"The inspiration was to try to create as magical a production as we could without resorting to creating a so-called real fake forest on stage, with real fake trees and real fake foliage. So it was to create a visual metaphor for the forest, if you like."

"The dream imagery is extended throughout the design and contrasting colors of green and blue, which we hit on very soon that the forest, nature, everything that grows in terms of plants is green, and the sky is blue ... and we put these colors together and decided they should be the colors of Oberon and Tytania. So Oberon is green, which also serves for his jealousy, and Tytania is blue."

- Robert Carsen, in an interview about A Midsummer Night's Dream

In late January, the set for A Midsummer Night's Dream, with set and costume design by Michael Levine, and lighting design by Robert Carsen and Peter Van Praet, arrived at the Academy of Music.