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Hermia/Fairy
In the Globe Theatre Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia/Fairy was played by Philippa Stanton.
About Philippa Stanton
Philippa previously appeared at Shakespeare’s Globe in the 1999 Anniversary Season, appearing in The Comedy of Errors and Augustine’s Oak. She has recently played ‘LV’ in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at the Salisbury Playhouse. Her film and TV work includes The Bill, Great Expectations and The Clandestine Marriage.
Click on the numbered links to follow Philippa's journey as she creates and plays the characters of Hermia/Fairy in the Globe Theatre.
Philippa Stanton - Character Notes 1
These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
So far, I’m having a great time working on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Each member of the Company is very nice and very silly, which is fun for all of us!
The whole company was given homework to do before we started rehearsals. I had to make 3 lists. In the first, I wrote down all the lines where Hermia tells someone about herself, in the second, I wrote down all the lines when she talks about another character in the play, and in the third, I wrote down all the lines where other characters talk about her. Since we started rehearsals, we have taken it in turn to read our lists to each other and then explore the physicality of each character in turn as a company, with the actor playing that character watching the others from the sides. This has been really helpful, as I am able to explore for myself every character in the play and in turn share what I discover with the whole company, although I am nervous about what it will be like when it is my turn.
Still, I am really looking forward to exploring the character of Hermia, as I have never played someone so deeply in love before. I am usually asked to play cheeky, quirky people, and although I suppose Hermia fits that description, she’s far more passionate than the other characters I’ve played; she is totally preoccupied with her love for Lysander. I’m a bit scared of the role, but at the same time it’s going to be a wonderful challenge for me.
This is the second time I’ve played the Globe. The first was in 1999, when I appeared in The Comedy of Errors and Augustine’s Oak. Peter Oswald, whose new play, The Golden Ass, is being performed this year, also wrote Augustine’s Oak, and I’m really looking forward to working with him again. Peter is often in rehearsals for his plays, and he sometimes changes the script as we go along. In the end, parts of Augustine’s Oak were very different to what he originally wrote – he cut lines, scenes, and even characters as his ideas changed through working with the actors. I love working with Peter as his verse writing is so different to Shakespeare, and it will be very exciting when the Red and White Companies come together to perform The Golden Ass later in the season!
At the moment, we are doing lots of physical work, (including dance sessions), with Glynn (MacDonald, Master of Movement) and Mike (Alfreds, Master of Play) as we work on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I especially like the exercise Glynn uses to finish her workshops on the stage where we explore the relations between the actor and the audience; for me, that’s what the Globe is all about.
Activities
What is said about Hermia?
At the beginning of the rehearsal period Philippa read through the play and made lists detailing:
- everything Hermia says about herself
- everything Hermia says about other characters in the play
- everything that other characters say about Hermia
Make these three lists for Hermia. What do you find out about the character by doing this? Send your lists and observations to Philippa so he can compare them with his own.
Character Reactions
In the activity above you made lists of what Hermia says about other characters in the play. Many of these comments are made behind that character’s back. How do you think that character might react if s/he heard what Hermia said about them?
Try improvising this situation in pairs with a) as Hermia and b) as one of the characters she talks about. What do you find out about Hermia from this activity? Send your discoveries to Philippa.
Hermia in Love…
Philippa thinks that Hermia is totally in love with Lysander throughout the whole of the play.
Do you agree? Which of her lines in particular suggest that she is in love with Lysander? How could Philippa show an audience that her character is in love?
Philippa Stanton - Character Notes 2
These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
We’re starting to do runs of the play on Saturdays now, and we had our first one last weekend. It was nice to see the whole play, but at the same time I’m at a stage where I don’t really know what’s good or bad about the performance; I have no way to gauge whether anything is working. Thankfully, Mike [Alfreds, Master of Play] seemed to think it was quite good, so that’s encouraging.
