A miIn Act 1 Scene 2 I will set up the scene with Peter Quince in the middle on a box stool having him already set out to the audience as being very drama queen like showing to the audience how interested he is in making this little play happen. Then from Peter Quince’s view I will have all the other actors in a semi circle facing both the audience and Quince , this will tackle moving and space and not make it seems like the actors are afraid to use the space ; also by having the actors in this position will propose that each actor has their own space and their own characteristics that no other character can interfere with or take away from.

As a director I want the audience to instantly recognise that Shakespeare’s portrayal of Nick Bottom’s character as hilariously overt. In Act 1 scene 2 I will take Bottoms line ‘ An I may hide my face, let me play Thisbe too. Ill speak in a monstrous little voice: ‘Thisne,Thisne!’ ‘Ah ,Pyramus,my lover dear; thy Thisbe dear and lady dear.’ I will have Bottom interrupt Peter Quince before as he says ‘An I may hide my face’ . I will do this because it will already show how humours Bottom is in a very eager way as he cannot wait to interrupt to let out how eager he is to play all characters. When Nick Bottom says this first word I will have him burst out quickly into the centre with his arms open. I will do this because having him walk in the middle will show the audience that he is purposely taking the centre stage because he wants all the attention, as he is this type of character. Thus, by having Bottom open his arms will also show that he is blocking the audience from seeing the rest of the characters – showing us how he doesn’t care how ridiculous he looks when he’s trying to be really hilarious. With this first a couple of words I will have Bottom facing the audience and making eye contact with the audience; this will engage the audience a lot more and already have that mind set of what kind of character Bottom is as he wants the audience to have their eyes on him and no one else.Bottoms language adds to his comic appeal. For example, he claims that if he performed the role of thisbe,he would speak her lines in a “monstrous little voice” an obviously contradictory statement. Then he would “aggravate” his voice if he played the lion’s sole so that the ladies in the audience would not be frightened; once again, bottoms word choices show his silliness, while adding a comic element to the play. Bottom’s language is often paradoxical, as when he claims he would speak in a “monstrous little voice” if he had the role of Thisbe : as a voice cannot be monstrous and little at the same time. In addition to this, I will have Bottom act like a drama queen when he says ‘Thisne Thisne’ by having Bottom bend onto one knee with his arms up when saying this changing each arm and knee from when he’s saying one Thisne to the other. Also when Bottom is saying ‘Thisne Thisne ‘ I will have Bottom pause before he says the first Thisne and also pause before the second Thisne; this will add a dramatic pause . Pauses keep the audience engaged with the actor and the performance. This will show the audience that Bottom is trying to very dramatic and he will be very openly funny with the way he will be performing and saying Thisne – portraying comedy within the performance and not being able to take the actor seriously which will convey a message to the audience from the actor that bottom is doing this on purpose as this is the type of character he is. I will also having bottom saying this in a very posh English accent. By having him do this , it will show that he is making a fool of himself making this very humorous to the audience but also showing us that he doesn’t care what he has to do , he will do anything just to get the part he wants which he is very eager to play. Also from when bottom transitions from his word thisne to ‘ah pyramus my lover dear’ ill will have him move from his knees to laying on the floor with his left hand on his head. I will make sure bottom does this very fast. I will do this because I want the audience to know how eager he is to perform another role even if it makes him look really silly , the fact that he is transitioning level so quick will give that humorous vibe as he appears to be doing a one man show. As bottom says ‘ Ah pyramus,my lover dear’ I will having him lean with his head back as he places his hand on his head going in slow motion to show to the audience how much of a drama queen he is acting just to get multi parts in the play. In this part of the play , I will end Bottoms line with his closing position . He will quickly stand on his feet and go back to his starting position in the semi circle with his arms still out as he still wants attention until he finishes every single word of his sentence. Bottoms motivation is to impress the audience and the other characters with all his drama skills, he does this because he wants to be centre of attention as he believes only him can play these parts. Bottoms overall objective is to engage the audience and having there eyes on him this makes bottom appear as hilariously overt. All the characters in this scene are responsible for portraying the theme of plays within plays in Act 1 scene 2.

