Visual Theses

Arthur Rackham, Midsummer Night's Dream Fairies (1908)

Here are links to a variety of posters for performances of MSND. Think about what aspect of the film seems to be emphasized through the design of the poster, and what kind of interpretation (or interpretive staging) might take place.

A Mangasummer Night's Dream
A ballet production, pink and flowers
A bit rustic and Bottom on the bottom
A wide variety of play posters--MSND at the bottom
Bottom over the Rainbow!
Community theatre goes to Decadent Paris!
Mangasummer Optional
Newspaper, geometric montage approach
Pencil drawing and lettering for poster
Scroll down for a description of a production that is "urban and gritty."
Scroll down to May 3-19 for a MSND description and poster
The forests have eyes....
Very crafty stampwork!

Links collected and organized by Dr. Brook Haley. Many thanks to him. Many: it's a great collection of MSND images.

Making Theses

Below is the sample thesis I read to you in class. We talked briefly about the concepts/themes that the thesis deals with--power struggle, control, unruly masses, the role of the leader, authority... You might notice that 1) that the thesis also provides you with an interpretation of the play and of the scene and that 2) it refrains from mentioning language and staging elements at this point.

Of course you can think anything you would like in relation to the thesis, but here are some questions you might consider. Please post in the comments if you have things to say or questions.

• What does it tell you instead?
• Is there an argument or a claim yet?
• Can you imagine how the author will be able to move towards making a more specific claim during the drafting and revision project?
• What things do you expect to find a discussion of in the essay?

The sample:

"MSND shows us on many different levels the exercise of power by a single male authority figure in a community -- and that community's resistance or reservations. We see Theseus, Oberon, and Egeus exerting their power in different ways, and the difficulties they experience. In Act One, Scene Two, the authority figure in control is supposed to be the director, Peter Quince, but he has his difficulties, too. My staging will emphasize his efforts to control his unruly cast." [from Vivian Folkenflik, sample thesis]