I’m working to try and cure some really bad habits I’ve picked up as I’ve been working on my lines. When I was younger I had piano lessons, and would get into the habit of playing wrong notes in certain places. My teacher would point them out again and again, but I couldn’t, (or wouldn’t) correct them. I think I thought what I was playing sounded better than what was written! Anyway, it’s the same thing with my lines. I’ve got into the habit of stressing particular words in each line, which makes them sound very jagged and nasty. One of the worst examples is when I say to Demetrius "Thou drivest me past the bounds / Of maiden’s patience" (iii.2.66). Hermia is really upset at that point; she’s worried that Lysander might be dead, but I am putting too much emphasis on certain parts of the words, so that it comes out as "Thou DRIVEst me PAST the BOUNds / Of MAIDen’s Patience." It sounds awful. So, Mike [Alfreds] gave me a note telling me to say my lines "more horizontally", more smoothly; I have to make the point of the line come across clearly, rather than let it get lost in the words.
At the moment, we’re spending a lot of time working on the lovers’ scene (act iii, scene 2). It’s by far the hardest scene in the play for me, not only because of what Hermia says and hears, but also because of what isn’t said and the tension in the situation. When Hermia asks Lysander "why unkindly did thou leave me so?" (iii.2.183), at the same time, I have to consider that she’s in a wood, it’s pitch black, and if she is found by other Athenians or returns to the city, she faces the possibility of being put to death. She’s put all her trust in Lysander and their elopement, and she can’t quite believe he’s going to leave her like this. It’s quite a lot to consider, and then Mike [Alfreds] tells us: "Don’t think about it." It’s a puzzle. The important thing is to consider all of these "extra" thoughts early on in rehearsal, and then push it to the back of your mind. If you think about it too much, you tend to relish the words at the expense of the story. In the end, it’s the story that’s the most important thing, and I’m really enjoying working on that scene, as I feel it’s all slowly coming together.
I’m also enjoying working on the fairies scenes. I’m part of Titania’s train, and we have to move her around a lot, including lifting her above our heads. I don’t get to do that – the height difference between me and the rest of them would make it a little dangerous for her. So instead, I focus on what’s happening. We’ve agreed that the fairies are quite alarmed by all the things that are happening in their wood. It’s bad enough that Oberon and Titania are fighting and that the seasons are muddled as a result, but having humans, who aren’t particularly nice people, in the wood as well is a bit much. We’re all quite happy at the end when they’ve left, I think.
We’ve started to do a little work on the Globe stage, which is good, as you begin to get aware of playing to others. That’s the thing about this stage, it’s incredibly empowering if you are prepared to think of your performance as a chance to give energy to the audience. I’m a big Gene Kelly fan, and if you look at a photo of him dancing with other people, the difference between him and the rest is incredible. The reason for this is that he seems to be exuding energy, giving it away, whereas the others are much more restrained and are keeping their energy inside themselves. Working on this stage helps you give your energy away to the audience, and the performance works all the better for it.
Activities
Philippa mentions that she has got into the habit of stressing particular words in her line:
"Thou drivest me past the bounds
Of maiden’s patience" (iii.2.66)
Either by yourself or in small groups, say this line aloud several times, emphasising a different word each time. How does emphasising different words change the meaning of the line? Which version of the line works best and why?
Philippa Stanton - Character Notes 3
These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
We’re starting to run the play more frequently now. During the last run, I tried to play about more with my character than I’ve done before. It’s too easy to get stuck into doing the same thing each time, and Mike encourages us to discover something new about our characters every time we perform, so, I thought I’d have a go during that run. I don’t think it went that well; I felt my performance was a bit boring, but I now feel much more confident to try something totally different next time.
