Max Reinhardts Play for Life: Re-reading A Midsummer Nights Dream

Max Reinhardt, together with Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig,
contributed to the scenographic revolution that changed thetheatre at the
beginning of the 20th century. Although he directed all kinds of genres and
formats, there is a common characteristic in his productions that defines his
style: they were all visually attractive shows. Although he staged different
Shakespearean titles in his career (i.e. The Merchant of Venice in 1905,
Macbeth in 1916), Reinhardts life-long obsession was A Midsummer Nights
Dream. He directed more than thirty productions of the play from 1905 until
1939, including the 1935 film version. The purpose of this paper is to briefly
analyse Reinhardts mythical productions of A Midsummer Nights Dream,
and show how they set the starting point of early 20 th century productions.
This analysis focuses, above all, on the 1935 film, probably the culmination
of Reinhardts productions of A Midsummer Nights Dream. In addition, a
number of topics will be analyzed successively : the importance of the
mise-en-scne, the darkness of Oberon and his train, Pucks evolution,
sexuality and the revision of elements from the 19th century tradition.
I believe in the immortality of the Theatre, it is a most joyous place to
hide, for all those who have secretly put their childhood in their pockets and
run off and away with it, to play on to the end of their days.
Max Reinhardt
1Max Reinhardts style was part of the stenographic revolution that shaped
the theatre at the beginning of the 20th century. The theories expressed by
Richard Wagner, Adolph Appia and Edward Gordon Craig initiated the visual
revolution that was going to change the appearance of the stage as known
until then. Although Appias influence and, above all, Craigs are undeniable
in Reinhardt, his works are to be considered more influential on the theatre
of his time because, whereas Craig was mainly a theoretician, Reinhardts
productions were performed in many theatres across Europe and America.
As Dennis Kennedy states, the real story of the twentieth-century visual
approach to Shakespeare begins here, with Reinhardts works. Reinhardts
approach to the stage was that of Wagner for the opera: he wanted to
transform the theatre into a total work of art combining amazing dcors
and music with the latest technologies in lighting. He aimed to create a
theatre that was truly spectacular and yet he was accused of not having a
personal style because his choice of works was so eclectic, as he directed all
kinds of genres and formats. Nevertheless, there is a common characteristic
in his productions that defines his style : they were all visually attractive.
2 Considering his playful approach to drama and his attraction for
experimentation, it seems natural that the play which most obsessed
Reinhardt during his lifetime was none other than A Midsummer Nights
Dream. Indeed, this early comedy was Reinhardts constant favourite for
thirty-four years. According to John L. Styan, he directed twenty-nine
productions of the play before the film was made in 1935, and he continued
staging A Midsummer Nights Dream until 1939. The first production was in
Berlin in 1905 and the subsequent versions underwent numerous changes in
cast, staging and even language, until the Hollywood film production
appeared in 1935.

