Michael Boyd 1999 Production

Boyd's vibrant production was full of sexual tension and imaginative designs by Tom Piper.

A man with donkey's ears is surrounded and caressed by women
Bottom (Daniel Ryan) is pampered by Mustardseed (Mary Duddy), Peaseblossom (Sirine Saba, arms raised), Titania (Josette Simon) and Cobweb (Kemi Baruwa), 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

MAGICAL TRANSFORMATION

In Michael Boyd's fullblooded production, the fairies were doppelgängers of the mortals with Theseus (Nicholas Jones) and Hippolyta (Josette Simon) morphing into Oberon and Titania, while Philostrate (Aidan McArdle) transformed into Puck. The transition from the cold bleak Athenian court to the dream forest was brilliantly realised.

The play opened "with Theseus’s courtiers dressed in fur hats and black overcoats standing respectively around in a circle on bare stage with a beige curved wall. Then poppies sprout from the wall and Aidan McArdle’s Philostrate, a bowler-hatted blend of mortician and Kafta clerk, is transformed into Puck, a lascivious, subversive mix of tramp and clown” Benedict Nightingale, The Times, 13 December 1999.

Philostrate and a female courtier literally ripped off one another's clothes to reveal Puck and Peaseblossom (Sirine Saba) underneath.

Production photos

Theseus (Nicholas Jones) and Hippolyta (Josette Simon) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Oberon (Nicholas Jones) demands the Indian boy from Titania (Josette Simon) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Puck (Aidan McArdle) with Peaseblossom (Sirine Saba) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Oberon (Nicholas Jones) receives the magic flower from Puck (Aidan McArdle) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Lysander (Fergus O'Donnell) and Hermia (Catherine Kanter) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

The enchanted Lysander (Fergus O'Donnell) pursues Helena (Hermione Gulliford) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Lysander (Fergus O'Donnell), Hermia (Catherine Kanter), Helena (Hermione Gulliford) and Demetrius (Henry Ian Cusick) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Helena (Hermione Gulliford) and Hermia (Catherine Kanter) fall out in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Titania (Josette Simon) falls madly in love with Bottom (Daniel Ryan) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Bottom (Daniel Ryan) enjoys the attentions of Titania (Josette Simon, below) and Peaseblossom (Sirine Saba, above) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Starveling (David Hobbs) as Moonshine in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Bottom (Daniel Ryan) as Pyramus, Snout (Rod Arthur) as Wall and Flute (Orlando Wells) as Thisbe, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images
Launch Gallery

DESIGNING THE DREAM

In this extract, designer Tom Piper explains how he approached the challenges of moving from the mortal to the fairy world:

"In my own version of the Dream, directed by Michael Boyd in 1999, we were looking for a way to move from the sterile cold world of humanity where it was snowing, into the exciting possibilities of change and transformation within the dream forest. As Bottom mimed firing an arrow to illustrate ‘hold or cut bow strings’ we fired a real arrow into the wall behind him. His imagination had become real. Then a series of red poppies were pushed up from beneath the stage, bringing nature and flashes of strong colour into what had been a closed and blank wooden space...The Flowers were the only natural element in our forest, we made no attempt to create real trees, instead we choose to make the space alive with possibilities as door and traps appeared everywhere" 
Nature in Theatre, the Enduring Influence of Brook, Tom Piper, 29 May 2015.

In the following gallery, you can see some of Tom's design sketches as well as production photos illustrating the staging.

Design gallery

Director Michael Boyd and designer Tom Piper discussing their 1999 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at a RSC Open Day in 2003.

Photo by Peter Coombs © RSC Browse and license our images

Tom Piper's design sketch for A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, showing his ideas for the settings of Athens and the forest.

Designed by Tom Piper © Tom Piper Browse and license our images

Puck (Aidan McArdle) finds the lovers in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Tom Piper's design sketch for A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatr, showing ideas for the emergence of the fairies/sprites.

Designed by Tom Piper © Tom Piper Browse and license our images

Bottom (Daniel Ryan) approaches Titania's (Josette Simon) bower encouraged by Mustardseed (Mary Duddy), Moth (Rebecca Lenkiewicz) and Peaseblossom (Sirine Saba), A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Tom Piper's design sketch for A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, showing different curtain effects.

Designed by Tom Piper © Tom Piper Browse and license our images

Tom Piper's design sketch for A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, showing concepts for Titania's bower, a dividing floor and wall.

Designer by Tom Piper © Tom Piper Browse and license our images

The lovers are discovered by Hippolyta (Josette Simon), Theseus (Nicholas Jones) and their hunting party, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images

Tom Piper's design sketch for the final act of A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, showing his ideas for the wedding celebrations and the Mechanicals' performance.

Designed by Tom Piper © Tom Piper Browse and license our images

The Mechanicals perform 'Pyramus and Thisbe' for the Athenian court, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999, Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Photo by Donald Cooper © RSC Browse and license our images
Launch Gallery
Poster for A Midsummer Night

CAST AND CREATIVES

COMPANY

Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Rod Arthur - Tom Snout

Kemi Baruwa - Cobweb

Henry Ian Cusick - Demetrius

Andrew Dennis - Snug

Mary Duddy - Mustardseed

Ben Elliot - Fairy

Hermione Gulliford - Helena

David Hobbs - Robin Starveling

Nicholas Jones – Oberon, Theseus

Catherine Kanter - Hermia

Peter Kelly - Peter Quince

Rebecca Lenkiewicz - Moth

Aidan McArdle – Philostrate, Puck

Fergus O'Donnell - Lysander

Daniel Ryan - Nick Bottom

Sirine Saba - Peaseblossom

Josette Simon - Hippolyta, Titania

Farimang Singhateh - Fairy

Orlando Wells – Francis Flute

Geoffrey Whitehead - Egeus

 

CREATIVES

Director - Michael Boyd

Designer - Tom Piper

Lighting - Chris Davey

Music - John Woolf

Movement - Liz Ranken

Fights - Terry King

 

The RSC's archive is held at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. You can visit the Library and Archives there to look at production related information, including photos, videos of shows and stage management documents:

Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive homepage

You can search the RSC catalogue here: 

RSC performance database

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