A Midsummer Night s Dream SS Play 2015 Audition pack 1. Play schedule: please look carefully through the dates and ensure you are available for all rehearsals. If you have to miss rehearsal(s) you need to tell us at the audition 2. Synopsis of the play 3. Character list 4. Audition pieces - Oberon and Puck (boy and boy/girl) - Oberon and Titania (boy and girl) - Helena and Lysander (girl and boy) - Puck (boy/girl) - Oberon (boy) - Titania (girl) - Bottom (girl or boy) 5. Advice for auditioning 6. Your information, to be removed and given to the panel at your audition What you need to do.: Print this audition pack and read it carefully Choose one of the SIX audition pieces Sign up for an audition time on the second floor of the PAF
Senior School Play 2015 A Midsummer Night s Dream Auditions: Monday 27 th April 2:45 4:00pm CLT Wednesday 29 th April 3:15 5:00pm CLT Thursday 30 th April 3:20 5:00pm CLT Monday 4 th May 2:45 4:30pm CLT Wednesday 6 th May 3:15-5:00pm CLT Call back auditions Thursday 7th May 3:30 5:30pm CLT Friday 8th May 3:15 4:30pm CLT Cast announced week starting 18th May Dialogue workshops Athenians, Monday May 25th: 3.00-5.30, CLT Mechanicals, Friday May 29th: 3:30 5:30pm, CLT Fairies, Monday June 1st: 3.00-5.30pm, Ray Hall Principals as needed, Friday June 5th 3:30 5:30pm, Ray Hall THURSDAY 4 TH June 7pm Information Night IWA Monday 22 June after school, Read through show CLT Holiday rehearsals Tuesday 7 th July 9am 5pm Wednesday 8 th July 9am 5pm Thursday 9 th July 9am 5pm Friday 10 th July 9am 4pm *a detailed schedule of holiday rehearsals will be published in Term 2 Term 3 rehearsals (rehearsals in the MGH) July Friday 17 th 3:30 5pm (The Voice at 7pm) Saturday 18 th 2 5:30pm Monday 20 th 2:40 5:30pm Friday 24 th 3:30 5:30pm Saturday 25 th 2 5:30pm Monday 27 th 2:40 5:30pm Friday 31 st 3:30 5:30pm August Saturday 1 st 2 5:30pm Monday 3 rd 2:40 5:30pm (10 and 11 PTS interviews) No rehearsal Friday DRAMA CAMP Saturday 8 th 9am 12pm (Drama Camp in the afternoon/evening) Monday 10 th 2:40 5:30pm (12 PTS interviews) Friday 14 th 3:30 5:30pm Saturday 15 th 10am 5pm FULL RUN THROUGH OF SHOW (IWA, bump in MGH) Production week Monday 17 th August: 3:30 8:30pm TECH REHEARSAL Tuesday 18 th August: 3:30 9:30pm DRESS REHEARSAL Wednesday 19 th August: PREVIEW PERFORMANCE (4:30pm call, 7pm start) Thursday 20 th August OPENING NIGHT (4:30pm call, 7pm start) Friday 21 st August 2 nd PERFORMANCE (4:30pm call, 7pm start) Saturday 22 nd August 3 rd PERFORMANCE (5pm call, 7pm start) Monday 24 th August 4 th PERFORMANCE (4:15pm call for a 6:30pm start) Tuesday 25 th August CLOSING NIGHT (4:30pm call, 7pm start. Celebration supper 9:30 10:30pm)
Synopsis Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, A courtier seeks the Duke s intervention because his daughter, Hermia, will not agree to his choice of Demetrius as a husband: she s in love with Lysander. The Duke tells Hermia to obey her father, or either die or accept a life as a nun in Diana s temple. Lysander and Hermia plan to elope, and they tell Helena, who is in love with Demetrius, but he hates her and loves Hermia. The lovers run away from Athens but get lost in the woods. They are followed by Demetrius, and then by Helena, who has told him of their intentions. Oberon, king of the fairies, who lives in the woods, has quarrelled with his queen, Titania, over an Indian boy she refuses to give him. Oberon overhears Helena and Demetrius arguing and sends his mischievous servant, Puck, to get a flower whose juice has the power to make people fall in love with the first creature they see when the juice is placed on their eyelids while asleep. He instructs Puck to put some drops on Demetrius eyes. Mistaking the Athenian he seeks, Puck puts the flower juice on the eyes of the sleeping Lysander so that when he is woken by Helena he immediately falls in love with her and rejects Hermia. Some artisans are rehearsing a play about the tragic love-story of Pyramus and Thisbe to present before Theseus on his wedding day. Bottom, the weaver, is to play the lover, Pyramus, while Flute, the bellows-mender, is to play Thisbe. The others play the parts of the Moon, the Wall and the Lion and they are directed by Quince, the carpenter. Puck overhears their rehearsals in the wood and he plays a trick on them by giving Bottom an ass s head which frightens the others away. Bottom is lured towards the sleeping Titania whom Oberon has treated with the flower juice. On waking, she falls in love with the ass and entertains him with her fairies, but when Bottom falls asleep beside her, Oberon restores Titania s sight and wakes her. She is appalled at the sight of what she has been in love with and is reunited with Oberon. Puck removes the ass s head and Bottom returns to Athens and rejoins his friends as they prepare to perform their play. Meanwhile the lovers arguments tire them out as they chase one another through the woods and when Demetrius rests, Oberon puts magic juice on his eyes so that both he and Lysander pursue Helena until the fourlovers fall asleep, exhausted. Puck puts juice on Lysander s eyes before the lovers are woken by Theseus and Hippolyta and their dawn hunting party. Happily reunited to each other, Lysander with Hermia, Demetrius with Helena, they agree to share the Duke s wedding day. The rustics perform the play of Pyramus and Thisbe before the wedding guests. As the three couples retire Puck and the fairies return to bless the palace and its people. http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/play-summary/midsummer-nightsdream/