3The purpose of this paper is to briefly analyse Reinhardts mythical

productions of A Midsummer Nights Dream, which marked his success at
the outset of his career, and to show how these productions set the starting
point for staging the play at the beginning of the 20 th century. This analysis
focuses, above all, on the 1935 film, co-directed with his former pupil
William Dieterle for the Warner Bros Company, probably the culmination of
Reinhardts variations of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Some topics will be
discussed in particular here: the importance of the mise-en-scne in
Reinhardts productions, the darkness of Oberon and his train, Pucks
evolution, sexuality, and the revision of elements from the 19 th-century
tradition.
4All his productions of A Midsummer Nights Dream, from the first in 1905 to
the last in 1939, were powerfully visual. In the first theatre production
Reinhardt used the revolving stage of the Neues Theater in Berlin. Kennedy
describes the set, designed by Gustav Kinina, as spectacular woodland
settings, using a forest of thick tree trunks, realistic branches, and a carpet
of grassy moss in the manner of Beerbohm Tree. The mise-en-scne was
full of baroque elements and was later considered by both critics and
Reinhardt himself as a naturalist illusion taken to the extreme. The revolving
stage divided the two worlds of the play, the City of Athens and the forest,
and was used to move quickly from the one to the other. This
three-dimensional set was the response to the new need shared by most
directors of the time: to replace the painted scenery from the previous
century with modern stage architecture.
5From the illusionist trend of the first mise-en-scne, some of his later
productions evolved towards a bare stage in an attempt to approach
symbolism. Ernst Stern, the designer of the 1913 production, replaced the
heavy set with a more suggestive treatment of light and shade7 ; in
1925 the stage of the Theater in der Josefstad, Vienna, was almost
completely bare, with green curtains suggesting the trees in the forest. In
spite of the simplifications of the setting, these more symbolic approaches
still tended to encourage the spectacular mode, one of the main
characteristics of Reinhardts works as the aesthetics of the film proves.
6Reinhardt was undoubtedly good at producing plays in different spaces:
from huge theatres to small venues and, above all, outdoors. Good
examples of this are his 1934 and 1935 productions of The Merchant of
Venice staged across a real canal in Venice8. Of all the open-air
performances of A Midsummer, two are especially remarkable: the one in
the Boboli Gardens in Florence and the other in a field outside Oxford, both
in 19339. Kennedy points out that Reinhardt was exploiting the natural
environment in an extravagant, cinematic manner in these productions10.
They were an anticipation of his 1935 Warner Bros film because, apart from
the cinematic trend that Kennedy mentions, they introduced the revision of
the traditional reading of A Midsummer Nights Dream that features in the
film.
7The new reading of the play appeared in the Oxford 1933 production,
presenting Oberon and his train as dark creatures. Although there is little
information about this performance, Philip Arnhold, the actor in the role of
Oberon, was reported to possess a gentle malevolence in his rendering
when the production was brought to the Hollywood Bowl the following

year11. This perspective is preserved in the film, where Oberon is depicted

as a threatening character dressed completely in black and whose followers
are dressed in the same colour with bat-like costumes and masks. Thus
wearing black from tip to toe, Oberon and his followers not only confronted
Titania and her fairies, all dressed in white, but also showed their
wickedness. According to Williams, the outdoor-production at Oxford was the
starting point of a more sinister interpretation of the play, with a darker tone
than ever before12.
8The plays evolution towards darkness is noteworthy, as several elements
underwent numerous changes until the final form they take in the film, for
instance, the crown worn by Oberon. In the first production (Berlin's Neues
Theatre, 1905), it was a lighted crown that served to illuminate his way
through the dark wood, but then his head-gear evolved : it was a rack of
antlers in some later productions and, in the film, it appears as a crown of
silver and twigs. The same goes for his steed. In the film, Oberon appears
riding a black horse that enhances the darkness of the character ; however,
the prompt book of the 1905 production indicates that he might have made
his entrance riding a white stag13.
9The 1933 outdoors Oxford production already featured the abduction of a
fairy, and such a sequence also occurs in the 1935 film. In this scene
Titanias fairies dance to Mendelssohns music, chased by Oberons men
and, although they seem to be afraid of them, they keep dancing together
as if they were enchanted. The scene ends with the dance of one of
Oberons followers and the First Fairy. The delicate dance finishes when he
lifts her and takes her away into the dark. This image, with the man in black
carrying the white fairy in his arms while she is making frantic gestures with
her hands, is full of eroticism. Apart from increasing the sinister tone of the
play, this moment gives a very new outlook that Williams comments thus:
[it] hinted at a dark eroticism never seen before in connection with this
play14 .
10These elements were preserved in the film and, together with the
uncanny character of Puck that will be analysed later, gave rise to the first
dark production of A Midsummer Nights Dream for the big screen. However,
as Williams points out, the outdoors productions were still neoromantic; the
abduction of the fairy and the treatment of Oberon were only the first dark
theatrical images in the performance history of the play15 . What is true is
that Reinhardts new reading was the starting point for many productions, as
the possibility for A Midsummer Nights Dream to be not only a dream but
also a nightmare was left open.
11This evolution of A Midsummer Nights Dream towards darkness could be
a reflection of reality : the fantasy world of the fairies was still possible at
the beginning of the century ; however, the changes in the western world
after WWI inevitably brought with them darker notes. In contrast with the
variations of the play produced between 1905 and 1927, Reinhardts
versions from 1933 onwards include darker overtones which have often
been associated with the effects of Nazism. Anthony Guneratne comments
that the forest was transformed into a place of danger, and the new vision of
the play provided a visual allegory of the conquest of the light by the
powers of darkness in the mid-European hinterlands16 . The Oxford
production, in which the dark reading was introduced for the first time, took

