A Midsummer Night's Dream

I once took a seminar on scenography and theatrical costume. Although the seminar was far away from being a value-for-money case, I came to work on a scale model that I really enjoyed. The model depicted the set for Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" and we had no budget or technical constrains. The idea was to let our imagination run wild and come up with a set that would seem to us as the ideal for the specific play.  

My first thought was that "Midsummer Night's Dream" has a strong pagan flavor that could not be fully captured unless seen in a real forest! But then, if there are no budget constrains, why don't we move the forest to the city? I came up with the idea of a "forest circus"  that could be moved from place to place. When entering that circus the audience would have the feeling of being inside a real forest. My scale model looked like that:

    

Detail of the entrance:

Detail of the stage and the seats:

 

For the acts that were to take place within the palace, one of the central trees would transform into a red pillow throne. A red carpet and a focused light would complete the illusion of the throne room.

Last but not least, I'm adding a photo of myself leaning proudly above my creation. I'm in the last stage, correcting details and imperfections:

  

Unfortunately, my model became a nest for my cats... and part of it is ruined! Someday I might decide to refresh it and seal it in a plexiglass box, so as to transform it into a coffee-table!