Quince: You speak all your part at once, cues and all. Pyramus, enter! Your cue is past; it is 'never tire'. Flute: O -- As true as truest horse that yet would never tire. ENTER [PUCK and] BOTTOM WITH THE ASS-HEAD [on]. Bottom: If I were fair, Thisbe, I were only thine . Quince: O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted! Pray, masters! Fly, masters! Help! EXEUNT QUINCE, SNUG, FLUTE, SNOUT, AND STARVELING. Puck: I'll follow you: I'll lead you about a round! Through bog, through bush, through brake, through briar; Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound, A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire; And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn, Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn. EXIT Bottom: Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to make me afeard. ENTER SNOUT. Snout: O Bottom, thou art changed! What do I see on thee? Bottom: What do you see? You see an ass-head of your own, do you? EXIT SNOUT ENTER QUINCE Quince: Bless thee, Bottom, bless thee! Thou art translated. (3.1.95-114)

19. Transformation routines The physical acting in the Mask version is beautifully shown here. Bottom's transformation is the occasion for multiple separate physical 'routines' . One way to appreciate them is to compare the stylised acting of the mechanicals (both individually and in groups) with the studied naturalism of Bottom's acting from the moment that Flute faints on Bottom's entry as Pyramus. One of many examples of the former is the routine for Snout's line ("O Bottom thou art changed..."). Snout appears from the rear entry with exaggerated stiff and stalking steps (perhaps reminiscent of a Kabuki aragoto walk) attached to a conga-line of fellow mechanicals. Puck's acting too, is highly stylised (balletic and mime-like) as he becomes the many images of his speech. To say that these images take on a life of their own is an understatement. As a "hound", Puck seems to urinate into the audience. See also: > School 25. Bottom the Ass > Bar 29. Scared by an Ass