The Actor’s Doubling and Characterization Guide.
These are the characters (1-22) with their Doubled Characters in parenthesis (...).
The character attributes I have included are ones that occurred to me as I was writing them dialogue, and can be thought of as a starting point to fleshing out the characters as the actor sees fit. I would urge cast to work out a history for their characters, and to understand their motivations. This will give you ideas for delineating each character, and bring them to full life on the stage, avoiding clichés.
Cast
A Cast of 13. ( 6 male, 7 females.)
Philostrate doubles Gnome. (12,18)
Starvelling trebles as actor, Hipolyta and Elf guard.(6,7,22).
Quince may double Theseus (1,8)
Snout double Egeus (5,9)
Snug doubles Oberon (4,20)
Flute doubles Puck (3, 15)
Hermia doubles Cobweb, (13,17)
Helena doubles Moth (14,16)
The Athenian Actor's Troupe.
1. ( 8) Quince: Song and dance man, director of company and old pro. Think "The Entertainer"
2. Bottom: Country bumpkin, simple but harmless. Clumsy, but skilled in slapstick comedy, like clown. Sand Dancer, (soft shoe). Turned into Donkey during play.
3. (15) Flute: Music historian and poet. A little pretentious
4. (20) Snug: Wants to please everybody, amiable. Wants to be loved by all, but thought of as a “crawler” and foolish
5. (9) Snout: Grump and pessimist. Secretary, treasurer and worrier
6. ( 22,7) Starvelling: Struggling poet and “suffering” Bohemian. Girl in boys clothing, but nobody notices. very“tom-boy”. Political. Doubles as Hipolyta.
1. Actors troupe have 3 parts each to play. With Bottom this is courtier, donkey and actor.For Starvelling these are actor, Hipolyta and Elf guard (in ‘ Girls are trouble ’ song)
• Act 1 Scene 1 they are all actors playing courtiers, soldiers.
• Act 2 Scene 1 they are protesting fairies, pixies, gnomes etc.
• Act 3 Scene 1 they are Athenian actors
• Act 4 Scene 2 they are all courtiers, soldiers etc.
HUMANS
7. (6, 22) Hipolyta: Queen of Amazons.Fiance to Theseus.New power behind throne.Doubled by Starvelling.
8. (1) Theseus: The Duke of Athens. Amiable but cruel. A political sociopath. Think Ronald Reagan crossed with Black Adder
9. (5) Egeus: Old and very set in ways. In flexible. Lacking in imagination. Friend and best man to Theseus
10. Lysander: Young, but acts younger than his age, especially when he is with Hermia. Proud and foolishly brave. His Protest song crowd character is Pixie 1
11. Demetrius: Young and spoilt. A bit brutish. Oberon's magic makes him dote on Helena at plays end. His Protest Song crowd character is Pixie 2.
12.(18) Philostate: Doubles as gnome.Duke’s ear-whispering, and long-suffering attendant. Think clerk of the courts
13. (17) Hermia: Impulsive daughter to Egeus. Young and shorter than Helena. Romantic, spoilt to begin with, but matures through the course of the play
14 (16) Helena: Young and manipulative. Competitive with Hermia. Aspires to hermia’s status. Believes in romantic love. Taller than Hermia but not as tough
FAIRY FOLK
15. (3) Puck: Oberon’s “gopher”, he is a mischeivious and somewhat cynical manipulator of fairy court. Think Humphrey in “Yes Minister”, crossed with Radar from MASH. Quiet (secret), affair/relationship with Cobweb
16. (14) Moth: Titania’s number 2 attendant. Cynical – think Eve Arden
17. (13) Cobweb: Titania’s answer to Puck. Quietly loves Puck
18. (12) Gnome: Doubled by Philostrate. Slightly misogynous and struggling working underclass. Short with a beard
19. Mustard-seed: Titania’s sassy 2nd attendant. Fearless and worldly. Newly appointed as handmaiden to Titania.
20. (4) Oberon: Tall and princely, but trying hard to save face in court against Titania's attacks. Empathic.
21. Titania: Queen estranged from Oberon. Sexy, but oppressed by responsibility.
22.(6,7) Elf Guard Misogynist warrior with a broken heart.Single dad.