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I’m doing this partly to show everyone what starting a topic for a character would be like—But I also have fondness for the old coot.
It always makes me laugh how, in the text, while Egeus first greets Theseus formally with “Happy be to Theseus,” the second Theseus gives him the chance to speak his mind, he’s off on a rant about his daughter (1.1.21). The contrast between Egeus’ well-wishes and his long-winded (and repetitive) complaint is stark and I think reveals both how consumed with this marriage issue Egeus is and how insensitive Egeus is to others.
Maybe I can’t expect much of someone who wants to kill his daughter, but it does interest me that I’m always drawn to laugh at his anger rather than be afraid of it. I wonder if Egeus has be funny: If we thought Egeus wasn’t being too harsh, we’d never root for poor Hermia and Lysander.
In the Bennett version, Egeus isn’t the sputtering old man I imagine, but Theseus reacts to Egeus’ hollow-sounding “Happy be…” line wearily, as if Egeus is just this sort of complainer. That seems consistent with my reading. In the Domgoole version, the line is cut entirely and Egeus is played as a much stronger, more forceful man, kicking the boys down the hall towards Theseus. Maybe in that version the greeting would have seemed absurd?
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Egeus is a citizen of Athens, as well as the father of Hermia. He visits the Duke Theseus about a complaint against his daughter. He is concerned that hermia is deliberately disobeying his orders because she falling in love with Lysander. I chose to analyze this character because of how different he becomes with each version of the play.. In Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Egeus is portrayed as a father who has lost his grip on his daughter. He expresses this when explaining how her love made her stubborn “turned her obedience ( which is due to me) to stuborrn harshness” to the Duke (1.1.38-40). In return he hopes that infront of Theseus she will bend.
In Sacha Bennett’s 2018 rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the setting takes place in a 21st century version of Athens. Egeus’s character is dressed in a suit and his first scene shows him in an office with his name on posters covering the walls. Egeus is pictured as a wealthy and successful man. He gives off the aura of a business man, so when he states his claim as to why Demetrius should wed Hermia it sounds like he’s more invested in the bussinues advantages her gain from the union. He has both men introduce themselves and state their claim.
As for the Dromgoole version, it exaggerates Egeus’s actions so that the audience and better perceive the characters emotions. For example, when he is introducing Lysander to Theseus he aggressively grabs him forward onto the stage while yelling out to the audience the situation at hand. I found this to be a drastic difference compared to Bennett’s version of Egeus. Also the play taking place at the globe would affect the actor’s performance. Having to exaggerate his or hers actions and movements to portray the characters emotions and deliver it for such a large audience to see and comprehend.
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