The Bottom Line: although it seems dry when you first read it silently, try to act it out, because it is not an actor's solemn duty to perform this play. it's fun!
I reviewed A Midsummer Nights’ Dream because I recently performed this play to an audience, and found it to be a pleasurable experience. Furthermore, I was very much in love with the idea of this play. It is the first (and perhaps the last) multifaceted play I have seen, in which a few different situations were combined to tie in to one another. In the first troubling scene, a young Athenian girl by the name of Hermia is being forced into a lose-lose-lose situation – either she must marry Demitrius, a man she hates (but her friend, Helena, dotes over), become a nun, or die. Her father, Egeus, is convinced that Demitrius is a well-to-do man, and Hermia’s boyfriend, Lysander, is not. She must decide what she will do in three days, but, the night that she is reported with this news, she runs off with Lysander, with Demitrius and Helena in close pursuit (Helena tried to play 007 and rat out Hermia, thinking it would make Demitrius like her, but it didn’t work.) in the second scene, you meet a gang of country bumpkins, rude mechanicals, who are putting on a play for the duke, Theseus, on his wedding day, and are now rehearsing. Nick Bottom, a weaver, wants every part in the play and the rest of the cast doesn’t want to perform at all. It’s all up to Peter Quince, the bellows-mender, and the playwright of this production, to keep it all together. In the third scene, you meet the king of Fairies, Oberon, his right-hand man, Puck, and The fairy Queen, Tatiana. Oberon and Tatiana are in a terrible custody battle, over who will keep a fairy changeling. Tatiana won’t compromise, and walks away, ticked. To get back at Tatiana, Oberon makes Puck go get him a flower whose nectar, when spread on the eyelids of a sleeping person, will make the sleeper fall madly in love with the next thing it sees. But while Puck is away getting the flower, Oberon witnesses a fight between Helena and Demitrius, and takes pity on Helena, so on pucks return, Oberon gives Puck part of the flower, and sends him off into the woods to put the love nectar on the eyes of Demitrius, when the next thing he sees is to be Helena. But unbeknown to Oberon, there are two Athenian men in the woods, and two Athenian ladies, Demitrius, Helena, Lysander, and Hermia. When Puck finds Lysander and Hermia, he believes them to Demitrius and Helena. He spreads the nectar onto Lysanders’ eyes, and then, walks away, pleased with himself. Later, Helena finds him, and now he is in love with Helena! So I won’t give away the ending, you might want to read this!
The textbook, Midsummer Night's Dream : Texts and Contexts, by William Shakespeare, Gail K. Paster and Skiles Howard, available in Paperback. Publi...More at Textbooks.com
A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's best early works: an airy, romantic romp in the woods among bumbling rustics, temporarily star-cross...More at Audible.com
Free standard shipping on orders above $199. The Applause Shakespeare Library. Applause Books. With Softcover. 5.2x7.7 inches. 142 pages. Published b...More at ActiveMusician
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.