and Dobson, Warwick, Theatre Directions, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2000. ISBN 0340758619 Though perhaps better used on Unit 2, this companion to the above text by the same authors will be useful for actors and directors on Unit 3. Novy, Marianne, Love’s Argument: Gender Relations in Shakespeare, London: University of North Carolina Press, 1984, 1984. ISBN 0807816086 Novy looks at love, marriage, sex role and feminism in her study. Novy, Marianne, Transforming Shakespeare: Contemporary Women’s Revisions in Literature and Performance, London: Macmillan, 1999. ISBN 0333754735 More feminist perspectives on Shakespeare. (Not yet in paperback.) Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 21 O’Brien, Peggy, Shakespeare Set Free, Volume One: Teaching Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, New York: Washington Square Press, 1993. ISBN 0671760467 An estimated month’s-worth of lessons on A Midsummer Night’s Dream alone. It can be ordered online from the Simon and Schuster website (Washington Square Press is an imprint of Simon and Schuster) at http://www.simonsays.com, as it is almost impossible to buy in the UK. Owen, Mack, The Stages of Acting: A Practical Approach for Beginning Actors, London: Addison Wesley Longman, 1993. ISBN 0065006321 Payne, Blanche, and Winakor, Greitel, and Farrell-Beck, Jane, The History of Costume: From the Ancient Mesopotamians through the Twentieth Century, London: Addison Wesley Longman, 1992. ISBN 0060471417 Peithman, Stephen, The Stage Directions Guide to Directing, London: Heinemann, 1999. ISBN 032500112X A general overview of the director’s role; how a director shapes and steers a production; offering insights by established directors and actors on a variety of topics, including selecting a show and staging big shows with small casts. Pilbrow, Richard, Stage Lighting Design: The Art, The Craft, The Life, London: Nick Hern Books, 1999. ISBN 1854592734 A little expensive, perhaps, but absolutely first rate. Price, Anthony, (ed.), Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Casebook Series, London: Macmillan, 1983. ISBN 0333270134 A good collection of essays on the play. Not to be confused with the newer, New Casebook Series (see Dutton, above). Reynolds, Peter, Practical Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN 0198319541 Includes work on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and others, though designed for 14-16 year olds and currently out of print. Richards, Thomas, At Work With Grotowski On Physical Actions, London: Routledge, 1995. ISBN 0415124921 An account by Grotowski collaborator, Richards, which will be of interest to those opting for acting in this Unit. Rodenburg, Patsy, The Actor Speaks: Voice and the Performer, London: Methuen, 1997. ISBN 0413700305 Another top voice specialist for those on the acting option. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 22 Rosenfeld, Sybil, A Short History of Scene Design in Great Britain, Oxford: Blackwell, 1973. ISBN 0631145206 Rowse, A.L, William Shakespeare, A Biography, London: Macmillan, 1963. and... Rowse, A.L, Shakespeare the Man, London: Macmillan, (rev.) 1988. ISBN 0333443543 Still read and oft-referred to. Ryan, Kiernan, Shakespeare: The Comedies, London: Macmillan, 2000. ISBN 0333599322 Ryan disagrees with the view that Shakespeare’s work endorses a conservative world order, and instead sees the Comedies as celebrating the less dominant cultures of both his and our own times. Ryan, Kiernan, (ed.), Shakespeare: Texts and Contexts, The Shakespeare: Text and Performance Series, London: Macmillan (in association with the Open University), 2000. ISBN 0333913175 This hefty volume focuses on the texts and the contexts of performance, from original to contemporary productions. Chapter 1 deals with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Salingar, Leo, Shakespeare and the Traditions of Comedy, London: Cambridge University Press, 1974. ISBN 0521203848 Schafer, Elizabeth, Ms-Directing Shakespeare: Women Direct Shakespeare, London: The Women’s Press Ltd, 1998. ISBN 0704345447 Schafer takes us on a journey through the history of female directing of Shakespeare, looking back at women directors and their approaches to the plays. From Joan Littlewood to Gale Edwards, Schafer contends these women have been much neglected in the world of Shakespeare performance history. Furthermore, that women in general have not merely been neglected, and not only obstructed from the director’s role (only six women had directed Shakespeare on the Royal Shakespeare Company main stage when this book was written!), but also derided for their skills, talents and interpretations – hence the punning ‘Ms’ of the book’s title. The first section of this book concentrates on various portraits of women directors, from the class politics of Joan Littlewood through to the Australian Gale Edwards, who is as well-known for her Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals as her RSC work. Section 3 contains interesting snippets, one of which is a look at the nineteenth century career of Eliza Vestris and her A Midsummer Night’s Dream (from p.194). The best section of the book however, is Section 2 which deals with plays. A Midsummer Night’s Dream turns up on pp.87-92, when Schafer discusses Deborah Paige’s 1992 production at the Salisbury Playhouse. