STUDY GUIDE
Prepared for the Adopt-A-School Project
by the Education Departments of
McCarter Theatre and Paper Mill Playhouse
Funding for the Adopt-A-School Project has been made possible through the generosity of:
The Provident Bank Foundation, Fleet Bank NA, Fred J. Brotherton Charitable Foundation,
Schering-Plough Corporation Foundation, SI Bank & Trust Foundation, C.R. Bard Foundation
Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation, PSE&G, Nordstrom,
Target Stores, FirstEnergy Foundation
Additional Funding for Paper Mill’s Education Programs is provided by:
New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner Agency of the National
Endowment for the Arts and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, The
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, PNC Bank Foundation, Shirley Aidekman-Kaye, Kaela
O’Connor, and the Harold Wetterberg Foundation
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
While not every detail of William Shakespeare’s life is known, we do have a great deal
of information about him. The following are some frequently asked questions, with
information provided courtesy of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
When and where was Shakespeare born? According to the church records,
Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, on April 26,
1564. His father, John Shakespeare, was an affluent glove-maker, tanner and wool
dealer, who owned property in Stratford, though he was struck with financial difficulties
around 1576. His mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a prosperous farmer. In the
1500s Stratford was a market town of about 200 households, famous for its fairs and
about two days from London on horseback.
Was Shakespeare married? How many children did he have, and what were their
names? William Shakespeare was married to Anne Hathaway and they had three children; a daughter Susanna, baptized on May 26, 1583, and twins, Judith and Hamnet,
baptized on February 2, 1585. Hamnet contracted black plague and died in 1596.
2005-2006 SEASON
Was Shakespeare famous in his own lifetime? During his lifetime, Shakespeare provoked the envy
and admiration of fellow writers, as we know from their surviving comments in print. The First Folio, an
unprecedented collection of a playwright’s work, is the best illustration of the pre-eminence awarded
to him. The statue erected to his memory in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, by his family
also demonstrates his status as a prosperous man of property as well as a famous poet.
What was Shakespeare’s relationship with Queen Elizabeth? Elizabeth I was an active and generous patron of the theater. She had her own acting company called the “Queen’s Men,” and stood
against the Puritans who wished to close down the theaters. Without her support the Elizabethan theaters would not have survived. In the 1590s court performances by acting companies became popular, and Shakespeare’s company was selected more than any other.
When did Shakespeare die, from what did he die, and where was he buried? Shakespeare’s burial is recorded in Stratford’s parish register as having taken place on April 25, 1616. His monument,
inside Stratford’s parish church, states that he died on April 23. He made a will on March 25, almost
a month before he died, in which he describes himself as ‘in perfect health & memorie, god be
praysed.’ However, this was a conventional phrase and does not necessarily mean that he was not
already experiencing symptoms of an illness which later proved fatal. Moreover, his will of March 25
is, apparently, a re-drafting of one made in the January before, suggesting he may have been ill over
an even longer period. What this illness may have been, however, we just do not know.
SHAKESPEAREAN VERSE
Most of the playwrights in Shakespeare’s time were writing in a metrical form of verse known as iambic
pentameter. In this form, each line consists of five poetic units called “feet,” and each foot is equal to
two syllables. The second syllable of each foot is accented. Sometimes these lines rhyme, as they do
in Puck’s dialogue in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. However, Shakespeare more often used unrhymed
iambic pentameter, known as blank verse. Blank verse closely resembles the natural rhythms of
speech in English, which allows the speaker greater freedom of tone, while still having a specific
emphasis within the line, which would be lacking in prose. A line such as, “But, soft! what light through
yonder window breaks?” from Romeo and Juliet provides an excellent example of the use of iambic
pentameter because it can easily be broken up into its five feet: five stressed and five unstressed syllables, as follows.
But, soft/what light/through yon/der win/dow breaks/
Whether or not a character speaks in iambic pentameter is often attributable to his or her station in life.
