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virtual shakespeare
November 2009 
Virtual (and very condensed) Shakespeare
Posted on Feb 2nd, 2008
by 
Dryad
Dryad
Well! Here we are! Just come into the Theater and ready to go over to the Box. You can just barely see the boxes - about half way up, they look a little like spouts … The box is all stocked with snacks and we are all ready! I hope Mystery Man #2 got back stage in time!
It's time. Get ready for the magic! Since there is no curtain, we know that it is time to begin when the trumpet sounds and they raise the flag. The very top window will open and someone will lean out. They always get a big ovation as they raise the flag (just above our picture) letting everyone in the theater - and in the area - know that the play is about to begin.
You will notice in the picture below that the play is in process, and it is still light. During much of the season this is true. The sun will set during the play, twilight will creep in and with it the evening breeze that is cool and sweet and laced with the smell of pine. Before the performance is over it will be very dark and the sky above the open 'O' will be crusted with stars. You will only realize all of this with a tiny part of yourself, the rest of you will be caught in the magic … you will be up on that stage, you will be transported to another place and another time. When the stage goes dark and the applause begins, you will blink and wonder where you have been …
What are we seeing in this special performance? I didn't get any specific wishes from anyone, so I had to wing it. I can't ever tell what my favorite Shakespeare Play is - it is really Apples and Oranges. I did decide that for this trip, and this fantastic voyage we have been on, there just really was only one play that would do. I know you are all sort of frightened … not because the play is scary … I just know that you are having this nagging thought … 'oh, my lord! WHAT she did just taking a walk through the park … I'm afraid to even see what she is going to do to Shakespeare!'
Never Fear. All will be well. :-)
There goes the trumpet!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ A Virtual Production ~
of
A Midsummer Night's Dream
By William Shakespeare
~*~
The Action of the play takes place in
Athens
And in the forest, just outside of the city
Lysander loves Hermia 
and Hermia loves Lysander. 
Helena loves Demetrius 
Demetrius used to love Helena but now Demetrius
loves Hermia. 
Egeus, Hermia's father, prefers Demetriusas a suitor, and enlists the aid of Theseus, the Duke of Athens,
to enforce his wishes upon his daughter. According to Athenian law,
Hermia is given four days to choose between Dmetrius,
… …life in a nunnery … . . or a death sentence. Hermia, ever defiant, chooses to escape with Lysanderinto the surrounding forest.
However, complications are arising in the forest.
Oberon and Titania, 
King and Queen of Fairies, are locked in a dispute over a boy whom Titania has adopted. Oberon instructs his servant Puck
to bring him magic love drops, contained in a special flower, which Oberon will sprinkle in the Queen's eyes as she sleeps, whereupon Titania will fall in love with the first creature she sees upon awakening.
Meanwhile, Helena
and Demetrius have also fledinto the woods
after Lysander and Hermia. Oberon, overhearing Demetrius's denouncement of Helena, takes pity upon her and tells Puck to place the magic drops on the eyes of Demetrius as well, so that Demetrius may fall in love with
Helena.Puck,
however, makes the mistake of putting the drops
in the eyes of
Lysander instead.
Helena stumbles over Lysander in the forest, and the spell is cast; Lysander
now desires Helena and renounces a stunned Hermia.
In the midst of this chaos, a group of
craftsmen are rehearsing for a production of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” to be played for the Duke at his wedding. Puck impishly casts a spell on 
Bottom to give himthe head of an ass.
Bottom, as luck would have it, is the first thing Titania sees when she awakens; hence, Bottom ends up being lavishly kept by the Queen. Oberon enjoys this sport, but is less amused when it becomes apparent that Puck has botched up the attempt to uniteDemetrius and Helena.Oberon himself anoints Demetrius with the love potion and ensures that Helena is the first person he sees; however, Helena understandably feels that she is now being mocked by bothDemetrius and Lysander (who is still magically enamored of her).
Finally,
Oberon decides that all good sportsmust come to an end. He puts the four lovers to sleep and gives
Lysander the antidote for the love potion so that he will love Hermia again when they all wake up.Next,
Oberon gives Titania the antidote, and the King and Queen reconcile. Theseus and 
Hippolyta then discover Lysander, Hermia,
Helena, and Demetrius asleep in the forest. All return to Athens
to make sense of what they think is a strange dream. Likewise,
Bottom returns to his players,and they perform “Pyramus and Thisbe” at the wedding feast (which has since become a wedding of three couples).
As everyone retires,
Fairies perform their blessings and Puck delivers this tender epilogue soliloquy:And so “good-night” to this good wooden 'O' ~ until the next time thatPUCK: If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~*
the trumpet sounds, the flag goes up and the magic begins again to
weave our hearts into the dream of a genuis 400 years dead. A genius
who so deeply understood the enchantment of words and the reality
of what it means to be human.
Blessings upon all those of give the passion of their lives that his
words and his dream may always live.
Access: PublicTagged with: Virtual Shakespeare
A glorious adaptation, Dryad! You hit all the high spots - at least most of them ;) - it really is apples and oranges, isn't it ?!?!
Bob