To begin this assignment, I want to look back over my chosen play’s creator to find his inspirations and style of writing that can influence how I go about my adapted screenplay. We had to select a piece of literature from the works of some of the greats including Dickens and Shakespeare. I chose A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare as this is a production I am very familiar with due to the fact I was almost in a stage play of it before Covid. Through my experience with the text as an actor and my research into the source material, I believe I can create a more informed adaptation that brings elements of the text to a modern audience.

Synopsis of Life

Shakespeare’s birthdate isn’t confirmed but records mention his baptism on April 23rd 1564 as the first of four children in his family. He later had three brothers and two sisters which may have influenced the dynamics between families in his work. Although he lived in Stratford, Shakespeare spent most of his working days in London with his company, acting, writing and running operations. In school, Shakespeare learnt writing, Latin, memorization and various practical skills before leaving and marrying Anne Hathaway in 1582, a few years after studies at Stratford Grammar School concluded. His family, later including three children, Suzanna and the twins Judith and Hamnet, lived in Stratford. However, sadly, the family slowly died out over time with no direct descendants. Hamnet died aged 11 which hugely affected the family and Shakespeare’s mental state. Overall, Shakespeare worked for over 20 years and became a name of the time, his influence still widely known today due to his legacy of literary works. Shakespeare passed away on April 23rd 1616. 

This is an abridged version of his life story already gives an impression of the stories he decided to tell. You can see echoes of his work in his personal life which is central to writing as what makes you unique are the experiences only you can tell. For example there are many links between Shakespeare’s deceased son Hamnet and the play Hamlet, which was written a few years after his parting. There have been many speculations about a connection due to their names and the tragic theming of the play, reflecting Shakespeare’s torment from losing a child. Additionally, establishing Shakespeare’s education as coming from a grammar school is crucial as having a higher level of education proves how he was able to become a master craftsman in his field. He may have had natural intellect but an upbringing in this environment changes many aspects of character and would’ve opened his mind to wider possibilities. Furthermore, he came from a family with many children, inspiring many stories family dynamics. Likelihood is he had different relationships with each of his siblings which could’ve influenced various tones in his plays. These core three elements have given me a greater understanding of why Shakespeare wrote the plays he did. This vital information must be maintained for a successful adaptation, even with my modernisation of the text.

Inspirations

Now we’ve had an overview of Shakespeare’s life, I want to look deeper into his inspirations. Previously, I speculated from details in his life that coincided with events in his texts but now I will find the truths of his work. Much of his work was inspired by his fellow writers at the time and very little of his work was completely original. This provides an excellent basis of adaptation evolution as texts true origin go further back than most expect. Three of his core inspirations were Christopher Marlowe, Petrarch and Michel de Montaigne. Marlowe was a creator based on character tragedy who founded blank verse, a structure Shakespeare is well known for. Additionally, Marlowe was more famous and slightly older than Shakespeare at the time but passed too soon due to a tavern brawl. Shakespeare quotes him in ‘As You Like It’ and references this fellow writer in many of his other works. Next is Petrarch, an Italian poet from the thirteenth century. Shakespeare was familiar with many English poets such as Edmund Spenser and Sir Philip Sidney who had already found influence from Petrarch. Petrarch’s sonnet is vastly influential in Shakespeare’s texts, namely Romeo and Juliette. The Petrarchan sonnet follows a CDECDE or CDCDCD rhyme scheme so this is an element I could adopt to my script in my adaptation. 

A third inspiration for Shakespeare’s work is Michel de Montaigne, a French writer that dealt with similar themes as Shakespeare. Shakespeare adopted many of his writing techniques and concepts such as the relationships between family members. These ideas were used throughout ‘The Tempest’ and ‘King Lear’ among others. However, after looking through various influences on Shakespeare, I managed to find his inspiration for ‘A midsummer Night’s Dream’ which is useful as this is my chosen text. This inspiration was Ovid, a poet who dealt with erotic and playful themes as well as play-within-play, in this case Pyramus and Thisbe performed by the Mechanicals for the King. ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ deals strongly with the romance in the woods element and the couples switching plays into Ovid’s playful tone. This is an aspect of Shakespeare’s work that I wish to carry into my adaptation as it is a core part of this particular play along with an overarching theme in his other works. 

Adaptation

With all that in mind about Shakespeare, I wanted to look deeper into ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ specifically to find previous adaptations to this work. This will help inform me of the common repetitions and where I can make mine unique. There appear to be many versions of this play adapted for screens, most commonly updates that remain faithful to the original text, simply being produced and performed for viewers of cable TV. There is all a 2017 version that looks modernised in the way of costumes but uses the same characters and adapted script. With my adaptation, I would like to be completely different and use the story form of the play but adjust the dialogue to a modern audience. Most of the current adaptations lean into the fantasy and whimsical aspects of the play whereas this is something I am willing to cast aside to focus on the tale of the lover.

Overall, with this information, I can move forward into redrafting a script from the original text in the modern tongue. Below are a series of places I read up on these topics, condensed in this paper for ease of reading. From this paper, I have realised my focus in faithfully adapting Shakespeare’s work and his influences is to lean into the playful tone lean on the pace of the script.