Our schedule has settled down into a regular pattern. We spend our time rehearsing specific scenes, with the occasional voice and movement session in-between. I’m enjoying working on my scenes in much more detail than ever before, and trying to approach each scene from a new angle every time. Mike [Alfreds, Master of Play] is doing a new exercise with us called "Points of Concentration." Instead of concentrating on the small details of a scene, such as what a particular word might tell me about a character or a situation, this exercise encourages us to stand back and think about the whole scene at once whilst concentrating on one thought in particular. For example, having worked on a scene in detail, Mike might tell me to try it again using my love for Lysander as a point of concentration; this means that everything I say and do in that scene is affected, even if only a little, by my love for Lysander. If you imagine the scene as a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, over the last few weeks we have been concentrating on the little bits of orange floating in the juice. Adding a point of concentration to the scene is like adding a drop of a different flavoured juice to the glass: the whole drink still tastes mainly of orange, but it looks and tastes slightly different. Each point of concentration is relevant in some way to the scene, and you mustn’t use each point of concentration more than a few times because your ideas would get stale. It’s just a matter of doing the scene lots of times and absorbing all the different ideas you have. Some of them will come back to me during the performances, some of them won’t, but the exercise encourages me to keep having new ones!
When I was here in 1999, I had lots of opportunities to speak my lines directly to the audience. In The Comedy of Errors, I was always pulling funny faces at them. This year, I feel I don’t have many lines that I can deliver to an audience in the same way. Although the audience are on my side, Hermia is such a contained and focused character that she doesn’t speak to them that much. There are some points where I could talk to them directly, for example when I say "I am amazed and know not what to say", but otherwise it’s much harder to say my lines to anyone but myself or the other characters. At the end of act ii scene 2, Hermia is alone on stage having just woken from a nightmare. This seems like a good opportunity to speak my lines out to the audience, but if I were to do that, it would only be for the sake of doing so and not because Hermia wants to. She is too scared at that point to do anything else but look for Lysander.
I finally got to see my costume the other day, and it’s gorgeous; I love it! It’s just pyjamas, basically, but really nice ones in a 1930s style; high waisted fitted trousers with flared legs, a little top and a velvet bed jacket. Everyone will have small lights, fairy lights I suppose, fitted into their costumes in various places. This is because when we are playing a character from the fairy world, we will be able to flick a switch and our lights will come on. This is all meant to help the audience distinguish whether I’m playing Hermia or a fairy when I’m on stage. My lights will be fitted into the little bow on my top, and I’ll also have some in my hair as well. I can’t wait to see what it looks like!
We’re now in the final stages of rehearsal, which does mean that some days can get quite frustrating. Mike [Alfreds] is making sure we know whenever we’ve made a mistake, even a tiny one, whether it be with our voice, our movement, or with our lines, in every rehearsal. It’s important to do this, and I’d rather we did it at this point in rehearsals than at a later time, but I still get annoyed because we (the company) feel we’re at a stage when we want to experiment with letting the play flow. I don’t like it when I have to keep stopping and starting. But still, we’re about to start performances and it’s very exciting!
Activities
Philippa mentions a new exercise called "Points of Concentration."
In small groups, consider Hermia’s speech at the end of Act ii scene 2:
Help me, Lysander, help me, do thy best
to pluck this crawling serpent from my breast.
Ay me, for pity, what a dream was here.
Lysander, look how I do quake with fear,
methought a serpent ate my heart away
and you sat smiling at his cruel prey.
Lysander – what, removed – Lysander – Lord –
what – out of hearing – gone – no sound, no word.
Alack, where are you, speak, an if you hear,
speak, of all loves – I swoon almost with fear.
No. Then I well perceive you are not nigh.
Either death or you I’ll find immediately.
Each group should choose a point of concentration for Hermia in this scene. This point of concentration should be relevant to the situation Hermia is in. Two possible points of concentration might be her love for Lysander, and the fact that it is dark in the wood.
How does your group’s point of concentration affect the meaning of the speech?
Using your point of concentration, read the speech to the other groups. Can they guess what your point of concentration is?
As a class, write down as many points of concentration you think Philippa could use when working on this speech.
