Abstract

Quince: Bless thee, Bottom, bless thee! Thou art translated.Yet it can happen suddenly, unexpectedly, and most frequently in the half-light-of-glimpses, that we catch sight of another visible order which intersects with ours and has nothing to do with it.This article is a reflection on the process of transformation: whether that be a change of the physical kind undergone by Bottom through the acquisition of a donkey’s head or the inner alteration wrought by a moment of heightened perception of the type recorded by John Berger. I have structured it around four questions: What is transformation? What needs transformation? Who needs to be transformed? How does drama/theatre contribute to transformation? I also...