A Midsummer Night's Dream

" The course of true love never did run smooth."

This is one of Shakespeare's most performed comedies and as such probably one of his best known. Consequently I'm not going to going to say anything about the plot. I personally studied this whilst at school as part of an English Literature course and despite my callow years I remember enjoying. However, I haven't read it since.

Now, far too many decades later, I read Bernard Cornwell's novel 'Fools and Mortals' which centres around a speculative and fictional première of the play. Having really enjoyed reading that book decided to revisit the original. Once again I found it a highly enjoyable read which made me smile and a piece of true genius. ( )

Ho visto svariati anni fa una rappresentazione teatrale di questa opera e devo dire che senza di quella non avrei capito molto di questo libro un po' confusionario...
Sogno di una notte di mezza estate racconta le nozze tra Teseo, duca d’Atene, e Ippolita, regina delle Amazzoni. Per festeggiare l'evento un gruppo di personaggi (artigiani del bosco) prepara una recita. Il tutto sarà complicato dalle liti e dai dispetti di Titania e Oberon, regina e re delle fate, che invece che proteggere le nozze le metteranno in difficoltà.
Tra incomprensioni, errori, scherzi e dispetti si arriva ad un finale un po' deludente e noioso.
Insomma meglio le rappresentazioni teatrali che la lettura in sè.

( )

Beautiful, enchanting. ( )

A Midsummer Night's Fantasy opens with Theseus and Hippolyta arranging their wedding, which happens in four days.

Egeus enters with his girl, Hermia, and her two suitors, Lysander and Demetrius. Hermia is infatuated with Lysander, however her dad needs her to wed Demetrius. He proclaims that if Hermia won't wed Demetrius, she will kick the bucket. Lysander and Hermia choose to run away to Athens. Helena is infatuated with Demeterius. Hermia and Lysander at that point enlighten Helena regarding their arrangement to leave. In a last exertion to pick up Demetrius' affection, Helena chooses to let him know of this plot.

Diminish Quince is guiding a gathering of novice on-screen characters to perform "Pyramus and Thisbe" for Theseus' wedding. Scratch Base, an awful on-screen character, is given the lead job.

Pixie Ruler Titania and Pixie Lord Oberon are contending in light of the fact that Titania will not give Oberon authority of the Indian kid she is raising. Oberon sends Puck, his inconvenience making jokester, out to discover a plant called love-in-inaction, the juice of which makes any individual hover over the following animal the person in question sees.

Having compassion for Helena for the awful way Demetrius is treating her, Oberon teaches Puck to put some adoration squeeze in Demetrius' eyes at a minute when Helena will be the primary individual he sees after waking. Confusing Lysander with the Demetrius Puck puts love squeeze in Lysander's eyes. Still in quest for Demetrius, Helena meanders past and stirs the dozing Lysander; he quickly experiences passionate feelings for her.

At the point when Titania nods off, Oberon crushes the adoration squeeze in her eyes.

Puck, horrified by the horrendous acting of Base, gives him a jackass head. Base is ignorant of the change and strolls through the forested areas, waking Titania who promptly becomes hopelessly enamored with him. Titania enthusiastically discharges the Indian kid to Oberon in light of the fact that she just has eyes for Base. Oberon's arrangement is presently finished so he discharges her from the spell and has Puck expel the jackass head from Base.

Both Lysander and Demetrius are enamored with Helena. Before a genuine battle breaks out among Demetrius and Lysander, Oberon has Puck make a haze that will shield the darlings from discovering each other. While they are resting, Puck switches the spell on Lysander. He additionally does magic so none of the sweethearts will recollect what has occurred in the forested areas. "Ruler, what tricks these humans be!"

In the last scene, the blissful darlings enter, and Theseus chooses the time has come to design the celebrations for the night and sees "Pyramus and Thisbe" performed. The players at last present their amusing play. ( )

If the best way to learn a play is to actually act it out this is the only Shakespeare I have truly learned, despite excellent dramatic readings in AP English of numerous other plays.

In middle school I was in a bad production of A Midsummer Night's dream in the role of a rather awkward Lysander, awkward because I was a 13 year old boy asked to act devoutly in love with a 14 year old girl, doubly awkward because somewhere inside I knew I didn't even like girls. All in all my performance was lackluster.

As we read and rehearsed scenes I grew to love the way the lines sounded when we stopped reading them so stiffly - many of the words we didn't have the slightest idea of but occasionally we got it right. And even the most cynical of us involved, there were 20 of us total required to participate in the production, were moved.

One of the few who got it right was our Titania, a girl my age overly fond of horses. The director at last moment wanted to cut out Titania's monologue following "These are the forgeries of jealousy..." but we fought, a group of teens and preteens, fought to keep it intact. It was the heart of the whole play, the pairs of lovers, the bumbling townsfolk, were window dressing. Without that comparison of Oberon and Titania's love to the raging world the play was nothing.

I've had to read the play several more times in various classes in high school and college and have seen several movie versions, but I can never shake that rendition that we put on.

--addendum: My boyfriend had never read or seen the play before, so we took some time to read it to each other. As I've said, I've read it several times before, but it never truly struck me until now how fluid love is in this play and what Shakespeare wanted us to recognize and think about because of that. Ardent love in the wink of an eye is changed over to another and proclaimed with equal fervor. The previous object of affection, if thought of at all, is scorned. Both funny and sad. Brilliant. ( )