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 23 There are many useful notes on this production – Paige’s interpretative ideas for actors, casting, design (costume and set) – and this is then contrasted with Paige’s rather different London production of 1994 at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Very interesting, if a little brief on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, specifically. Schneider, Rebecca, The Explicit Body in Performance, London: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0415090261 Feminist Performance Art examined in close-up, if you will. This book examines, specifically, that strain within Feminist Performance Art which uses the body itself as the stage on which to ‘unfold’ the hierarchical structures which oppress women in society. For those looking at performance concepts for an audience today, this book allows students to examine and experiment with new, fresh and challenging ideas. A difficult but hugely interesting book on the subject. Selbourne, David, The Making of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, London: Methuen, 1982. ISBN 0413497208 The rest of the title of this text reads, ‘an eye-witness account of Peter Brook’s production from the first rehearsal to first night’, which just about tells you everything you need to know before rushing out to find it. Shepherd, Simon, and Womack, Peter, English Drama: A Cultural History, Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 0631199381 Enormous in scope, this book sets out clearly to place each age of drama in its theatrical context. Chapter 4, The Image of Elizabethan Theatre, is the most pertinent for this unit: it is accessible, detailed and informative. Simonson, Lee, The Art of Scenic Design: A Pictorial Analysis of Stage Setting and its Relation to Theatrical Production, New York: Greenwood Press, 1973. ISBN 0837164818 Hugely opinionated (Simonson does not care for Edward Gordon Craig but has a great deal of time for the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Adolphe Appia) but very thorough. Slater, Anne Pasternak, Shakespeare the Director, Brighton: Harvester Press, 1982. ISBN 0389203041 Smallwood, Robert, (ed.), Players of Shakespeare 4, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0521794161 This is the latest in the Cambridge University Press series, in which Royal Shakespeare Company actors discuss their roles and performances. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 24 Smith, Ronn, American Design 2, New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1990. ISBN 1559360186 Another series of profiles of American set designers with good illustrations. Spolin, Viola, Theatre Games for Rehearsal: A Director’s Handbook, Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1985. ISBN 0810140020 and Spolin, Viola, Improvisation for the Theatre: A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques, Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, (3rd ed.) 1999. ISBN 0810140098 Two classic texts from the American guru. Stafford-Clark, Max, Letters to George, London: Nick Hern Books, 1997. ISBN 185459317X Great insights for those on the directing option from the erstwhile leader at The Royal Court Theatre. Stanislavski, Constantin, An Actor Prepares, London: Methuen, 1937. ISBN 0413461904 Stanislavski, Constantin, Building A Character, London: Methuen, 1950. ISBN 0413367207 Stanislavski, Constantin, Creating A Role, London: Methuen, 1981. ISBN 0413477606 The books by the actor-director who changed a profession. Stern, Tiffany, Rehearsal from Shakespeare to Sheridan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 0198186819 A history of rehearsal from the sixteenth to eighteenth century, examining its nature and changing content. The book uses autobiographical, textual and journalistic sources. Look for the chapter, ‘Rehearsals in Shakespeare’s theatre’. Strasberg, Lee, Strasberg at the Actors Studio: Tape Recorded Sessions, Hethmon, Robert H, (ed.), New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1991. ISBN 185459317X Not everybody’s cup of tea, certainly on this side of the Atlantic, but the words of Method acting’s most famous proponent are worth listening to by any student of acting at least once. Styan, J.L, The Elements of Drama, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (rev.) 1963. ISBN 0521092019 Always a critic who maintained a keen eye on the theatrical implications of a drama text, Styan offers ideas on the creation and interpretation of meanings through the various languages of theatre. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 25 Styan, J.L, Shakespeare’s Stagecraft, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967. ISBN 0521094356 This is another very accessible, easy-to-read text which covers an enormous amount of ground in the examination of Shakespeare’s stage practice. One of the elements Styan stresses is the opportunities Shakespeare gave his actors to improvise and make the parts their own. Styan is concerned with the mechanics of performance and the original practice of Shakespeare and his colleagues. He writes about the architecture of the stage; staging and acting conventions of the period; about the blocking of plays; movement, entrances, vocal work, actor-audience relationship, etc. As a test of just how good this book is, in her book about theatre practice in the newly-rebuilt Globe (see above), Pauline Kiernan says those who have worked in this new space have been struck by just how accurate, some thirty years before, were Styan’s thoughts and ideas concerning theatrical effect and