Abstract

A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Max Reinhardt has been revered as one of the most innovated productions in using fantastic and spectacular mise en scene and stage settings, countered to naturalistic theatre movement. Although the practice of Max Reinhardt was regarded as eclectic one, his concept and imagination for a new type of theatrical activity are remained less well known. Investigating many critical essays in those days and production notes written by Max Reinhardt, this paper would mainly focus on theatrical effects of the production in order to clear some aspects of his ideas. The forest, centered stage setting on revolving stage, was not designed as just stage setting but a kind of living things, basically challenged the separated relationship between stage setting and performance. And the revolving stage functioned not only to change the scene easily and speedy but to inspire the continuity of the forest. This effect brought a sense of sight from all of directions and three-dimensional sensation. All these effects, described through details of the production, contributed to a birth of not only a new type of theatre, but a new type of theatrical activity with audience