People who are of a higher position in the class structure of the play (kings, queens, noblemen and
women) often speak in meter, while the lesser subjects (peasants, farmers, fools) tend to speak in
prose. This, however, is not always the case.
SHAKESPEAREAN COMEDIES
It is helpful to think of Shakespeare’s plays in the categories of comedies, tragedies, histories and
romances. All of the comedies have a set of shared patterns that help define them as comedies. It is
important to remember, though, that these traits or patterns are not necessarily inherently funny; humor
is certainly a part of Shakespearean comedy, but it is not the defining characteristic. At heart, the
Shakespearean comedy is about a conflict between two opposite social groups (i.e. older and younger,
wealthy and poor, or rulers and subjects). The comedies tend to begin in a court in turmoil. Usually,
this turmoil has arisen out of a crisis over marriage – two characters are in love, but the laws of their
society forbid them from marrying. The characters flee or are exiled, and they go from the court to a
greener, less “civilized” world. They often choose (or are forced) to flee to the forest, or to a far-off exotic location. Oftentimes, they are forced to wear disguises. In this new place, far from the court that
constrained them, they meet all sorts of other characters, and various plots intertwine. There are confusions and mistaken identities, but no major characters die. Central to these confusions is a topsyturvy element, in which society is flipped around: servants end up ruling their masters; those who
chased find themselves pursued; words are taken to mean their opposites; and women are mistaken
for men. In this upheaval of social order, the societal structure that once prevented the young lovers
from marrying is transformed, and all the plots are resolved as the younger generation is brought back
and welcomed to the court. The final act often includes a wedding and a celebration. The first strategy in reading a Shakespearean comedy is to find the common elements listed above. No
Shakespeare comedy fits all elements of this formula exactly, but the key points can be found, in some
aspect or another, in each of the plays of this genre. The ways in which they differ from one play to
another ``are often quite interesting, and one might begin analysis by asking what makes the
Shakespearean comedy being analyzed unique, and why Shakespeare might have diverged from his
pattern? Next, it is helpful to ponder what Shakespeare is trying to do with this comedy. Often, the
plots seem to resolve at the end of the fourth act, but Shakespeare often goes on to a fifth, celebratory act; discovering why that fifth act is necessary can often lead to surprising and intriguing conclusions. For instance, by the end of the fourth act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the lovers have been
reunited with the court, but the wedding celebration takes up an enormous fifth act. Why are the rude
mechanicals important to Shakespeare; what does the story they tell have to do with the larger story
of the plot; and are there any more transformations that are necessary before Shakespeare’s tale can
conclude? Also, pay particular attention to the first lines of the play – often Shakespeare will give a
hint as to his prime interest in the first few exchanges. Lastly, don’t forget to pay attention to the humor.
Oftentimes, it is hard to find when mired in footnotes and dictionary definitions; once you understand
a passage, go back and read it aloud, and you’ll often find hidden hilarity and wordplay. Not only will
it make the reading more enjoyable, but you might find some clues to Shakespeare’s meaning, buried
in the buffoonery.
SHAKEPEARE’S THEATRE
In Shakespeare’s time, the professional theater was a booming business and a popular entertainment
for people of all backgrounds, from royalty to illiterate apprentices. Shakespeare wrote plays for a specific company, known first as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and later as the King’s Men. They performed
in the courts of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, as well as in churches and guildhalls in the countryside, but most frequently they performed in their own theaters. From 1599 onward, that theater was
the Globe. An outdoor theater, the Globe stood about 36 feet high and had a diameter of about 84
feet. The inside of the structure contained three tiers of galleries that surrounded an uncovered yard
about 56 feet in diameter. Actors performed on a stage space that thrust into the yard area and had
three sides where audience members could stand to watch the action. There was a roof over the stage
but no curtain, and while there were occasional props or furniture, there was no scenery. Audience
members could pay a penny if they chose to stand in the yard (these people were known as
groundlings); if they chose to sit in one of the side galleries, they had to pay extra. Plays were probably performed without an intermission as we know it, though they may have included a short musical
interlude or a dance. The audience was far more casual and unruly than we would expect, often milling
about, talking with each other and commenting on the action as the play was being performed. It was
not thought proper for women to appear on stage so Elizabethan acting companies did not include
women, and the women’s parts were played by boys or young men. The actors in the company wore
contemporary Elizabethan clothing, no matter in what country or period the play took place—indeed,
actors often wore their own clothes. Although Shakespeare frequently gives his plays different set-
tings, the way his characters speak and act is most similar to the way English people in the 16 and
17th century would have spoken and acted so, for his audience, they were in every sense contemporary plays.