place only a few months after Reinhardt had left Berlin because of Hitlers
rise to power. In connection with this, Williams comments that Reinhardts
first visions of the play were escapist, and completely disconnected from the
worlds reality: A world war had been fought in Europe, but not in these
woods17. However, he reacts differently towards the sinister changes and
concludes that, [i]n this they belong to the troubled twentieth century18 .
Whether there are direct references to Nazism or not, the sinister additions
invite the audience to remain alert as well as reflecting that the vision of the
play cannot be the same in a society that had suffered one world war and
was about to endure another.
12Reinhardts re-reading of the play is not only concerned with darkness, it
also revisits many of the pervasive elements from the 19 th-century tradition.
His main purpose seems to have been to reinvent A Midsummer Nights
Dream for the aesthetic delight of the audience. However, it can be
assumed that, after the many performances of the play in almost any
imaginable location, Reinhardts purpose in his film is not only to show the
exuberant fantasy world that he has created, but also to exploit the comedy
of the play to the extreme. In order to fulfil both purposes, the fantasy world
is given more importance than it had had before, and the conflict between
the lovers is reduced to an extension of the fantasy19 . In the film the
lovers appear as ridiculous characters that cannot be taken seriously, an
example of this being the effeminate representation of Lysander. Although
this vision is just the opposite of the romantic epitomes of the 19 th century,
these features work perfectly for the comedy, and the comicality is
reinforced by Pucks constant presence, mocking, imitating, and irritating
the snooty couples.
13Pucks evolution is another interesting point in Reinhardts productions. In
the 19th century, Puck was quite often performed by a young female actress
with fairy-like manners. Reinhardts first production followed this convention
in some way, as the part was performed by a woman, Gertrud Eysolt.
However, her interpretation was far from the fairy-like ballerina that used to
be interpreted as in keeping with the character of Robin Goodfellow. She
was dressed in furs, leaves and branches, and was in turn mischievous and
playful. Eysolts Puck was an ugly, uncanny figure, not the cute and
whimsical creature that audiences were used to20. After Eysolts Puck, the
tradition of casting women in this role seems to have been abandoned, as
there are no remarkable Pucks at least in film adaptations performed by
women in the 20th and 21st centuries.
14Puck evolves from the wild woman to the wild child in Reinhardts
productions, as the performance of the fifteen-year-old Mickey Rooney in the
1935 film shows. Although the actor is a child, a teenager to be more
precise, his behaviour and even his voice suggest that this Puck is a
creature of a non-human kind, an untamed sprite of the forest inspired by
the myth of the wild child. Rooneys character is part of the natural world
where he lives, but his behaviour marks him as an uncanny, mischievous
creature that lacks the innocence of a child. Some of the most remarkable
features of this character are his sonorous laughter and his ability to
transform himself into different animals. He enjoys seeing the consequences
of his own mistake when he confounds Lysander with Demetrius, and laughs
at the lovers ridiculous suffering at the end of the second scene of act 2.
This treatment of Puck enhances the comedy of A Midsummer Nights

