# A Midsummer Night's Dream



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

This is my favorite play/book of all time. It's so lovely and fun, Shakespeare was a beautiful man. It might be the best comedy ever penned!


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I was fortunate enough to see Peter Brook's legendary production when it toured the US in the early 70s. I may be viewing it through rose tinted glasses, but I recall it as the greatest theatergoing experience I've ever had. Unfortunately virtually none of it exists on video.

The play also served as the basis for two great ballets. And at least one opera (but I am unfamiliar with that).


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

jegreenwood said:


> View attachment 157202
> 
> 
> I was fortunate enough to see Peter Brook's legendary production when it toured the US in the early 70s. I may be viewing it through rose tinted glasses, but I recall it as the greatest theatergoing experience I've ever had. Unfortunately virtually none of it exists on video.
> ...


My only experience with theater is seeing a production of Dracula in high school, but not through school. I've also seen Phantom of the Opera, but that's broadway. I'd love to see this live!


----------



## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

Other than being an extremely entertaining text I think it is also very intriguing especially in regard to gender studies. All the tomfoolery and kerfuffle conceal the provocative statements intricately embroidered by the Bard.

Amongst its musical adaptations I like Schnittke`s _(K)ein Sommernachtstraum_ the most. Schnittke`s witticisms generally remind me of Shakespeare and this work is accordingly very fun in a Shakespearean fashion.


----------



## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Captainnumber36 said:


> This is my favorite play/book of all time. It's so lovely and fun, Shakespeare was a beautiful man. It might be the best comedy ever penned!


You might enjoy Henry Purcell's 1692 opera, *The Fairy-Queen*, which was based on the Shakespeare play.

There's also *Felix Mendelssohn*'s orchestral overture, composed in 1826. He subsequently wrote incidental music for a theatrical version.

And . . . in 1962 *George Balanchine* premiered HIS version in New York City, staged as a ballet, and titled simply *A Midsummer Night's Dream*


----------



## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

I saw a wonderful production years ago, but instead of taking place in Athens, Greece, it took place in Athens, Nevada.

Very clever, with the soldiers in Union uniforms, and the spirits being all native American. The "actors" became prospectors.


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

pianozach said:


> You might enjoy Henry Purcell's 1692 opera, *The Fairy-Queen*, which was based on the Shakespeare play.
> 
> There's also *Felix Mendelssohn*'s orchestral overture, composed in 1826. He subsequently wrote incidental music for a theatrical version.
> 
> And . . . in 1962 *George Balanchine* premiered HIS version in New York City, staged as a ballet, and titled simply *A Midsummer Night's Dream*


Frederick Ashton also has a ballet version called _The Dream_. Both ballets are set to music by Mendelssohn. There's also a Britten opera.

And of course there are several film versions. This one features Diana Rigg and a very young Helen Mirren as Helena and Hermia. (I guess you need to follow the link.)


----------



## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Perhaps the finest Shakesperean non-tragedy IMO (though _Measure for Measure_ and the three late "romances" come close), an ethereal farce that takes a fearless plunge into the nature of art, beauty, love, and imagination and uses some of the most exquisite language ever written in English. The fact that it was written so early in the playwright's career is astounding. Britten's operatic adaptation captures its spirit perfectly.


----------



## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

I echo Allegro here. Britten perfectly captures the spirit of Shakespeare in his opera. A marriage made in heaven for me.


----------



## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Coincidently, I have just finished reading Midsummer Night's Dream. I read the play last weekend, from this edition:









I have now read three Shakespeare plays this year: Hamlet, Othello, and Midsummer Night's Dream. In high school, I was completely baffled by Shakespeare. But now in my 50s, Shakespeare is easier to read, although still not easy. I don't get every reference, I don't understand everything said. So to further my understanding, I got from my local library this book:









This book has the original text on the left side and a "translated" updated into very modern English on the right. I read this book this week as well. It's very simple to follow the story in this updated version.

And I watched a film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, a 1982 BBC Production, available on Britbox. Helen Mirren plays Titania, Nigel Davenport plays Theseus. It was very enjoyable, though the setting was a bit weird, it wasn't set in ancient Athens, but the Renaissance. The outdoor scenes were generic, could be anywhere at any time.

Another coincidence that occurred is when I stopped the film halfway. By then I had had enough Shakespeare for one day and switched on an episode of New Tricks, a BBC crime show also on Britbox. The character who played Puck in 1982 as a young man, was a guest character in New Tricks more than 25 years later. Phil Daniels. There are hundreds and hundreds of British actors who pop up in hundreds of productions. To see the same guy separated by more than 25 years was quite a coincidence, I thought. (I finished watching the play the next night)

I enjoyed the play, it is quite endearing and fun; a good play for high school students. At the school at which I teach, they keep trotting out Romeo and Juliet year after year, decade after decade. These students come away thinking Shakespeare is all about tragedy and death. Midsummer is funny, though I didn't laugh out loud at any point; Monty Python, Seinfeld, and The Simpsons are all funnier in my opinion.

And according to the television series The Crown, Prince Charles met Diana while Diana was preparing to play a part in A Midsummer Night's Dream. However, this is fictionalized.


----------



## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Interesting.

I do love me some *Shakespeare*, and I'll often find myself the only one in the audience chuckling at the script. The vocabulary is obscure to most folks, and the references even more so.

I would have thought that an annotated version (rather than a translation to modern English) would be more useful, but I guess . . . baby steps. It's easier to enjoy a foreign film with subtitles than to learn the language. So . . . whatever works.


----------