A HISTORY OF A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Of all of Shakespeare’s plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the one which appears to have inspired
the most innovative designs. It was first published in 1600, but by then it had already been “sundry
times publickley acted,” according to the title page of that published script. Shakespeare may have
written the comedy in honor of the wedding of Elizabeth Carey, the granddaughter of Queen
Elizabeth’s Lord Chamberlain, in 1596, but the exact date of the first production is uncertain. No matter its origins, the play has been in almost constant production since that mysterious first performance,
with a wide variety of styles and techniques. In the late 17th century, Thomas Betterton produced
Purcell’s opera The Fairy Queen. Rather than work from Shakespeare’s text, Purcell used a new libretto, which may have been written by Betterton, loosely based on the story of Midsummer. Operatic versions would remain a standard mode for the Midsummer story for the next hundred years, until 1840,
when Madame Vestris, a London-born actress who had moved from Italian operas to comedies and
burlesques and ultimately to managing her own theater, returned to Shakespeare’s text and introduced
Mendelssohn’s famous incidental music. Productions in the latter half of the 19th century featured
troops of children as fairies and women as Puck and Oberon, a tradition begun by Madame Vestris,
who played the part of Oberon in her 1840 production. (Ellen Terry, who later became one of the greatest Shakespearean actresses in history, played Puck when she was 9.) These sumptuous productions
included blankets of flowers, real thickets and other lush, elaborate scenic elements. In the 20th century, Midsummer has been produced in a wide range of styles and forms, from the expressionistic,
romantic production by Max Reinhardt (first at the Hollywood Bowl, then filmed in 1935) to a psychedelic production in the 1960s, directed by Peter Hall and featuring green fairies, go-go boots and
leather mini-skirts. In recent years, perhaps the most influential production is Peter Brook’s 1970
breakthrough, featuring a white box of a set and the fairies on trapeze. Brook’s production is also
important for his introduction of doubling Theseus/Oberon and Hippolyta/Titania. Rather than contrast
a “bouncing Amazon” and a frilly fairy queen, Brook’s idea draws attention to Hippolyta’s silence in the
opening scene and then enables the mortal couple to work out their problems and tensions as Titania
and Oberon. Brook’s production paved the way for many diverse new ways of approaching and exploring one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies.
MUSIC IN SHAKESPEARE
The Paper Mill and McCarter production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is centered around the band
GrooveLily and their music. Although GrooveLily composed all of the music specifically for this production, music is by no means new to Shakespeare or to Midsummer. While Mendelssohn’s 1842
music may be the best known, the history of music in Midsummer goes all the way back to productions
in Shakespeare’s day. Song and dance were integral to theater in the Elizabethan period. Most shows
at public theater houses were ended or immediately followed by a stage jig: a dance and ballad in dialogue form. Most plays also used music between the acts to show the passage of time, to set a mood
for the coming scene, to heighten the tension or emotion of a situation, or to announce the approach
of an important person. Songs were sometimes included as part of the narrative story of a play, and
eventually artists began to use music to create moods or express characters within scenes.
