Some of the talented female actresses in my drama group sometimes play lead male roles. I am playing Nick Bottom, the weaver, in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Any tips?
2007-01-29 13:55:35 · 5 answers · asked by mememememe 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Theater & Acting
Okay, thanks for the advice. I will "ham it up". But, just for the record, there are no cross dressers in the ORIGINAL version of Midsummer's. I'm not sure what version YOU'VE seen, but...
Actually, Bottom is transformed into a donkey.
2007-01-29 14:01:56 · update #1
Go with the second one. The difficulty of playing Bottom is that he does not think that HE is comic at all. He believes that he's smart enough to know what's going on, but actually has just gotten in over his head (ha ha ha). Play him as someone who has fallen into a situation where he is the brunt of the joke but does not know it.
2007-01-29 14:17:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Play it like a guy would. Look Patrick Stewart(Captain Piccard on Star Trek TNG played Othello the Moor which is a black role and made it his own. Whoopee Goldberg and Will Smith have played traditionally white roles(think Wild, Wild, West)Weavers can't be women? Have fun with it. I mean after all Bottom is eventually made a Jackass, right? Shakespeare obviously had fun with it.
2007-01-29 14:05:09 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you playing Botom as a MAN, or as a woman? If you're playing him as a man, there isn't any particiular advice I'd give you. The role is what it is, and you'll approach it the way you approach any other.
If you're playing Bottom as a woman...I have nothing to contribute to the conversation. I'm not a fan of "gender-bending" in casting, particularly with Shakepseare. The guy was a half-decent playwright, y'know? If he'd wanted that role to be female, he certainly could have written it that way.
2007-01-30 00:42:51 · answer #3 · answered by shkspr 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
bottom is the only you'll need. that's one among those aspects that isn't any longer conceivable to over-play. Oberon is (continuously) strong-searching, and has many surprising speeches, yet at the same time as the play is over, the target market will cheer a lot louder for bottom than for Oberon. for sure, they are going to also cheer very loudly for %.......
2016-12-03 05:31:38 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ham it up. That's supposed to be a funny part. Was he the one who dresses in drag? Try using balloons for extra fake breasts. That's always funny.
2007-01-29 13:59:22 · answer #5 · answered by eri 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