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28.
"Ultra-Man"
The transition from
Bottom's exit to Puck's entry seems to evoke Hippolyta's "I
never heard So musical a discord, such sweet thunder" (lines
4.1.116-7) in its jarring aural and visual juxtapositions.
Bottom is paraded
by the fairies clockwise round the circle to Titania's
bower. An accordion plays wistful Felliniesque music despite
Titania's instruction to bring Bottom "silently". Another
contrast is Bottom's odd floating, prancing step - as in a
dance - each arm supported by sedately solemn
fairies.
In contrast to
Bottom's oddly graceful exit, Puck's entrance is an
awkwardly irritating series of childish bounds to
centrestage. He circles Oberon counterclockwise, in the
opposite direction to Bottom, and plays a recorder off-key
(the tune to "Ultra-Man", a popular children's TV program of
the 60s).
In the Bar version
(Bar 32.
Bottom to bower), Puck the barman is as drunk as a skunk,
and more overtly offensive as a result.
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