Elizabethan theaters did not have the orchestra pits or band lofts we might think of today – musicians
may have appeared onstage as actors, as the members of GrooveLily do in this production, or may
have been hidden at the side, back, or above the stage. The instruments used varied, but most pro-
ductions were performed with a “broken consort:” an ensemble including a lute, a pandora and cittern
(flat-backed guitar-like instruments), a flute or recorder, and treble and bass viols (a cross between a
viola and a cello).
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM PLOT SUMMARY
The nuptial hour draws near. Theseus, Duke of Athens, is marrying Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons,
amid much pomp and circumstance. In the midst of planning, he is visited by a nobleman, Egeus, who
has his reluctant daughter in tow, along with two young men, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus has chosen Demetrius for his daughter, but despite the love the young man has for her, Hermia refuses to comply with her father’s wishes because she is smitten with Lysander. The Duke declares that Hermia must
obey her father, or else she will face either death or the chaste life of a nun. Hermia will not be convinced, and instead decides to run away into the woods with Lysander. She makes the mistake of
telling her friend Helena, who is in love with Demetrius. Figuring he will finally see that Hermia does
not love him, Helena tells Demetrius of the pair’s plans to flee. Demetrius takes off in pursuit of the runaway couple. Meanwhile, another lovers’ quarrel is heating up in the aforementioned woods. The King
of the Fairies, Oberon, is angry with his Queen, Titania, over her refusal to relinquish a young
changeling boy to him. In an attempt to teach her a lesson, he enlists the help of his servant Puck, an
impish sprite. Oberon sends him to find a magical flower. Its juice, when squeezed into the eyes of
someone sleeping, will cause the victim to fall in love with whomever or whatever he or she first sees
upon awakening. Oberon is hoping Titania will fall for some strange beast when he puts her under the
spell of the bloom’s juice. As Puck searches, Oberon witnesses Demetrius abusing the love-sick
Helena as she pursues him through the forest. Feeling sorry for Helena, when his sprightly servant
returns, Oberon orders him to use some of the flower’s juice on a young man, dressed in “Athenian
garments,” unaware of the fact that Lysander is also roaming through the woods, fitting that description. In another part of the woods, Lysander and Hermia are ready to retire for the evening. When
Puck happens upon the slumbering couple, he believes Lysander to be the Athenian gentleman of
whom Oberon spoke, and Puck puts him under the flower’s spell. Not long after, Helena wanders into
this same clearing, and fearing the sleeping Lysander dead, shakes him awake. The potion’s effects
are immediate, and the love-struck Lysander leaves his Hermia to follow the new object of his affection, Helena, who flees from him, thinking she is being cruelly teased. Meanwhile, a group of tradesmen, or mechanicals, are rehearsing, very poorly, a play for the entertainment of Theseus’s wedding.
Chief among them is Nick Bottom, a pompous amateur enacting the tragic hero, Pyramus. Puck happens upon their theatrical escapades, and decides to have a bit of fun with the actor, turning his head
into that of an ass. Frightened by his monstrous appearance, the other members of the company run
off.Titania, who had been napping nearby, awakens and declares her love for Bottom the ass, charging her fairies to pamper him. The young lovers are still enmeshed in strife. Demetrius follows the
lovelorn Hermia as she searches for her Lysander. She blames Demetrius for his disappearance, and
as the two bicker, Oberon and Puck watch. It becomes clear to the Fairy King that his servant has
made a sizeable mistake. Wanting to set things right, he sends Puck off to locate the other pair, while
he takes care of putting Demetrius under the flower’s spell. Having now been successfully drugged into
falling for Helena, he fights for her with Lysander, leaving the women hurt and confused. Helena is certain she is being teased, Hermia convinced she has been betrayed. As they storm off, Oberon orders
Puck to set things right, and sends him off to administer the antidote. Elsewhere in the woods, Titania
is still infatuated with Bottom. Oberon, seeing his handiwork, is both pleased with himself and surprisingly moved to pity, and after he wins the changeling boy back, he cures her unnatural obsession,
which she believes to have been a dream. Bottom, whose head is no longer that of a donkey, also
thinks his experience was a “most rare vision,” and he returns to his fellow actors to resume rehearsals.