Dream in a dark sort of way, as the character mocks, echoes and teases the
young lovers more than ever before, much to the viewers delight.
15 Rooney is not the only child actor in the film, as Titanias fairies
Peaseblossom, Cobweb and Mustardseed are also played by children who
are even younger than him. Although they may seem cute baby-looking
characters, their magic strength marks them as the supernatural creatures
that serve the Queen of the Fairies. The rest of Titanias train is composed of
the fairies, performed by ethereal ballerinas dressed in white pertaining to
the 19th-century tradition, and some elves from German folklore that are
also part of the fantasy universe that Reinhardt wants to offer his audiences.
It is worth mentioning that the ugliness of the elves contrasts with the
stylized representation of the fairies who are the incarnation of romantic
beauty. However, the elves repulsive appearance is neutralized thanks to
their ability to play the music that is heard in some scenes. The portrait of
the elves as musicians in a string orchestra helps to include them in the
fairies universe of beauty, although their physical ugliness also introduces
some hints of unsettlingstrangeness.
16Productions of A Midsummer Nights Dream in the second half of the
20th century and in the 21st century have increasingly enhanced the
sexuality of the play, as is the case of the film directed by Peter Hall in 1968
with a semi-nude Judi Dench as Titania, or A Midsummer Nights Rave
directed by Gil Cates Jr in 2002, set in the sexual ambience of a rave instead
of the original forest. In contrast, Reinhardts exploration of the characters
sexuality may seem quite naive for a modern audience. The most sexually
and explicitly erotic scene is, as mentioned before, the abduction of the
fairy. Apart from that, sexuality is used for comic purposes in the film, as in
the second scene of act 2, when Hermia begs Lysander not to lie next to her
and then grumbles about his uncomfortable bed far from his ladys bosom,
instead of simply accepting his ladys wish, as a romantic gentleman would
have done.
17Referring to the 1905 performance starring Gertrud Eysoldt Peter W. Marx
concludes that The lavish production celebrated infatuation, eroticism and
desire, beyond all social or moral considerations21. However, this
celebration of infatuation, eroticism and desire is barely distinguishable
in the 1935 film, above all from our modern perspective. In fact, the
relationship between the lovers in Reinhardts film is dictated by chastity
and socially accepted love even when they are on their own in the forest. In
addition, Titanias infatuation with Bottom turns into a mother-son
relationship as she sings and cuddles him until he falls asleep. As Russell
Jackson comments, Bottom has taken the place of the Indian Boy , as his
relationship with Titania is clearly chaste22 .
18The Puck interpreted in 1905 as a wild woman may have been a fully
eroticised character because of her costumes (furs and branches) and her
mischievous behaviour, and also because of the actress herself, who had
previously performed the erotic stage woman par excllence in Oscar Wilde
s Salome at Max Reinhardts Little Theatre in Berlin in November 1902. As
Peter W. Marx indicates, the choice of Eysoldt as Puck was interpreted by
some critics as a new reading of the play, a much more erotic and sensual
one23. The question now is whether or not this reading applies when Puck is
performed by a teenage boy. Obviously, the lavishness of the wild woman is

lost and Puck is devoid of the eroticism which may have been pervasive
when performed by Eysoldt. On the other hand, the parts comicality is
exploited further by Rooney as Puck and, in addition, his mischief is more
socially acceptable as he is a young boy and, therefore, more suitable for a
Hollywood audience.
19On the other hand, there is something of the 19 th-century reading of A
Midsummer Nights Dream that Reinhardt preserves: the music.
Mendelssohns score is used in all his productions, transforming them into
total works of art , to quote Wagners much-used phrase, where music,
dance and fantasy are brought together. Apart from Mendelssohns A
Midsummer Nights Dream, excerpts from other pieces by this composer
(e.g. the Symphony No. 3 Scottish, the Song without Words, or the
Symphony No. 4 Italian) were introduced in the film. Reinhardts use of
Mendelssohns music can be considered a strategy to make a claim about
the mythical status of his own productions, as Mendelssohns music gives a
veneer of respectability to Reinhardts fantasy world. Moreover,
Mendelssohns music was proscribed in Germany when the film was
released in 1935, transforming this choice in not only aesthetic but also
political terms. The film proves that, thanks to his extensive experience with
the play, Reinhardt is able to achieve his purpose of creating his own
fantasy universe, borrowing the 19 th-century tradition of having full
companies of fairies dancing ballet all through the performance. The
equivalence between fantasy and the ballet world, a commonplace in
19th-century performances, seems to prevail here. Thirty-five years had to
elapse before Peter Brook created his own forest with acrobats in 1970
under the assumption that modern audiences do not have the necessary
symbols to conjure up a fantasy world.
20The question why Reinhardts theatre productions of A Midsummer
Nights Dream were more successful there were 500 performances of the
1905 play, a record for a classical play at the time than the film which was
a box-office failure when it was launched is still to be solved. However, it
surely contributed to Warner Bros prestige as a film company, as they had
only produced gangster movies and soap comedies when they decided to
upgrade their reputation by turning to Shakespeare. What is more,
Reinhardts life experience with the play contributed to the creation of a new
vision of A Midsummer Nights Dream that was more suitable for a
20th-century audience. In Reinhardts hands, the Puck role turned wild, as he
introduced the evolution from fairy-like ballerina to the mischievous Puck ;
dark hints were added to the play in general and to the character of Oberon
in particular ; the comicality was exploited to the extreme and the fantasy
world gained even more importance than before. His film, which can be
defined as hovering between the 19th-century ballet tradition and the film
adaptations that were yet to come, paved the way for the new visions of A
Midsummer Nights Dream in the 20th and 21st centuries.