During the exam quarter for my Master's Degree, a very good friend of mine decided to produce and direct Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in one of the most stunning outdoor settings that the University of California at Riverside had to offer. Because I had the most terrible crush on him, I did everything in my power to help him, including lending out every bit of Faire garb I had, borrowing Faire garb from my sister and from the Gypsies and Lynn Snead of Moonstruck, which is what the Gypsy booth had become by this time, and making more garb with the help of my sister and my mother, who was weak from starting chemo, that quarter. I also carried all of the play props around in the trunk of my car, brought a 5 gallon jug of water to each rehearsal, along with disposable cups and a trash bag, and always had sunscreen on hand. I also had lost and found items, extra copies of the play, and all that sort of thing. I was unofficially the stage manager, assistant director, and a host of other titles. The only official title I claimed was costumer, and I granted full credit to Lynn Snead of Moonstruck, Laura Greenwalt, and to the dyed vintage nightie fairie, whose name has escaped me, now.

This first photo shows the preliminary costume ideas for Hippolyta, the Amazon Queen, and her new husband Theseus.

This is Philostrate. He's the king's herald, or master of ceremonies. Yes, that's Jeremy trying to get into the picture. He and one of his friends were the two guard fairies in camoflage watching over Titania's court. They don't show up in any of the pictures, of course.

This is Demetrius. He's a suck-up to Egeus, an old man with a beautiful daughter.

This is Egeus, the old man.

This is Hermia, the beautiful daughter. You don't think that was type-casting, at all, do you?

More of Demetrius. The pity of it all is that while he loves Hermia, she loves Lysander.

This is Lysander, the man Hermia really loves.

This is Helena, who really loves Demetrius, and begs to be treated even the way he treats his dogs.

These are the four young lovers, Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander all together.

This is Hipolyta, the Amazon Queen, taking over the "Rude Mechanicals", or peasants, who put on the play within the play in the final act. Bottom is the one in the kilt, since our Bottom was actually a Scot. If you hadn't guessed, Hippolyta is a little stronger a character in this production than in most. Usually, she is languid, depressed, and defeated. In this production, she is biding her time and planning a hostile takeover from within. The Rude Mechanicals, other than Bottom, are mostly wearing clothing from Moonstruck.

Three of the Rude Mechanicals up close.

Titania's Fairy Court. Titania is the one with the two small fairies carrying the ends of her sleeves. Titania really enjoyed moving her arms in her scenes with Oberon and Bottom. Since the insides of her sleeves are a golden satin that contrasts with the mulberry exterior, and movement of her arm makes the color flash. My daughter, Sarah, is the small fairy on the left, in the pink. The rest of the fairy court costumes, besides Titania's, are the one thing I would change the most if I had this play to do over. On the night of the play, all of these costumes seemed uniformly white, except Titania's. I would try to use much more vivid colors for all of the fairies if I were to do this again, even if I still had no budget to work with. (I would also try to dress the Court of Athens in more of a fairytale style, rather than the half peasant and half Gypsy style that they ended up in.)

Unfortunately, I never got pictures of the fairy dancers in costume, as they were told they could wear whatever they liked, as long as it looked fairy-like and/or glittery. I did manage to get this photo of them rehearsing. They came out and danced, but were a separate group from the actual fairy court. The music was especially composed by Eli, whose last name I have forgotten, and the dance was choreographed by him, as well. He is the one crouched in the foreground, watching the dancers.
This is Puck. She really designed her own costume. My sister and I just made it work for her. She was delighted, and a lot of fun.
This is Oberon. The director said he wanted Oberon in tatty robes. I think this was pretty tatty. The actor really enjoyed the cloak.

The night of the actual play was the first time we'd made it all through the play. When we'd actually gotten all the way through the play within the play, it was clear that Theseus had forgotten his lines. As Hippolyta, I shackled him and dragged him off stage. Otherwise, he would have gone on about nothing in the bad, Godfather accent for endless minutes, digging himself in deeper. I ended all of our agony.

From here, you can return to the first page of costumes,

follow along the straight and narrow path to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire,

or jump ahead to everyone's favorite costumed holiday.

Returning to the home page is also an option, as always.

The director of the play had talked about what play he wanted to do the following year, and I thought that sounded like a great idea. I knew that the successful production the first year would help the second production, and I was already making plans to costume that second play for the following year by collecting things like large sheets when they were on sale, or curtains at yard sales to use for fabric, and buying patterns when the prices were right. I had a collection of things like lace and beaded collars that I thought would show up better from a distance, as well.

But after our play, our director began avoiding me, quite regularly. It was clear to me that I'd only been a useful tool to accomplish his dream of producing and directing the play. By the following year, I might as well have been dead, as far as he was concerned, and the death of my mother had turned my thoughts elsewhere, anyway.