Hello everyone, do you remember the play we saw Wednesday? Did you like it? I'm sure most of you ...
Hello everyone, do you remember the play we saw Wednesday? Did you like it?
I'm sure most of you would like to know more about it. It was a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's best loved comedy, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. It's a tale of love, jealousy, magic and dreams - using appropriate language, music, comedy and of course plenty of audience participation- as you can see in the picture above.
SYNOPSIS of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Theseus, Duke of
Athens, is planning to marry Queen Hippolyta in four days time.
Egeus, an Athenian
nobleman, marches into Theseus‟s court with his
daughter, Hermia, and two young men, Demetrius and Lysander.
Egeus wishes Hermia to
marry Demetrius (who loves Hermia), but Hermia is in love with Lysander and
refuses. Egeus asks for the full penalty of law if Hermia refuses her fathers
wishes. This could mean death.
Hermia and Lysander
plan to escape Athens the following night and marry in another city.
Hermia also tells her
best friend, Helena, who was once engaged to Demetrius and still loves him even
though he left her after meeting Hermia.
Hoping to regain his
love, Helena tells Demetrius of the plan that Hermia and Lysander have planned.
Demetrius enters the woods after his intended bride and her lover; Helena
follows behind him.
In these same woods are
two very different groups of characters. The first is a band of fairies,
including Oberon, the fairy king, and Titania, his queen.
The second is a band of
Athenian craftsmen rehearsing a play that they hope to perform for the duke and
his bride.
King Oberon is jealous
of the affection his queen gives to a young, orphan boy and wants to seek
revenge.
Oberon sends his merry
servant, Puck, to acquire a magical flower, the juice of which can be spread
over a sleeping person‟s eyelids to make
that person fall in love with the first thing he or she sees upon waking.
Puck obtains the
flower, and Oberon tells him of his plan to spread its juice on the sleeping
Titania‟s eyelids.
Having seen Demetrius
act cruelly toward Helena, he orders Puck to spread some of the juice on the
eyelids into his eyes.
However, Puck meets
Lysander and Hermia first; thinking that Lysander is Demetrius of whom Oberon
spoke; Puck gives him the love potion.
Lysander happens to see
Helena upon awaking and falls deeply in love with her, abandoning Hermia.
As the night progresses
and Puck attempts to undo his mistake, both Lysander and Demetrius end up in
love with Helena, who believes
that they are mocking her.
Hermia becomes so
jealous that she tries to challenge Helena to a fight. Demetrius and Lysander
nearly do fight over Helena‟s love, but Puck
confuses them by
mimicking their voices, leading them apart until they are lost separately in
the forest.
Meanwhile, When Titania
wakes, the first creature she sees is Bottom, the most ridiculous of the
craftsmen, whose head Puck has mockingly
transformed into that
of a donkey.
Queen Titania ensures
her fairy servants meet every need of Bottom. Treating him like a king.
Once King Oberon
reaches the orphan boy, he orders Puck to put right his spell. Puck squeezes
another juice into Titania‟s eyes and she
falls back in love with Oberon.
King Oberon also orders
Puck to squeeze the juice of the flower into Lysander‟s
eyes, and Lysander falls back in love with Hermia.
Demetrius now loves
Helena, and Lysander now loves Hermia. They all return to Athens for their
wedding.
After the group
wedding, the lovers watch Bottom and his fellow craftsmen perform their play.
When the play is
completed, the lovers go to bed; the fairies briefly emerge to bless the
sleeping couples with a protective charm and then disappear.
How much have you undrestood about it? You will find out answering this exercise. Good luck!
Multiple Choice (circle the correct
answer)
1) What city does
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" take place in, or directly outside of ?
Venice / Athens / Verona / London/ Florence
2) Who is the Duke of
Athens ?
Oberon / Egeus / Puck / Theseus
3) Whom does Lysander
love ?
Helena / Titania / Hermia / Hippolyta
4) Who does Demetrius
love before Puck interferes ?
Titania / Helena / Hippolyta / Hermia
5) Who is King of the
Fairies ?
Oberon / Theseus / Egeus / Bottom
6) Who is Queen of the
Fairies?
Hippolyta / Helena / Hermia / Titania
7) Who is messenger of
the fairies?
Bottom / Snout / Moth / Puck
8) Who does Titania
fall in love with as the result of a magic potion ?
Oberon / Lysander / Bottom
/ Theseus
9) Who ends up married
at the end of the play?
Lysander & Hermia / Demetrius & Helena/ Theseus
& Hippolyta / All three couples
10) What is the
relationship between Hermia and Helena?
sisters / friends / enemies / cousins
11) Who loves Helena at
the beginning of the play?
Lysander/ No one / Demetrius / Theseus
12) Demetrius is
eventually manipulated into marrying Helena? - True or False ?