The second part of this scene that I will be direction is when Bottom says “Let me play the lion too. I will roar that I will do any man’s heart good to hear me .I will roar that I will make the Duke say ‘ let him roar again; let him roar again!’
Once again I will start this by having Bottom interrupt the previous speaker and coming back into the middle of the stage again with his arms opening. The fact that he repeats this will give a humorous feel as reputation will make him feel stupid and make the audience get tired of Bottom just as the other characters are when Bottom is talking . I will have Bottom emphasis the word ‘me’ to show to the audience how he’s full of himself , I will also make Bottom add a hand gesture – having his hands placed underneath his head with a flashing smile . I will do this because it emphasises himself and show to the audience how highly he thinks of himself. I will also have Bottoms tone get a bit higher as I really want the word me to stand out and have me as the most memorable word in the sentence ; this is proving to the audience how Bottom thinks everything is about him and how much he is impressed of himself. After the first sentence I will make sure Bottom gives a cheeky wink to the audience. This engages the audience with appeal as it draws the audience in with a cheeky smile.I will do this because it shows immediate attraction between the character performing and the audience . What makes bottom the character he is , Is that he will do stupid things to seem funny and this is one way of showing this without any words. In addition to this , I will have Bottom eager to play almost everyone in this play because it conveys to us today that back when Shakespeare wrote plays no woman was allowed in the theatre . Bottoms character is comedic because it’s the opposite as he doesn’t have a problem in paying both men and woman as long as he gets all attention which gives a good twist as well as very funny for the audience.
For the rest of the sentence I will have Bottom act it out but slower as I want the audience to have a feel of how interested he is in playing the part properly from the heart and not just messing it up to show everyone how legit he is about the play. Thus, when he is saying this sentence I will have him have a pause after every word, I will do this because I want Bottom to make this bit a more serious but too serious that the audience knows his which makes him funny because he is acting like he’s performing. I will have Bottom walk to the left and stop just before he says roar and move his head to the audience as he says this . This will make him seem like a lion as he in interpreting this character which makes this humorous because everyone knows that he wont get the part as he is already allocated a character but the fact that he is taking it so very serious makes it even more funnier. As Bottom proceeds, I will have him produce hand gestures ( make a fist ) as he says ‘ any mans good heart’. I will do this because I want bottom to contrast from the other line that I directed before where he wasn’t afraid to act like a women where as this time he is trying very hard to act like a very man but the audience will not take him serious as he let his guard up just because he wants more characters to act. Before Bottom starts his sentence I will have bottom stare into the audience/into space and have a little moment when he realises that he will be performing in front of the duke and stop being serious. I want Bottom to hold his finger by his chain to act like he’s really thinking about what he’s going to do in front of the Duke and have a big smile on his face which will allow the audience to see how excited he is. After bottom says ‘ I will make the duke say’ , ill get Bottom to s=act as if he is the Duke as he is making fun of him which will humour the audience as they will definitely get tired of Bottom acting as other people. Bottom will say ‘ let him roar again; let him roar again! ‘ in a very posh accent whilst stroking his beard. I will make him do this because I want people to see how much of a joker he is , the fact that his telling us what he wants the Duke to say kind of tells us that he knows he’ll be good when he performs and the duke will automatically love bottom.
Lastly when Bottoms says he’s last word I will have Bottoms final position with his left arm up and his right arm out making jazz fingers when he finishes . I will make him do this because It shows how Bottom is acting up already with ideas that he’s not even sure of with what he’s performing. Despite this , the fact that he’s once again with his arms open shows us that he is blocking the audience from seeing all the other actors, which by now the audience will understand that he’s doing this on propose and Bottom would even do this in front of the Duke so the Duke will only see Bottom and forget about the rest of the actors.

The last part of the play that I will be directing in Act 1 Scene 2. Bottom says “We will meet ,and there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously. Take pains, be perfect . Adieu!”
I will have Bottom imagining stuff as he walks on with stopping in the middle and making gestures with his right hand like he is having a dream whilst he says ‘ we will meet and there we man rehearse’. will make him do this because I want Bottom to be the only characters that extremely worked up about the performance that he’s already imagining ahead , as he is the only other character that’s doing this other than Peter Quince since he came up with the idea , but even this makes Quince get tired of Bottom as Bottom is portraying that he knows everything about the play and not only is Bottom taking the other characters opportunities he is only taking Quinces – as he is acting like he was the one who came up with the idea .
When he says this , I want Bottoms motive to be that he wants to take over the entire play – I want the audience to be clear of this as he is interrupting other people just tells us that he doesn’t exactly care about what other are saying he just cares about what he’s doing and what he’s saying.
The word that I want to be stood out in this sentence that he is performing is , courageously. When bottom says this , ill get Bottom to once again out his hands in a first up high , and when he says this I want his tone to appear like he is tearing up just like when directors get tearful when they’ve produced a good piece of work which will automatically cause tension between Bottom and Quince as he is the direct of this play. Lastly when Bottoms says ‘ Take pains ‘ Id get bottom to look at the actors behind him(to his left ) with his arms out whilst he says this and then look to his left before he says be perfect also with his arms out. I will do this because I want the audience to see the little bit of friendliness as he is only allowing the actors to be seen and have importance whilst he is speaking at the end of the scene .
I want Bottom to take couple steps forward and step away from the fact that he is engaging with the other actors. I want Bottom to clap twice before he lets his arms out and say ‘Adieu!’ I want to do this because I really want Bottom to make fun of directors once again aiming at Quince , I want the audience to see how confident Bottom is as him acting as everything and everyone .

I want Bottom to be the main character that conveys the theme Dreams. Bottom is the main character that seems to engage with the fact that he wants to be the lead character in everything and has the dream to be the most famous actor and most important in everything he does ; as his main purpose in the play is to add humour to the play with taking everyone’s role because he wants all the attention and all the roles .