Tytania (also spelled as Titania) first appears by this name in William Shakespeare's celebrated play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, as the haughty Queen of “boggarts, trolls and nixies” (the Fair Folk, who are often everything but fair). In the play, the Queen falls victim to an elaborate prank including an offended husband, a love potion, and a Puck, and ends up head over heels with a donkey-headed amateur actor. Shenanigans ensue.

Yet the Tytania that I chose to portray is a non-comical, way more formidable version of the character. She appears as the whimsical Queen of Faerie in Neil Gaiman’s episode of “The Sandman” also called “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (the very first comic book issue ever to receive literary awards), drawn by Charles Vess. In Gaiman’s story, Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, gave William Shakespeare the gift of inexhaustible storytelling, in return for writing two plays dedicated to dreams. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is Shakespeare’s first installment in keeping his part of the deal, and Morpheus arranges for a most special opening: the play will have its premiere in the presence of Queen Tytania herself, her husband King Auberon, and their entire Faerie court.

Gaiman’s take on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a melancholic tale of Shakespeare’s writing and Elizabethan theater, of the power of dreams and storytelling, and of mythical creatures leaving this world forever, driven out by mankind’s unstoppable progress. But first and foremost, it is a story about Shakespeare’s dysfunctional relationship with his son Hamnet, tragically passed away at the age of 11, in whose death Queen Tytania may or may not have had a hand.

And I’ve always felt more comfortable in the skin of dark queens than fairy princesses.


Credits:

Yours truly as Tytania
Vladimir Matić-Kurylev as Auberon (sort of, but not exactly Auberon - it's complicated)
Most of the costume came straight from my closet
Feather collars and ears by Vladimir Matić-Kurylev
Makeup by Ljubica Mirković
Photos by Ivana Aleksić


We wore these costumes at the KST’s annual New Year’s Costume Ball. The party was pretty horrible, but at least the pics made it all worthwhile.