Philippa Stanton - Character Notes 4
These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
We’ve just finished our first week of performances, so I’m very tired but very excited! Having performed here before in 1999, going out onto the stage in front of an audience wasn’t an entirely new experience, but it was very nice to be out there again. One of the nicest parts about this week for me has been that I’ve re-discovered the unique interaction between actors and audience that takes place in the Globe space. Because the audience is so close to the stage, and because we, the actors, can see them so easily, we always have to allow them to become participants in the play. An audience is quite unpredictable, and no two audiences will ever react the same way to a particular moment in the play. For example, in Act iii scene 2, Lysander repeatedly insults Hermia before finally turning to her and saying:
"… Get you gone, you dwarf,
You minimus of hindering knot-grass made,
You bead, you acorn." (iii.2.327-330)
In one performance, an audience may laugh at Hermia when Lysander says this, but in the next, they may feel sorry for her and sigh instead. It’s important to let the audience react in their own way and let each performance emerge from their reactions. What’s fun in this production is that some of us (the actors) get to join the audience, in a way, when we watch the mechanicals’ performance in v.1.
Rehearsals didn’t finish as soon as performances started; this week, we had both! For this week only, Mike [Alfreds, Master of Play] was able to call us for rehearsals at any time during the day when we weren’t performing on stage. One of the major things that Mike keeps reminding us about is that we must always be aware of exactly where we are on the stage. Because none of our scenes have any prearranged blocking, we have to be extra-aware of where everyone else on stage is standing at any particular time. It’s also very important that we don’t stay in the same place for too long; if we keep moving, it helps to keep up the energy of the production as a whole as well as allowing the whole audience to see us.
One thing I’ve been working hard on this week is making my voice stronger. Because there’s no roof on the theatre, it’s often hard for an audience to hear the actors’ voices. The key to being heard in the Globe is not to shout, but to use what Stewart [Pearce, Master of Voice] calls the ‘middle point’ of your voice. Some people describe using the middle point of your voice as using your ‘chest voice’; it’s all about speaking at the right pitch and volume to allow your voice to resonate clearly.
I find it easiest to use the ‘middle point’ of my voice when I am certain of my character’s intentions. It’s important to remember that there’s a reason why Hermia says everything she does; each line should either have an effect on another character, or on the audience. Actors often call these reasons their character’s "intentions". For example, in act i scene 1, Hermia says to Theseus:
"So I will grow, so live, so die, my lord,
ere I will yield my virgin patent up
unto his lordship whose unwished yoke
my soul consents not to give sovereignty." (i.1.107-111)
There are two intentions behind these lines: to defy Theseus and to make him feel sorry for her. Knowing this fact makes it easier for me to use the middle point of my voice.
Mike [Alfreds, Master of Play] has also been encouraging me to think about Hermia’s relationship with Demetrius, especially in act iii scene 2, when all the lovers are lost in the forest. Mike gave me a note (a criticism) about iii.2, suggesting that I was talking at Keith [Dunphy, Demetrius] rather than talking to him. I don’t think that Hermia feels sorry for Demetrius, although she does feel sorry for Helena, but even though she doesn’t like him, Hermia needs to talk to Demetrius because he might know what has happened to Lysander. It’s important for me to remember that Hermia’s intention at that moment is to find out what’s happened to Lysander, and Demetrius is the only person she knows who might be able to tell her where he is, so she can’t be too nasty to him in that scene.
Activities
1) Philippa mentions that she’s been working on strengthening her voice.
Find the middle point in your vocal range: take one line from the play, and say it at as high a pitch as you can. Your voice will sound very strained. Now say the same line at as low a pitch as possible. Some of the words may be lost or incomprehensible, as your voice will again be strained beyond its usual pitch.
Now find the balancing point. Imagine that you have a vocal pitch control slider (like a volume control on some stereos), with the highest point at the top of your head and the lowest on the soles of your feet. The balancing point will be found when that slider is positioned around the chest or stomach. When you reach this middle point, your voice will not sound strained, and instead will resonate gently.