audience reception. Styan, J.L, The Shakespeare Revolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977. ISBN 0521273285 This is a glorious book looking at the history of Shakespeare productions through the ages. It contains references to Elizabethan staging, though it is predominantly concerned with the nineteenth-century (when A Midsummer Night’s Dream was just making its come-back as a seriously considered piece of theatre) to the late twentiethcentury. Styan, J.L, The English Stage: A History of Drama and Performance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 0521556368 There are chapters on Elizabethan Theatre (chapter 4) and Shakespeare’s practice (chapter 6). Suzman, Janet, Acting with Shakespeare: The Comedies, New York and London: Applause Theatre Book Publishers, 1996. ISBN 1557832153 This book is currently distributed in the U.K. by A & C Black. It contains Suzman’s thoughts and feelings on the job of acting in these plays. Tassel, Wesley Van, Clues to Acting Shakespeare, New York: Allworth Press, 2000. ISBN 1581150539 Thomson, Peter, Shakespeare’s Theatre, London: Routledge, (2nd edition) 1992. ISBN 0415051487 Thomson is always a very readable academic. Trussler, Simon, Shakespearean Concepts, London: Methuen, 1989. ISBN 041361980X This is a dictionary of terms from the period, not solely related to Shakespeare’ work. In it, one will find definitions of the ‘Tiring-House’, ‘Disguise’, ‘Nocturnals’, ‘Magic’, ‘Groundling’, ‘Marriage’, ‘Lord’s Room’, etc. A useful compendium. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 26 Vaughan, Stuart, Directing Plays: A Working Professional’s Manual, London: Addison Wesley Longman, 1993. ISBN 080130623X Part II, chapter 11, ‘Modern Actors/Classic Plays’. Waller, Gary, (ed.), Shakespeare’s Comedies, Longman Critical Readers, London: Longman, 1991. ISBN 0582059267 A collection of essays, which includes a couple on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Watkins, Ronald, and Lemmon, Jeremy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Series: In Shakespeare’s Playhouse, Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1974. ISBN 0874715318 A reconstruction of an imaginary performance of the play in Shakespeare’s lifetime. Weld, John, Meaning in Comedy: Studies in Elizabethan Romantic Comedy, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1975. ISBN 0873952782 Wells, Stanley, (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ISBN 0521318416 Wells, Stanley, (ed.), Shakespeare: A Bibliographical Guide, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. ISBN 0198112130 For those not content with this one. Wells, Stanley, (ed.), Shakespeare Survey: 47: Playing Places for Shakespeare, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0521470846 A vast array of articles and information. See Peter Holland’s ‘Theseus Shadows in A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Wells, Stanley, (ed.), Shakespeare in the Theatre: An Anthology of Criticism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 019871176X This is full of great eye-witness accounts of Shakespeare productions from 1700 1996. With William Hazlitt (1816), Henry Morley (1853), Bernard Shaw (1895), and Robert Speight (1970) all contributing critics of A Midsummer Night’s Dream productions. Wells, Stanley, (ed.), Dictionary of Shakespeare, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0192800647 Entries include those on: Shakespeare’s life and work; his contemporaries; authors on Shakespeare; directors on Shakespeare; the theatres of the age. There are also illustrations, portraits and documents. A very compact and handy reference resource. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 27 Williams, Gary Jay, Our Moonlight Revels: A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Theatre, Series: Studies in Theatre History and Culture, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1997. ISBN 0877455929 Wilson, Jean, The Archeology of Shakespeare: the material legacy of Shakespeare’s theatre, Stroud: Sutton, 1995. ISBN 0750909269 An investigation of the evidence surrounding the interiors of, and the staging in, Elizabethan playhouses. Wu, Duncan, Making Plays: Interviews with Contemporary British Dramatists and Directors, London: Macmillan, 2000. ISBN 0333915615 It does exactly what it says in the title. A useful insight on offer to those choosing the directing option. Rather unbalanced, however, by an absence of female interviewees. Zarrilli, Phillip, B, Acting (Re)Considered: A Workbook for the Actor’s Imagination, London: Routledge, 1995. ISBN 0415098599 This looks at theories of acting, of actor training and the use of the body in performance. Zarrilli has used the work of numerous figures in his reconsideration, including Meyerhold, Artaud, Copeau, Brecht, Suzuki and Fo. