Shakespeare Settings and Costumes

[Jean in Newcastle]

We just got back from watching a production of "The Tempest" in the park.  The setting was a junky WWII reminiscent beach.  The King of Naples and his retinue were wearing vaguely German SS grey clothing and jackboots with a insignia that looked like the German eagle.  Prospero (who happened to be a woman) was wearing what looked like a cross between an oilskin and a tarp.    I know the actual story of the play well but I found myself distracted by wondering what the significance of the setting and costumes and how it related to the actual play.  

 

A couple of weeks ago we watched a BBC production of King Lear.  Everyone was wearing Tzarist era clothing (as far as I could tell).  Again, I found myself distracted by wondering about the significance of the setting and costumes and found myself being amused by watching Russians run around Dover Beach.  

 

I don't find it odd to watch "West Side Story" and see the relationship between it and Romeo and Juliet.  So I don't think I'm totally clueless.  But can you explain to me why they change the settings and times for Shakespearean plays?

 

P.S.  - Another thing that baffled me today was that they kept pronouncing Milan as if it rhymed with Dillon (as in Bob Dillon") or the word chillin'.  

[JanetC]

I haven't seen Wooden O's Tempest yet, but I can say that I have never seen a performance of the Tempest where Milan was pronounced as it would be in Italian.  "Rhymes with chillin'" is just how it's done.  I presume it's Elizabethan English pronunciation.

[Rosie_0801]

To show how the stories are relevant across the years, perhaps? My brother took my Mum to see a few plays last year that had been adapted into highlight Aboriginal issues.

[GailV]

I would assume it's to bring different ideas to the forefront, as Rosie said.  And it helps keep it fresh. 

 

It's also because the directors sometimes think they're being oh-so-artsy and original to place it in a different setting because they're rather enamored of their own creativity  :glare:  

 

(I possibly spend to much time gossiping about egotistical theater people, which has made me cynical. The other night I heard about a production of MacBeth in which the director decided it would be edgy to not block it and to also leave out the intermission.  Um, yeah.  Okay.)

 

  

[Jean in Newcastle]

I did a bit of googling about the BBC production of King Lear (directed by Trevor Nunn).  Apparently the costumes are of a fictional nation called Ruritania.  I could see how the abject poverty of the people in Tsarist Russia (and apparently in the fictional Ruritania?) vs. the absolute authority of the Tsars could relate to the theme of King Lear.  

 

I still don't get what Nazi Germany has to do with The Tempest, though.

[Laura Corin]

The pronunciation is because that it how Shakespeare would have pronounced it, evidenced by how the word is used in the verse.  MI-luhn is a trochee, Mi-LAN is an iamb.

 

I think that the different clothing is a way of sparking ideas in the audience about different aspects of the plays.  Although a certain proportion of the audience will be seeing a particular play for the first time, for many (most?) and for the actors, this will be a very familiar play, and new settings help with new interpretations.  It doesn't always work, but it's commonly done.

 

FWIW, Shakespeare was originally performed in more-or-less contemporary dress.  King Lear would probably have been dressed like a Tudor king.  This is an illustration of Titus Andronicus, which shows an interesting mix of costumes.

 

L

[Pod's mum]

We recently saw a production of Comedy of Errors set in an Immigration area which became  a seedy brothel / money-changer lane. Some of the 'market extras' were cross-dressing street walkers. The play still worked well. That is the magic of Shakespeare, his timeless themes.

We've just received a Medieval Paper Doll book from bookdepository and dd is busy duplicating the dolls so she can have a sets of twins for that play.

I have ordered the Shakespeare Paper Dolls too, so when they arrive there may be more mixing and matching.

Looks like we might need to add Nazi and Russian (ish) costumes to the mix too though she hasn't yet made the transexual hooker costume so I guess she's a bit of a traditionalist.

[Lizzie in Ma]

We recently did Much Ado 80's style in a bit of a homage to the John Hughes films of the era and other great films of the decade, we had a blast.  I think it's great fun to invoke a nostalgia for an era and to show how relevant and contemporary the themes in Shakespeare's plays remain.

I particularly loved Dogberry and Verges a la The Blues Brothers and Don Jon and his crew as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (we had a female Dame Joan).  Hero and Claudio a la Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy in Pretty in Pink, Benedick a la John Bender and Beatrice a la Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan.  I also incorporated great music of the era in scene changes, scene intros and entrance cues.

 

 

[Candid]

This is very common in the theater world. And it actually reflect what Shakespeare's company did. Except in their case they always dressed in costumes of their day. So when directors recostume a Shakespeare play they are trying to pull out themes, not necessarily add new ones just put a new light on ones already there. As an example, Richard II has a distinct garden theme, so I once saw a stage version where the costumes were period but the set was a stark contemporary set with just some blank walls that got moved around, but as part of the lighting in some scenes they would have leaves pattern appear on pieces to pick up on this garden theme. 

 

The pronunciation stuff is a much newer trend and, I suspect, less well documented. I first noticed it back in the 80s when various Royal Shakespeare folks talked about the North Carolinian "banker" accent as being Shakespeare's accent (don't under any account picture a southern accent for this: here's a clip: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/10158). 

[GailV]

 ... I once saw a stage version where the costumes were period but the set was a stark contemporary set with just some blank walls that got moved around, but as part of the lighting in some scenes they would have leaves pattern appear on pieces to pick up on this garden theme. 

 

 

 

My understanding is that the original plays had very little in the way of sets.  Audiences went to "listen" to a play, with the visual component being less important.

[Laura Corin]

My understanding is that the original plays had very little in the way of sets.  Audiences went to "listen" to a play, with the visual component being less important.