Why do you think actors in the Globe Theatre Company have to try and use the middle point in their vocal range?
2) Philippa says that she thinks Hermia dislikes Demetrius, and only talks to him in order to find out where Lysander is.
Do you agree? Which lines from the play support your ideas?
Philippa Stanton - Character Notes 5
These comments are the actor’s thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
We’re in the middle of the season now, but the production is still changing and growing, which is very exciting. One of the reasons why it can keep developing like this is because there is no pre-determined blocking (see Glossary). Instead of knowing exactly where and when everybody will be moving from and to during each scene, everybody makes their own decisions about where and when to move whilst the scene is taking place. This is a result of Mike [Alfreds, Master of Play]’s chosen style of rehearsal and preparation. At any time, both how we say our lines and how we move on stage is determined by our character’s objective or intention (what they want) at that particular moment in the play, and a lot of our rehearsal time was used to discover what our character’s intentions are at different times in the play. However, even if I was to give my character the same intention in each scene for every single performance, there are lots of different movements and reactions I could make as a result of that one intention.
For example, when Hermia comes on at the end of iii.2, she’s at first really happy because she’s found Lysander, but then he keeps denying that he loves her:
HERMIA:
But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?
LYSANDER:
Why should he stay whom love doth press to go?
HERMIA:
What love could press Lysander from my side?
LYSANDER:
Lysander’s love, that would not let him bide: (iii.2.183-186).
I think Hermia’s intention at this point in the play is to question Lysander and be comforted by him, but there are lots of different actions/movements that I could make as a result of that intention. Yesterday, I tried something new: in some performances, I drifted towards Lysander during these 4 lines, but yesterday, I ran towards him on each of my lines, as if to say, "stop joking with me!" only to be turned away repeatedly. This is just one way I could play the same intention behind these four lines.
When I’m playing Hermia, I have to consider a huge number of potential intentions and their supporting actions, so in many ways it’s rather a relief when I’m playing a fairy, whose only intentions are to support Titania in her struggle with Oberon, and otherwise simply enjoy life and help others to do the same. Those scenes when I’m playing a fairy, although very involving and tiring, are mentally like mini-holidays, in a way.
About a week ago, I started to lose my voice, which was very worrying! I am always very careful to do a vocal warmup before each performance, but I was always very tense and nervous before going on stage. Now, I have altered my daily warmup so that I spend more time getting my body to relax. I do lots of breathing exercises where I spend time focusing on my breath. By focusing in this way on where the sound is coming from, I relaxed much more, which makes my voice far less strained.
I’m still experimenting with saying different lines to the audience, and I’ve become far more adventurous with the lines I’m delivering out to the yard. Actors often say of the Globe space that the audience is the final member of the cast, which is true, and I’ve started to include them a lot more in my performance. In the end, however, it all depends on Hermia’s intentions at certain points during the play. For example, in ii.2, she responds to Lysander’s argument that they should share a bed with the line, "Lysander riddles very prettily" (ii.2.59). If I feel her intention is to forcibly dissuade him, I direct the line to him, but if she is tempted by his suggestion and her intention becomes to explain her momentary consideration of his offer, she could direct it towards the audience. In the same way, Hermia could appeal to the audience for judgement in iii.2, when she decries the way in which she feels Helena has unfairly compared herself and her:
"Now I perceive that she hath made compare
Between our statures. She hath urged her height,
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevailed with him." (iii.2.290-293)
I’m really enjoying delivering my lines to an audience, because the audiences we’ve been having are very warm and appreciative.
On Tuesday, we start rehearsals for The Golden Ass, the third play in the 2002 Theatre Season. I think it’ll be great fun, because we’ll be combining with the White Company to perform this play, and I’m really looking forward to meeting them properly. Usually when the company is split in this way, you never really get to meet the other half of the company until the end of season party, so it’ll be very nice to work with the entire company until the end of the season.