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 28 THE WORLD WIDE WEB One of the dangers of the world wide web is also one of its great strengths: that anybody can say whatever they please about anything at all. It is an unregulated mass of opinion, some wonderfully academic and scholarly, some woefully shoddy and infantile, most in between. Democracy in action. Websites have a habit of changing addresses, changing names, changing content, suddenly appearing out of nowhere or disappearing completely: it’s a little like watching an amateur production of Waiting for Godot... you’re never quite sure. This is the nature of the Internet; thus it is, this bibliography offers some sites as examples of what existed at the time of going to print. United States, Canadian and Australian educators all love sharing information or blowing their own trumpets, depending on your point of view. British academia maintains an almost eerie silence, as if to broadcast its ideas is to somehow devalue them, or be mistaken for a salesman (which, if you are woman, is no fun at all). Much of what exists is not linked to any academic institution. This need not necessarily prove a danger, though usually is. Blast off into cyberspace but don’t forget your codswallop detector. There is a great deal of waste product out there, but there is also a great deal to admire and enjoy. http://www.ulen.com/shakespeare This is Amy Ulen’s ‘Surfing with the Bard’ site and is absolutely marvellous. Add /plays/mnd/mnd.guide.html to take you straight to the A Midsummer Night’s Dream section, though it is highly recommended to visit the site at length, as there are numerous pieces of information and activities on all aspects of Shakespeare. You will find a guide and teaching materials for the play, ready to take off the cybershelf and put into classroom action. There is an A Midsummer Night’s Dream teaching pack, other Shakespeare teaching packs and lesson plans: mini-sculpting; role-playing; status games; improvisations – e.g. with Demetrius under the influence of ‘love juice’, etc. There is also a whole section on Amy’s own production of the play – her scrapbook – with the whole text and 38 production photographs (with quotes form the play). The site has a Plays Zone, a Teacher Zone, a Pupil Zone, discussion opportunities, resources, articles and links to other sites. http://www.bbc.co.uk/knowledge/arts/shakespeare You probably won’t have seen the ‘Shakespeare Showcase: Spend a Night in with Shakespeare’ on the BBC, on Friday, 7th April, 2000. It was shown on the digital television channel BBC Knowledge. The good news is, the BBC left behind this site. There are various sections of the site: ‘Books, Sites & Stuff’; ‘The Globe Theatre’, and ‘21st Century Bard’ being just three of them. Well worth a visit. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 29 http://www.daphne.palomar.edu/Shakespeare This is a must-see site. It is enormous and has many sections: Works – plays, poems, etc., (for instance, you can read Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb from 1806) Life and Times – primary sources such as a book titled ‘Shakespeare as an Angler’ by the Rev. H.N. Ellacombe and published in 1883, a quiz, genealogy, and a great deal on the authorship debate, etc. Theatre – links to the Globe, Performance aspects (swordplay, speech, dance, costume, etc.,) Criticism; Renaissance; Sources; Educational (with 52 sites of class lessons and other educational items on various plays and aspects of Shakespeare); Best Sites and Other Sites (those Ms Palomar considers to be not scholarly enough for Best Sites but interesting enough to be linked to her site). http://www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/ The Shakespeare Centre at the University of Reading which has a Centre for Globe Theatre research. It also has a good links page. This site is wonderfully informative on scenic design, costume, staging, performance and on model-making for set designers. Andrew Gurr (see his references in the bibliography, above) is a member of staff at Reading, so the information here is academically rigorous and highly recommended. http://www.folger.edu/welcome.htm Once this is entered, click on ‘Teaching Shakespeare’. Alternatively go straight to: http://www.folger.edu/education/teaching.htm This is a great site, the home of The Folger Shakespeare Library. Folger is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities in the USA. You may go to a Teachers’ Lounge and have discussions about anything you like with teachers of Shakespeare from all over the world. You can also get pages from a Hamlet promptbook, circa 1911, or go to regularly updated lesson plans. One such lesson plan in the Lesson Plan Archive is ‘Such Affection Move: Finding Staging Clues in A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, a 2-3 lesson unit with handouts. The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC (which is also a publishing imprint of Associated University Press, Cranbury, New Jersey), publishes the ‘Shakespeare Quarterly’. Published, obviously, four times a year, it aims to cover everything Shakespeare-related from all over the world. SQ’s present editor is Gail Kern Paster and the publication can be emailed at SQ@folger.edu. http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/ The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. It has a wealth of information on Stratford, on Shakespeare and on the Shakespeare Centre in Stratford. It has recently added a Study Materials section, though it is presently in its infancy and is under development (it has material on only Othello as we go to print). Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 30 http://www.uvic.ca/shakespeare The ‘Internet Shakespeare Editions’ site, from the University of Victoria, Canada. This is an extremely interesting Shakespeare site, including promptbook extracts from a university production of Hamlet in 1998, models of the set and photographs of costume designs and production stills. You will also find all of Shakespeare’s plays in full, ready to read/download. http://www.shakespearemag.com/ The Online magazine, ‘Shakespeare: A Magazine for Teachers and Enthusiasts’. Add reviews/midsummeractivities.asp and you will go straight to teaching materials which have been designed to accompany a classroom video showing of Michael Hoffman’s 1999 production. Add tr.asp and go straight to the ‘Shakespeare Magazine Teaching Resource’ which contains a whole host of lesson plans - two (presently) on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. http://www.renfaire.com/index.html This is the ‘Renaissance Faire’ site from California. Re-enacting English village life of the 16th-century is, apparently, somewhat popular in parts of California. Participants go to extraordinary lengths to get accents, costumes and acting style as perfect as is possible. This site offers advice on how to speak with an Elizabethan accent; how to conduct yourself on stage; voice, body and mind warm-ups; Tudor history (perhaps the most academically-challenged part of the site), and - its most extensive and unimaginably detailed section - costume. The costume section has information, pictures, a huge bibliography solely devoted to costume of the period, advice on fabrics, colours, patterns, hats, hair, shoes/boots, armour, knives... you name it. If you need convincing of just how gloriously eccentric some Californians can be, hit this site. http://www.oscuk.com/ The site of the Original Shakespeare Company, founded in 1991, and devoted to experimenting with, and research into, Elizabethan performance conditions. The company have been invited to perform at the new Globe Theatre. An interesting site with good photographs. http://www.shakespearedc.org/ The website of The Shakespeare Theatre, Washington DC. A great deal of information exists here on its November 1999-January 2000 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Many articles are available: one from an actor playing Tom Snout the Tinker, in which he states at one stage of rehearsal he thought the Mechanicals were going to be asked to play it like something out of ‘The Full Monty’; one on the history and background to the play, and another on the choreography of the show. Others of little interest exist, too, especially one by the self-publicising magician employed on the production. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 31 http://www.socialstudies.com/c/@g2Z.z_9i3Vf7Y/Pages/Shakespeareindex.html Part of the Social Studies School Service of Culver City, California, in which you can find sample lessons. From the table of contents you can view one to three sample lessons from activity books. For A Midsummer Night’s Dream, you get ‘Lesson 7: Language of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, with objectives, notes for teachers, procedure (pupil activities) and handouts - and it is fairly useful, too. ‘Performing Shakespeare: The Traditional and the Modern’ is also a very good internet exercise. http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/ For those interested in the Shakespeare authorship debate. This site is the home of The Shakespeare Oxford Society who would have us believe the real identity of the playwright responsible for the plays attributed to William Shakespeare is none other than Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604). The site doesn’t indicate whether it is maintained by descendants of the de Veres. http://www.nt-online.org/home.html Education workpacks are now beginning to be published online by the Royal National Theatre. Two are available, so far, as Adobe Acrobat Reader pdf files (one being on The Merchant of Venice) and others as plain web pages. New titles and back issues will eventually be added to the site, so it will be worth popping in every now and then. http://www.sterling.holycross.edu/departments/theatre/projects/isp The ‘Interactive Shakespeare Project’ hosted by the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, which sprang from Shakespeare educators from across the USA getting together and pooling their ideas and skills under the auspices of The Folger Institute (see above). It is designed as a self-contained study guide for Measure for Measure but also has many areas of great use. The ‘Virtual Globe Theatre’ is designed to allow students to manipulate virtual actors in cyberspace. There is also a ‘Teacher Guide’ which contains sections on Voice and Body Exercises, Warm-up Exercises, Live Performance Analysis, etc. The Performance Exercises section has one exercise titled, ‘What does a stage property do? The interplay of text and prop in I.i. of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. This exercise is a whole lesson plan with aims/objectives, resources, a step-by-step description of the lesson, evaluation, further reading and suggested variations of the lesson (this Teacher Guide can also be accessed via the Folger Shakespeare Library site, at http://www.tamut.edu/english/folgerhp/Recipes/recintro.html). http://www.shakespeareunderstars.com/index.html Glenn Elston’s ‘Shakespeare Under The Stars’ site from Australia. Limited details of a production at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne (it even has a weather report!). Another page on the site will take you to an eight-page teaching pack, though this is rather orientated toward English Literature. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 32 http://iris.asij.ac.jp/msdrama/msnd/msnd.html Pupils from the American School, Tokyo, Japan, celebrating and sharing their February/March 1997 production. There is a soundtrack, director’s notes, a very good links page and an extremely good photograph section, with all production stills referenced to a line in the text. http://www.plu.ntu.no/hjemmesider/hege/shakespeare.html ‘Teaching Shakespeare in the Classroom’, a site set up by Haege Hestnes, based on her teaching of Shakespeare to 16-20 year-olds in Norway. Hamlet and Macbeth are focused on, but the methodology can be applied to other plays. http://www.kadets.d20.co.edu/shakespeare/shaktch.html ‘Shakespeare Alive! Teaching Materials’; lots of ideas from the USA. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/ A relatively new site, still under development, and very serious in its intent. Already there is a great deal available. http://www.courtneycollinsstudio.com/index.html The Homepage of the Courtney/Collins Design Studio, designers of stage sets, lights, etc. This contains nine production stills from a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream lit by one of the studio members, other shows and computer-rendered storyboards. http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/ The site of The Globe Theatre, London, containing its history and information about current activities. http://www.rsc.org.uk The Royal Shakespeare Company’s site. Interesting, with some educational resources, but pretty much a publicity site. http://www.is.bham.ac.uk/shakespeare The Shakespeare Institute Library at the University of Birmingham. It has updated lists of productions playing in the U.K. http://www.field-of-themes.com/shakespeare/indexmain.html Another site offering Shakespeare’s works on-line. The site is called ‘Everything Shakespeare’ and has summaries of the plays, links to other sites and ‘free essays’ of dubious quality. http://www.tech-two.mit.edu/Shakespeare/works.html The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Or go straight to... http://www.tech-two.mit.edu/Shakespeare/Comedy/midsummernightsdream/ amidsummernightsdream.html William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 33 http://www.shakespeare.mcgill.ca/resources/ The McGill Shakepeare Resources. Lists of e-journals and e-texts, links to other sites, etc. Worth looking at for the section ‘Early Modern Culture’, which indicates sites of essays, articles, slide shows, etc., which put the Elizabethan age into political, social and historical context. http://www.cc.emory.edu/ENGLISH/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/Shakespear e.html This is Harry Rusche’s site, of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, called ‘Shakespeare Illustrated’. It is still, and may remain, a work in progress, with play summaries and paintings inspired by the plays. There are 30 listed for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by various 18th and 19th century artists such as Blake, Cowper and Danby. http://library.thinkquest.org/10502/main.htm The home of ‘Shakey’s Place 3D: The 3D Globe Theatre Internet Experience’, designed by and for US high schools. It is mostly a list of links to other sites, but its Special Features has some fun, with a study guide for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a quiz and an opportunity to listen to some of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream played by...I’m not joking...Mr Michael J. Mouse., a baton-wielding, tuxedowearing, cyber-mouse. You really do find everything on the world wide web. http://www.jetlink.net/~massij/shakes/index.shtml ‘The Shakespeare Classroom’ contains teaching resources, Shakespeare and nonShakespeare resources, study questions, FAQs and good links to a wide variety of other Shakespeare-related sites. http://www.Jeremy-Whelan-Acting.com/ The site of Jeremy Whelan’s ‘Shakespeare and New School Acting’. It cannot be certain whether this is just a scam or not, but I wouldn’t recommend buying anything from the site, which seems to be its main purpose. Instead, turn to more interesting items, like actor Danny Scheinmann’s diary of a production, from audition to opening night, of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the English Shakespeare Company. http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/corsets/ ‘The Elizabethan Costuming Page’. This is an outstanding site. It gives you an overview of an outfit, an Elizabethan costume guide, the history and techniques of costuming, a shop, research into the subject, underpinning (a ‘how-to’ section, e.g. how to make an Elizabethan corset, or bumroll, or shirt, gathered kirtle, etc.). There are many great pictures, patterns to follow, information on hats/caps/hoods and hair, colours and fabrics, accessories, decoration, other lands at the time (e.g. Germany, Russia, etc.), sources and suppliers. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 34 http://www.siue.edu/Costumes/history.html ‘The History of Costume’ as researched by Braun and Schneider from 1861-1880 (it means you will have to go elsewhere for pictures of twentieth-century costume). Text Index #1 supplies illustrations from Ancient Egypt to late 16th-century Italy; Text Index #2 from 16th-century France to late 18th-century nuns, and Text Index #3 from the early 19th-century Empires of Germany and France to late 19th-century Russian Folk Dress. A good site for designers. http://www.members.aol.com/nebula5/costume.html ‘The Costume Page: Costuming Resources Online’; and lots of them, too. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 35 STUDY GUIDES Two CD-ROM resources from the BBC are now available: Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, CD-ROM for Windows, London: BBC Enterprises. ISBN 0563373210 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, CD-ROM for Macs, London: BBC Enterprises. ISBN 0563373997 Extracts from Jonathan Miller’s production, directed by Elijah Moshinsky (with Helen Mirren), designed for schools with an exploration of the text, characters’ backgrounds, information on plot, themes language and Shakespeare’s life. Also includes photocopiable teacher’s notes, extension materials and activities. It might be considered a little expensive if course uptake numbers are low. At the time of going to press, it cost £88.12. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, CD-ROM, London: BBC Enterprises. A cheaper version of the above (less than half the price at £29.99), with a full audio recorded performance and video clips. These can also be ordered online from http://www.bbcshop.com Other text-based study guides: Black, Matthew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Foster City, California: Cliff’s Notes, 1980. ISBN 0822000571 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bloom’s Notes, Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 1998. ISBN 0791040941 Hollindale, Peter, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Series: Penguin Critical Studies, London: Penguin, 1992. ISBN 0140772618 This one is advanced, designed for English ‘A’ Level and undergraduate study. Kerrigan, Michael, and Buzon, Tony, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Series: Teach Yourself Literature Guides, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1998. ISBN 0340663960 Designed for English GCSE but very readable all the same. Langston, David, Drama, York Notes Personal Tutor, London: Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. ISBN 0582404215 Mahoney, John, and Martin, Stewart, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: William Shakespeare, Letts Explore for GCSE, London: Letts Educational Ltd, 1994. ISBN 1857582527 Peck, John, and Coyle, Martin, How to Study a Shakespeare Play, London: Macmillan, (2nd edition) 1995. ISBN 0333641264 Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 36 Roberts, James L, Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Coles Notes, Toronto, Canada: Coles Publishing Company, 1977. Rowbottom, Sarah, Shakespeare, York Notes Personal Tutor, London: Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. ISBN 0582404266 Scicluna, John, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: William Shakespeare, York Notes for GCSE, London: Addison Wesley Longman, 1998. ISBN 0582368359 Sherborne, Michael, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: William Shakespeare, York Notes Advanced, London: Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. ISBN 0582424488 Smith, T.W, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: William Shakespeare, Brodies Notes, London: Macmillan, 1990. ISBN 033358175X Designed for English GCSE and ‘A’ Level, quite dense and worth a look. Stephen, Martin, and Franks, Philip, Studying Shakespeare, York Handbooks, London: Addison Wesley Longman, 1984. ISBN 0582035724 Fairly good general introduction, survey of Shakespeare’s background, most of the plays and insight into Shakespearean acting. No more than an introduction, though. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 37 OTHER SOURCES Films A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been filmed many times in many different ways, from black-and-white silents to modern avant garde; from the USA (1909), Italy (1913) and Germany (1924), to a filmed live performance in New York’s Central Park (1982). The BBC has two famous Bottoms in their archives, in Benny Hill (1964) and Ronnie Barker (1971). There is also the BBC Television Shakespeare from 1981. Mr Magoo has even appeared as a cartoon Puck. Hollywood experimented with A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1935. Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle directed Jimmy Cagney as Bottom, Mickey Rooney as Puck and a cast of Hollywood fairies. It was very successful at the time, winning Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and for Best Editing. It is an excellent commentary on the play, a mine of information on the Victorian tradition of staging the ‘Fairies’, and students love it. Here are a handful of video versions with catalogue numbers which are presently available to order through most big video stores or through shopping on the world wide web. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1999 - director Michael Hoffman, Twentieth Century Fox, Catalogue No. 04686. Somewhat disappointingly old-fashioned given the nature of much recently-filmed Shakespeare, but entertaining enough, with Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer and, as Oberon, King of the Fairies, born to play the part, who else but Rupert Everett? A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1996 - director Adrian Noble, Edenwood Productions, Video Supplier VCI, Catalogue No. VC3596. A video of the filmed version of an RSC production of the same year, not wholly admired by the critics. This same film is available, if you have the equipment, on DVD, Catalogue No. CCD8219. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, an opera by Benjamin Britten, 1981 - director Peter Hall, conducted by Bernard Haitink with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Catalogue No. 0630169113. Another video for those looking further afield for ideas. