Designing the set for the ACS auditorium was a small challenge in that I needed to be able to show 3 distinct areas, yet at the same show cohesion and structure between the locations, as the actors will be using more than one space to create their scene. I drafted up a few ideas in drawings, and then set about creating a scale model of the stage to get an idea of what it would look like.

I originally wanted the Athenian side of the stage (Stage left for the actors, or House right for the audience) to be quite rigid, straight, long and vertical lines to represent law, structure, order, royal duty, and rigid thinking processes. It would then move across the stage to where the Fey or the Fairy Folke would live and have that more organic, round, and soft in nature design. I wanted to create the atmosphere of a tree canopy above the area with tendrils of vegetation coming down that the actors would need to walk through. As it was a Fairy kingdom - it needed to have that etherial look that would shine and glimmer in the different lighting effects produced.

The unifying colour on the stage of varying tones on white would afford me the ability to transform the stage into the Athenian stage, or the Forest through the use of colour and different styles of effects with the lights. I could also push the imagination of the audience through lighting to consider the Athenian stage as an included part of the forest. I used the structures that were already present on the stage, and toppled some of them to create an area in the forest that could be either; crumbled city structures or columns, or an area of trees in the woodland. However, the key focus was to give a sort of fairy playground that Puck and the other Fairies could play around to help establish the mischievous nature of the fairies.

In order to hang some of the Chinese lanterns that would make up most of the canopy of the trees - we had to install some wires that would allow us to extend out past the normal area of the stage. I drafted up some drawings of the lines, and Manoj and his team of amazing workers helped install the lines to suspend the structures.

The students were given a concept of colour palette and textures for their group in the play. I wanted the design of the play to help the audience not only identify the types of characters in the play - but also to offset humans from the fairies in the show. I wanted the actors to have choice in what they were wearing, and to offer them some ability to be creative with their choices for their character as they saw fit.

Athenians

The Athenians are a group of rather rich, royal individuals and hold court and follow the rules and order of society. I asked my actors to select costumes that would be within the colour range of whites/beige and using textures such as metallic, brocade, fur, satin and shiny jewelry to show the wealth and status of the characters. The actors then selected their costumes, and then the hard work of tailoring to fit, sewing of straps, belts, jewels and creating crowns took place.

Mechanicals

The Workers or the "rude mechanicals" as they are called in the original play are the everyday common people that are the salt of the earth. As such I wanted them to have rustic materials, colours of the earth in browns, beiges, tans, oranges, rust, and deep reds. I encouraged the students to think about their character and what might they need to have with them as part of their costume. Textures that were indicated were: linen, cotton, non shiny, leather, or rougher design, or baggy clothes that may not fit properly. Students then selected their costumes, and we added in items like work belts, satchels and hats.

The Fey or Fairy Folke

As these creatures live in another world secret and hidden to the human eye - I wanted these creatures to have some more vibrant colours such as purples, blues, pinks, greens, oranges and yellows - the colours from flowers and nature. Oberon is a dark and fierce King who summons lightning and thunder and so the colour palette here was dark purples, greys, and blacks with textures of feathers and velvet. Titania herself is light and delicate and has the many colours of the sun as part of her costume and hair. The other fairies have a selection of colours along with their wings to create the final effect. Puck is a hybrid creature of a mischievous imp and is often portrayed as either a goat or fawn like creature in most versions. I designed Puck's costume to be a hybrid of both a goat and a fawn and in her own colour palette and texture of material separate from others. Once the costumes had been selected, or constructed - the final fittings, and of course the head pieces that included their cap/horns/ears/crowns were adjusted so that the actor would not need to adjust many items on their head.