While out hunting the next morning, Egeus, Theseus and Hippolyta discover the four young lovers
asleep on the ground together. Shocked but delighted that all is now in order, they now plan a triple
wedding. They return to Athens and serve as audience for the play within the play, a ridiculous rendition of Pyramus and Thisby by Bottom and company.
INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR TINA LANDAU
What draws you to A Midsummer Night’s Dream at this point in time?
I think the world needs more fairies. I’m serious. A critic named Keith Sagar wrote, “A Midsummer
Night’s Dream is Shakespeare’s attempt to reclaim the world of fairy as necessary to human health
and wholeness.” I agree with that – and all it really means. It’s about what fairies represent in our psyches, our imaginations, our culture. We need fairies – an ability to see beyond what is most obvious –
to peer into realities that might be bigger than us and our own little egos, more complex, more fantastical. We need fairies just as we need lovers and madmen because, as the Bard himself wrote, “Lovers
and madmen have such seething brains/ Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend/ More than cool reason ever comprehends.” What draws me to Midsummer is its expanded vision of all that reality entails
beyond “cool reason” – it’s a broad and inclusive and creative and loving way of looking at the world
that includes royals and workers and, yes, fairies.
You’ve recently published a book on an acting methodology called “Viewpoints.” Can you talk
a little about what Viewpoints is and how you plan to use it in rehearsals for A Midsummer
Night’s Dream?
Viewpoints is a physical training technique that I’ve been working with – gosh, it’s going on 18 years
now! It’s a way of thinking about time and space – quite literally, “points of view” or awareness – that
you can have while creating events and images on stage. I use Viewpoints as training in the early parts
of rehearsal, simply to get the cast working together as an ensemble and creating a world that’s shared
consistently and deeply by all of them. I also use Viewpoints as we’re actually creating movement that
will end up in the production – the choreography or blocking, if you will. Instead of my functioning in a
dictatorial mode, telling the actors where they will go and what they will do, I use Viewpoints as a basis
for expanding their own ability to self-generate the movement, everything from simple crosses to highly ornate choreography.
You’re a theatrical multi-tasker, with experience as both a writer and director. Has writing influenced your process as a director?
Oh, completely. It’s funny, I find the edges very blurred these days, and increasingly so all the time. I
think of, and experience, directing as a kind of writing. Except instead of using words and punctuation
to create meaning I am using time and space – bodies, light, color, timing, etc. I’m engaged in the same
ultimate task of telling stories, creating characters, events, and so on, only I am doing it through such
things as how slowly a light fades or how the color in one person’s clothing contrasts with another’s. I
am writing three-dimensionally.
This production uses the music of a band called GrooveLily. In what ways has this collaboration influenced your process so far?
They’ve influenced my process completely thus far, in terms of even my most basic approach to the
play. Knowing that they were a given, I began to read the play from their point of view and to conceive
of the play as their dream. They’ve become, in framing the evening and in creating the design, the
dreamers of the play. And because it’s GrooveLily’s dream, everything issues forth from their music.
As if Puck is actually being conjured by and rising up out of Val’s electric violin, for example. For me
the play is so much about the power of the imagination – our ability to conjure, dream, invent, project
– and how we use, or abuse, these creative powers in difference cases. In this case, for instance,
GrooveLily is imagining through their music. They are on a basically empty stage, with nothing but their
instruments, and out of this nothing, a whole universe is invoked. That’s the power of imagination, of
music and of theater too.
What would you like the audience to walk away with after seeing this production?
