Bottom is a weaver wearing simple, plant dyed and homespun clothes of his own craft. As Bottom dozes in the forest, Oberon, the Fairy King places an ass’s head mask on him. Bottom awakes and rises up, not conscious of what Oberon has done to him, and moves towards the bower where the Fairy Queen, Titania is sleeping. She is under a reality changing spell from flower love-juice that was squeezed into her eyes by Oberon with these puckish words, ‘What thou seest when thou dost wake, Do it for thy true-love take.' As she opens her eyes, the enamored Titania says to the foolish Bottom, 'Ah! what angel is that I see? Are you as wise as you are beautiful? I am a spirit of no common rate. I love you. Go with me, and I will give you fairies to attend upon you.'

Palace Scene Interior-Exterior: The inspiration for this piece of ‘wheeled on’ scenery - seen here in two dimensional form using collage, paint and oil pastels - is gathered from studying depictions of architecture in Mughal miniatures and paintings from the 16th to the 18th century and Rajput paintings of the 16th to the early19th century. Many of the paintings of this fascinating period of Indian history show intricately detailed interiors and exteriors wherein and whereat court life played its roles. They include temples or bowers of retreat for lovers and their tryst, or places of privacy for conspirators to plot their intrigues. Moving this piece around for different scenes in Midsummer Night’s Dream, and changing the lighting from cool to hot colours, supports the transformation of a viewer’s’ understanding of the gamut of tensions taking place between the characters of the play at different times of the day or night.

Original: Paper and textile collage with graphite pencil, powder paint, French enamel varnish, oil and Conté pastel on sugar paper layered on cartridge paper

The Royal Palace, encircled by the city that serves its needs and functions, forms the primary backdrop scenery for the whole of the play. Lighting changes the atmosphere of the action in, and around the Palace, and the time of day or night it occurs. Certain gauzes dropped down from the flies, combined with the lighting, create illusions of heat mists, and temperature intensity or waning, as the moon rises with its further atmospheric lighting. Other lighting schedules with their gauzes and scenery flown in begin to obscure the Palace backdrop. And then we are no longer aware of the city and its palace as we enter into the magic of the forest in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. On the outskirts of the city and below the Palace is an area of dry tolerating scrub that surprisingly edges interlocking shallow pools with water lily pads growing thickly in this shady spot that separates city and palace from the enchanted forest. It is to this little visited locale, to which the ‘Rustics’ or ‘Mechanicals gravitate after work to rehearse their theatrical piece that they will present at the Palace celebrations. Palace Scene 2 depicted here could be the dawn of the day and the prospect of sultry heat, or sunset with the welcome of approaching coolness on the eve of the longest day of the year.