Unit 1: Part C
Attend a relevant arts event to the theme and write a 300 word review evaluating it.
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A while ago I saw a shortened version of 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' that was put on by The Beacon School. The entire play was part of the Shakespeare for schools festival which offers students an opportunity to perform a Shakespeare play on a professional stage.
The play used popular drama techniques such as a series of still images at the beginning to set the scene of a royal party. Music was played in the background to make the beginning dramatic which entertained the audience. Although the actors where relatively young (aged 18 and under), they all committed to their roles even through entertaining scenes involving the characters Puck, Nick Bottom and Peter Quince.
Resisting the urge to use modern English, the entire play was acted out using the original Shakespeare script complete with Shakespearean language. This made the play more traditional and better as the audience had to listen and play attention closely to understand what was going on. However, to make the play more modern the actors who were playing fairies wore brightly colored tutus while the other characters wore brightly colored costumes. This also drew the attention of the audience.
Although there was a limited number of props to set the scene, the actors who weren't involved in some scenes improvised and created still images of trees using their bodies. this really helped the audience understand that the play had moved on to the setting of a forest. this was also done in the beginning of the play when some actors froze as statues setting the scene of a party.
Overall, the play was a good interpretation of Shakespeare 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' and was very enjoying. It relates to the collage I plan to create in that Shakespeare was a famous British play write who is still popular in British culture today. Also my collage will include a statue of Queen Victoria and while she was alive Shakespeare was very popular.
