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Midsummer's night dream is one of William Shakespeare's most beloved plays as well as one of the most recognized. With it's fairies, magic, and romance it's easy to see why many a critic and audience are charmed over by the twisting plot and memorable characters. When I choose this play for my Final, I too was drawn in by the magical woods and all of the background and ideas that go with the one night that four young people get caught up in, not only there own problems, but also that of the Faye court! Reading through the play I wanted to give it flair and my own touch but the more I got into it the more I decided to go with an emphasis on the characters and to simplify the background and set to enhance the focus on the magical beings. While I keep many of my own little ideas to the set and characters, I tried to keep them as historically accurate as possible while leaving room for cultural bounds such as Puck's horns or Hermia's hair color.

For my Character Designs I looked into where the characters came from. The Athenian aspect of the four was simple to find background on. I placed them in simple Greek robes that would be worn by the upper class at th time as well as fixed there hair to match the period. I added Blue designs to all of their outfits to set them apart slightly from any other Athenians or Extras (If Any). The coustumes are all made out of Cotton like material to allow for movement and to be comfortable, after all this was what they wore everyday in Athens so I decided to make it just plain comfortable to wear. The fairies on the other hand, were harder to do. Each of the faye court mentioned (The big three mostly: Titania, Puck, and Oberon.) all have different roles depending on there background from the counrty you take the legend from. For example: Oberon comes from both English and French ideas. Depending on which Oberon your talking about he can either be a dwarf or a Fairy. It's all rather confusing to try and get a good grasp on what the character is expected to look like. In the end I settled with English ideas for most of the characters to hold true to Shakespeare's original intent. All of the Fairies had longish or pointed ears (Longer means more Status) to separate them from the others in the play. They're outfits consist of lighter materials that have flow and fold to them such as lace and chiffon like fabrics to add elegance to each. Most of the faye carry earthen colors which help them 'blend' into the forest when it calls for it, such as when Oberon is 'invisible' to the other actors.

The set I made simple and movable to allow for quick and easy changes. The forest it's self is stationary, the only moving parts being the City of Athens that can be moved on and off for both the beginning and end of the play. The forest it's self is set up as staggered flats to allow for actors to move in and out whenever they need to. The trees and brush as painted darkly and similar to The Unicorn in Captivity, ca. 1495–1505 in style. A Medieval feel to the whole thing. I wanted to hold up an image of something similar to Rankin-Bass's old Animations such as "The Last Unicorn" and "Thundercats" for examples: Small little details, with lots of glitter edging it in parts. Also twinkle lights have been added to the tree tops so that when something 'Magical' happens such as someone appearing, Disappearing, or changing into a Donkey the audience will understand that 'magic is afoot!" instead of them being lost in what was happening.