Puck - Also known as Robin Goodfellow, Puck is Oberon s jester, a mischievous fairy who delights in playing pranks on mortals. Though A Midsummer Night s Dream divides its action between several groups of characters, Puck is the closest thing the play has to a protagonist. His enchanting, mischievous spirit pervades the atmosphere, and his antics are responsible for many of the complications that propel the other main plots: he mistakes the young Athenians, applying the love potion to Lysander instead of Demetrius, thereby causing chaos within the group of young lovers; he also transforms Bottom s head into that of an ass. Oberon - The king of the fairies, Oberon is initially at odds with his wife, Titania, because she refuses to relinquish control of a young Indian prince whom he wants for a knight. Oberon s desire for revenge on Titania leads him to send Puck to obtain the love-potion flower that creates so much of the play s confusion and farce. Titania - The beautiful queen of the fairies, Titania resists the attempts of her husband, Oberon, to make a knight of the young Indian prince that she has been given. Titania s brief, potion-induced love for Nick Bottom, whose head Puck has transformed into that of an ass, yields the play s foremost example of the contrast motif. Lysander - A young man of Athens, in love with Hermia. Lysander s relationship with Hermia invokes the theme of love s difficulty: he cannot marry her openly because Egeus, her father, wishes her to wed Demetrius; when Lysander and Hermia run away into the forest, Lysander becomes the victim of misapplied magic and wakes up in love with Helena. Helena - A young woman of Athens, in love with Demetrius. Demetrius and Helena were once betrothed, but when Demetrius met Helena s friend Hermia, he fell in love with her and abandoned Helena. Lacking confidence in her looks, Helena thinks that Demetrius and Lysander are mocking her Nick Bottom - The overconfident weaver chosen to play Pyramus in the craftsmen s play for Theseus s marriage celebration. Bottom is full of advice and self-confidence but frequently makes silly mistakes and misuses language. His simultaneous nonchalance about the beautiful Titania s sudden love for him and unawareness of the fact that Puck has transformed his head into that of an ass mark the pinnacle of his foolish arrogance. http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/play-summary/midsummer-nightsdream/
1. /PUCK What hast thou done? Thou hast mistaken quite And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight: Of thy misprision must perforce ensue some true love turn'd and not a false turn'd true. PUCK Then fate o'er-rules, that, one man holding troth, A million fail, confounding oath on oath. About the wood go swifter than the wind, And Helena of Athens look thou find: All fancy-sick she is and pale of cheer, With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear: By some illusion see thou bring her here: I'll charm his eyes against she do appear. PUCK I go, I go; look how I go, Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow. Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupid's archery, Sink in apple of his eye. When his love he doth espy, Let her shine as gloriously As the Venus of the sky. When thou wakest, if she be by, Beg of her for remedy. PUCK Captain of our fairy band, Helena is here at hand; And the youth, mistook by me, Pleading for a lover's fee. Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be!
2. / TITANIA Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania. TITANIA What, jealous Oberon! Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord? TITANIA Then I must be thy lady: but I know When thou hast stolen away from fairy land, And in the shape of Corin sat all day, Playing on pipes of corn and versing love To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here, But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon, Your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love, To Theseus must be wedded, and you come To give their bed joy and prosperity. How canst thou thus for shame, Titania, Glance at my credit with Hippolyta, Knowing I know thy love to Theseus? TITANIA These are the forgeries of jealousy: And never, since the middle summer's spring, Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead, By paved fountain or by rushy brook, Or in the beached margent of the sea, To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind, But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.
