Step Two:
Assemble your players
“Is all our company here?” Nick Bottom asks when the craftsmen first gather to begin working on their play. We get to watch Nick and his friends have a great adventure as they put on “Pyramus and Thisbe.” Who will join you on your “Shakespeare Kids” adventure? If you are not in school, where you can gather classmates, perhaps you can enlist friends and family to join you now!
Your scene: Scene Three (Act 2, scene 1) – Titania and the first fairy scene in the woods
This is the first night scene, and the first scene in the mysterious, magical woods – the “haunted grove,” as Oberon calls it.
In Scene Three we meet the main characters of the fairy world: Puck, a Titania fairy (or several – you can split the lines up and have more fairies), Oberon, who is King of the Fairies, and Titania, the Fairy Queen. We get a feel for how the “fairy kingdom” is different than the world of the mortals, or humans. It’s a wonderful scene with lots of opportunities for creativity and invention in performance.
The first half of the scene deals with the fairy world only; but about halfway through, two young Athenians, Demetrius and Helena, come crashing through the woods. Oberon observes them, and this chance encounter sets into motion many of the magical and wild events to follow.
How many players will you need?
Once you assemble your “company,” you can choose whatever section of the scene you want to perform – simply mark on your text once you’ve printed it out.
You can have any number of players you want for this scene, from one to 10 or 15!
If you do the entire scene, you will need players for:
- Puck
- Titania fairy (or 2, or 3, or more… split up lines as necessary)
- Oberon
- Titania (yourself)
- Demetrius (if you do the second half of the scene)
- Helena (if you do the second half)
If you have more than six people, you can have teams of players for each part, taking turns, splitting the scene in the middle, or whatever arrangement you can devise. We have seen the Titania Fairy role divided into eight fairies before, and you could even do more than that.
If, on the other hand, you only have a few other people, or only yourself, then you’ll have to play more than one part, switching quickly back and forth!
There is a great model for doing it that way. The legendary AFTLS (Actors from the London Stage) performers who tour the United States each year – including a trip to the University of Texas each fall – do entire Shakespeare plays with five people playing multiple roles and sometimes playing two people in conversation with each other. They use very simple costumes (a hat, a scarf) for each character, and change their voice and posture as they switch back and forth. It’s a joy to watch.
You can do that too. It takes practice, but it’s great fun. Soon, like Nick Bottom, you won’t be satisfied with only one role – you’ll want to play them all!