 

Yes.  Which is one reason for the long descriptive speeches in the plays.  This is the only extant drawing of a Shakespeare era theatre during a production, and it's very bare.

 

L (BA French and Drama)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Very interesting.  I'll enjoy discussing all of this with ds16.  Some setting changes make sense to me.  But this is how my reasoning has gone for The Tempest.  "One of the main themes of 'The Tempest' is revenge and forgiveness.  I could see something featuring Nazi Germany as having the theme of revenge and forgiveness.  But which peoples would Prospero and Miranda symbolize?  They weren't wearing clothing that was particularly identifiable to me.  Were they Jews?  Fisherman?  (the setting was a rocky, oil can and tires strewn beach and I don't particularly associate that with Jews).  Were fishermen displaced by the Nazi's?  Do they symbolize the various people treated as flotsam and jetsam by the Nazi's?"  All of this wondering and I'm no closer to figuring out the reasoning behind their choices and I don't think it has increased my understanding of Shakespeare.  

[Candid]

Very interesting.  I'll enjoy discussing all of this with ds16.  Some setting changes make sense to me.  But this is how my reasoning has gone for The Tempest.  "One of the main themes of 'The Tempest' is revenge and forgiveness.  I could see something featuring Nazi Germany as having the theme of revenge and forgiveness.  But which peoples would Prospero and Miranda symbolize?  They weren't wearing clothing that was particularly identifiable to me.  Were they Jews?  Fisherman?  (the setting was a rocky, oil can and tires strewn beach and I don't particularly associate that with Jews).  Were fishermen displaced by the Nazi's?  Do they symbolize the various people treated as flotsam and jetsam by the Nazi's?"  All of this wondering and I'm no closer to figuring out the reasoning behind their choices and I don't think it has increased my understanding of Shakespeare.  

 

The problem of Shakespeare is that some of these shifts using costumes don't work, and because Shakespeare is Shakespeare his plays are produced often which means a greater likelihood of such a poor match. 

 

At some point after I knew more, I had to stop reading director's notes at the plays I went to because they were just plain dopey. 

[Renaissance Mom]

One of the best theatre performances I saw was a Shakespeare in the Park production in Central Park, NYC, a couple of decades ago. Morgan Freeman (earring and all) and Tracy Ulman performed the Taming of the Shrew set in the Wild West. It was brilliant! It made me think about the plot, dialogue, character development in entirely different ways. Of course, much of it was flat out hilarious ... But that would be true of any good production of that play set anywhere. I was grateful they stretched my thinking.

[KarenNC]

A few stagings I've seen:

 

Macbeth as a Kabuki play and in Stalinist Russia

Much Ado About Nothing set in 30's Cuba (and, most recently, Joss Whedon's house ;) )

As You Like It in early 20th century Japan

 

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Very interesting. I'll enjoy discussing all of this with ds16. Some setting changes make sense to me. But this is how my reasoning has gone for The Tempest. "One of the main themes of 'The Tempest' is revenge and forgiveness. I could see something featuring Nazi Germany as having the theme of revenge and forgiveness. But which peoples would Prospero and Miranda symbolize? They weren't wearing clothing that was particularly identifiable to me. Were they Jews? Fisherman? (the setting was a rocky, oil can and tires strewn beach and I don't particularly associate that with Jews). Were fishermen displaced by the Nazi's? Do they symbolize the various people treated as flotsam and jetsam by the Nazi's?" All of this wondering and I'm no closer to figuring out the reasoning behind their choices and I don't think it has increased my understanding of Shakespeare.

Perhaps it was to suggest the upheaval and chaos of being displaced persons.

Sometimes there is more of a hybrid setting than a straight resetting. For example I saw a stunning Richard III with Stacy Keech in 1989/90 with barbaric fur and leather type wardrobe but lots of big wood mixed with chrome for setting. I thought at the time that it was Conan meets Battlestar Galactica. Maybe now I'd think Game of Thrones. But the sense of warring factions came through well.

I love the David Tennant Much Ado in which the setting seems to be Gibralter with a post Falklands fleet in port.

[Emily in IL]

We've seen Macbeth done in post industrialized world, all in black, leather  and scaffolding for the set, black lights.....Midsummer's Night Dream as a merger of two corporations set in the business world/cell phones and all of Puck's lines done in rap, and last year The Tempest with costumes from "steampunk" design.....our friends that attended were very much distracted by the costumes and had a hard time enjoying/following the story line. The changing of scenarios I think is creative but yes it can be distracting also, we usually read the play before seeing it performed so that my kiddos can discuss themes and familiarize themselves with characters.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Thank you all.  Ds and I read through this thread and had a great discussion on sets and costuming.  He says that I'm over thinking it and that it didn't have to fit the theme seamlessly!  

[Mountainmama]

ditto

[stephinsocal]

"Ruritania" is the setting of The Prisoner of Zenda.

[Jean in Newcastle]

"Ruritania" is the setting of The Prisoner of Zenda.

 

Yes, I found that out when I was googling to find out about it.  

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

I've seen Shakespeare set in Medieval Japan, the 1950's, a trailer park and a few others.  I've only ever seen Shakespeare in traditional garb once or twice.

 

I think they change the costuming and setting up to keep it interesting and relevant.

[JanetC]

Photos of the "junky" Tempest set, here:

 

http://www.seattleshakespeare.org/the-tempest-photos/

[Jean in Newcastle]

Thanks, Janet.  I didn't see those up at their site earlier.  We go to see Henry V tonight!  I wonder what kind of set/costumes they will have?  Wait. . . I went to the same site and did see the Henry V pictures but it is hard to get the real idea without seeing it in person.