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1981 - director Elijah Moshinsky, producer Jonathan Miller, BBC Television Shakespeare, BBC Worldwide Ltd. The labyrinthine departments of the BBC guard this series with their lives. The film cannot be hired, only bought (currently for £15, which makes one wonder what all the fuss is about). Write to: BBC Videos for Education & Training, Room A2025, Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane, London W12 0TT. Or telephone: 0181 576 2541, or Fax: 0181 576 2916. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 38 A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1984 - director Celestino Coronada, on the ‘Dangerous To Know’ label, Video Supplier VCI, Catalogue No. DTK014. With the Lindsay Kemp Company. Henry V, 1944 - director Laurence Olivier, Carlton Entertainment, Catalogue No. 0010. If you can not afford the time to watch the whole film, at least watch the opening sequence filmed as if being performed in the Globe Theatre in the 17th-century. If you are patient and enjoy the whole film, you will be rewarded by a return to the ‘Globe’ at the end. Very much of its time, rousing the nation against Hitler as much as Henry V’s foe at Agincourt. (Branagh’s recent version is much more downbeat about the nature of warfare.) At the budget price of £4.99, it is a steal. Shakespeare in Love, 1999 - director John Madden, Universal Pictures, Catalogue No. UP1245. Absolute tosh, of course, but sublimely funny tosh and as entertaining a ‘record’ of Elizabethan theatre practice as you can probably get. You can also buy it in a widescreen format (Catalogue No. 0614463) or on DVD (Catalogue No. UDR90020). Recordings Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Series: Arkangel Complete Shakespeare, London: Penguin Audiobooks, 1998. ISBN 0140867775 A version on cassette, with Roy Hudd playing Bottom. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Naxos AudioBooks, Cambridge: Naxos and Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0521624886 This is a two-cassette version with Warren Mitchell as Bottom. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Naxos AudioBooks, Cambridge: Naxos and Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0521624878 This is the same as the above but on CD. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, BBC Audio (Spoken Word), London: BBC Enterprises, 1999. ISBN 0563553499 Part of the BBC Radio Collection. A radio dramatisation on CD, introduced by Richard Eyre and starring Sylvestra le Touzel and Sam West. Sleeve notes include a scene-by-scene synopsis, full character analyses and an essay by the producer on the interpretation. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, BBC Audio (Spoken Word), London: BBC Enterprises, 1999. ISBN 0563558024 The same as the above, but on audio cassette, and therefore cheaper. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Audio cassette, Australia: Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 2000. ISBN 014086122X Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 39 Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, London: HarperCollins AudioBooks, 1991. ISBN 0001042157 With Paul Scofield as Oberon. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Argo, (The Marlowe Dramatic Society under the auspices of the British Council in association with Cambridge University Press), Welwyn Garden City: PolyGram Spoken Word, 1997. ISBN 1858496675 Originally recorded in 1961. Opera on CD Henry Purcell, The Fairy Queen. There are many versions. Here is one: John Eliot Gardner, with The Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists on authentic instruments, Polydor, 1982. 4192212 This is a two-CD Box Set. Benjamin Britten, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There are many versions. Here is one: Richard Hickox, with the Trinity Boys Choir and the City of London Sinfonia, Virgin Classics, 1993. 75930528 This is another two-CD Box Set. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There are many versions. Here are two: Seiji Ozawa, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg: Deutsche Grammophon, 1994. 4398972 This recording has Judi Dench as the Narrator. Claudio Abbado, with the Berlin Philharmonic, Sony, 1996. 010628610 This recording has Kenneth Branagh as the Narrator. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 40 MISCELLANEOUS Macmillan have recently launched a great academic service whereby titles are always in print. They will run off single copies to order of anything they have published. At present, they seem to be the only company to do this. Macmillan Distribution, Customer Services, Brunel Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6XS. Telephone 01256 302699, or Fax 01256 364733, or email: mdl@macmillan.co.uk The Shakespeare Study Centre, Barney Thornton, Croft Study Centre, Alveston Hill, Stratford upon Avon, CV37 7RL. Telephone 01789 261265 or Fax 01789 414960. This centre offers tours of Stratford sites, backstage tours of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, tickets to shows, workshops with actors, question and answer sessions with members of the RSC, free teacher places (1 per 10 students), lectures on Shakespeare and the plays, free teaching aids and full board and lodging. Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 41 Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Advanced Higher) 42