Do you amend it then; it lies in you: Why should Titania cross her Oberon? I do but beg a little changeling boy, To be my henchman. TITANIA Set your heart at rest: The fairy land buys not the child of me. His mother was a votaress of my order: But she, being mortal, of that boy did die; And for her sake do I rear up her boy, And for her sake I will not part with him. How long within this wood intend you stay? TITANIA Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day. If you will patiently dance in our round And see our moonlight revels, go with us; If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee. TITANIA Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away! We shall chide downright, if I longer stay. (Exit TITANIA with her train) Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove Till I torment thee for this injury.
3. HELENA/ LYSANDER HELENA O, I am out of breath in this fond chase! The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace. Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies; For she hath blessed and attractive eyes. How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears: If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers. No, no, I am as ugly as a bear; For beasts that meet me run away for fear: But who is here? Lysander! on the ground! Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound. Lysander if you live, good sir, awake. LYSANDER [Awaking] And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake. Transparent Helena! Nature shows art, That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart. HELENA Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content. LYSANDER Content with Hermia! No; I do repent The tedious minutes I with her have spent. Not Hermia but Helena I love: Who will not change a raven for a dove? HELENA Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born? When at your hands did I deserve this scorn? But fare you well: perforce I must confess I thought you lord of more true gentleness. O, that a lady, of one man refused. Should of another therefore be abused! (Exit) LYSANDER She sees not Hermia. Hermia, sleep thou there: And never mayst thou come Lysander near! And, all my powers, address your love and might To honour Helen and to be her knight! (Exit)
4. PUCK The king doth keep his revels here to-night: Take heed the queen come not within his sight; For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, Because that she as her attendant hath A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king; She never had so sweet a changeling; And jealous Oberon would have the child Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild; But she perforce withholds the loved boy, Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy: And now they never meet in grove or green, By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen, But, they do square, that all their elves for fear Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there.
5. I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, And make her full of hateful fantasies. Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove: A sweet Athenian lady is in love With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes; But do it when the next thing he espies May be the lady: thou shalt know the man By the Athenian garments he hath on. Effect it with some care, that he may prove More fond on her than she upon her love: And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow. For Titania, Hippolyta, Lady Egeus or Fairyduster
6. TITANIA [Awaking to Bottom singing] What angel wakes me from my flowery bed? I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again: Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note; So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape; And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee. Out of this wood do not desire to go: Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no. I am a spirit of no common rate; The summer still doth tend upon my state; And I do love thee: therefore, go with me; I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee, And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep, And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;
7. MECHANICALS (you can audition for Bottom as a boy or a girl if you would like to be a Mechanical, though this role in the show will be played by a male.) BOTTOM as Pyramius: O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame? Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear: Which is--no, no--which was the fairest dame That lived, that loved, that liked, that look'd with cheer. Come, tears, confound; Out, sword, and wound The pap of Pyramus; Ay, that left pap, Where heart doth hop: Stabs himself Thus die I, thus, thus, thus. Now am I dead, Now am I fled; My soul is in the sky: Tongue, lose thy light; Moon take thy flight:
Advice for auditioning Read through all of the information in the audition pack Select an audition that is appropriate for you, if you are not very experienced or confident, choose a piece you can present with someone else. If you want a major role, show us a longer piece so we can see what you ve got Understand the words in the audition piece, work out what you are saying. Shakespeare can be tricky but any edition of the script in the library will have explanations of unfamiliar words or phrases. No fear Shakespeare (website) is also fantastic. You can ask lots of people for help, too (for example your Drama or English teacher.) Allow yourself time to memorise your lines. We expect memorisation in the audition. It s ok if you need to be prompted once or twice but any more than that and it is very unlikely we will consider you for a role in the show. There are lots of strategies to help you memorise lines, such as recording yourself saying the lines, practicing with a friend or family member, covering up the lines to test yourself. Consider where you can add some movement and gesture to your performance. Avoid sitting down for your entire audition as it makes it difficult for the panel to assess how well you communicate non verbally. Film yourself performing your audition (and watch it) Try to practice your audition in front of other people. It will make you less nervous if you have presented the performance to people before your audition. Make sure you don t race (speak too quickly), shuffle, shift your weight from side to side, look at the floor. The key to a strong audition is preparation, and remember that the panel wants you to succeed and give a great performance.
My information (to be removed and given to the panel at your audition) Name: Year level: House: Preferred role: (or circle) company lead role Are you able to attend the holiday rehearsals? Yes No If not, what which days/sessions will you miss? Are you available for regular rehearsals on Monday, Friday, Saturday afternoons? If not, what which days/sessions will you miss? Anything else we need to know?