Joy. A renewed sense of magic. A desire to look under a bush for a fairy. A look up at the night sky,
and somehow seeing it anew. Noticing the moon tonight or tomorrow or next week. A GrooveLily tune
in their heads. One image that lasts ’til next year. Or even better, one that appears in one of their
dreams. A desire to come back to the theater again because it’s live. Maybe a thought about how
screwed up the weather is and how we better do something about it.
AN INTERVIEW WITH GROOVELILY
How much music is being inserted into the text of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM?
Lots! There will be a great deal of music as underscoring to accompany dialogue, in addition to actual songs.
How were decisions made regarding where music is being inserted?
This has been mostly Tina’s call so far, with some input from us. Some parts of the play clearly lend
themselves to having music (such as the spells, lullabies, and dances), and others we’re trying and
seeing what works (such as certain spots where full original songs might go, like at the top of Act 2! so
as not to disrupt the flow of the action...and the “play within a play” of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” which
we’re envisioning as a rock opera).
How were decisions made regarding which characters would sing or perform music?
Again, this is mostly up to Tina, with some input from us. She felt immediately that the fairy world would
be wildly musical so we were fairly sure that the actors cast as Oberon, Puck and Titania would have
to be singers as well. We also decided that the world of Theseus’ court would be very staid and NONmusical.
How would you describe the music that you’ve created for the production?
Well, the three of us in GrooveLily come from very different backgrounds: Valerie from classical music,
Brendan from rock and musical theater, and Gene from jazz...so you’ll notice those elements in what
we do. And for this project, it’s kind of like GrooveLily meets Peter Gabriel, Winger and Tom Waits.
How will the music enhance the dramatic or comedic moments of the text?
Just as in film the underscoring of certain parts serves to heighten the emotional content of what’s
occurring...and sometimes when the characters break into song, the mere fact that they’re unexpectedly singing, and the style they’re singing in, can be funny if we pull it off well. The whole world of the
fairies is magical and wild, and there are moments when it’s also spooky/scary...and adding the right
flavor of music to those moments can really make an impact.
How will the music expand the audience’s knowledge of the characters and situations in the
play?
We are working with ways of defining each world with different musical styles and motifs: for example,
we’re using a lot of Peter Gabriel-esque, marimba-heavy sounds for the other-worldly sound of the
fairies, along with unexpected rhythms and meters...so when the audience hears this type of soundscape, they’ll start to feel like they’re in the world of the fairies - and we do other things with the other
worlds which you’ll just have to wait to hear!
Are original lyrics being created as well or are you strictly setting text from the play to music?
We are doing both. Basically, there are three original GrooveLily songs with our own lyrics that we’ve
written for the show, plus all the Shakespearean text we’re setting. When we started, we had no idea
how many, if any, of these songs would actually be used in the show. But writing them has helped us
define the musical language and direction for the rest of the piece!
How is the notion of “dreaming” being reflected in the music and in its performance? Are there
segments that are being staged and/or choreographed and how does the staging reflect the
music and the dream imagery of the play?
We’re playing a lot with the notion of “dreaming” - in fact, one of the songs we’ve written is called
“When I Dream,” and another is “While You Were Sleeping”...there has been talk with Tina about beginning the entire piece with the 3 band members asleep and then having the play take shape as our
dream...but that concept may change completely, so don’t quote me on that.
Can you provide insight into the collaboration between yourselves and Tina? How has her input
helped to define your compositions?
We absolutely love Tina; she has so much fearless imagination, and being around her with her incredible passion/joy/sense of fun and mischief is really inspiring to the three of us in GrooveLily. Basically
what we’ve done together (after some read-throughs, some initial brainstorming and songwriting - we
gave her some CDs and wrote some songs inspired by the play) is talk through the play and the musical moments she envisions, taking notes from Tina: she’ll go through her list, talking about colors and
shapes and energy and the feeling she wants to impart to the audience through the music, and we’ll
go away and write something
that we think is true to her vision - then we bring it to her, and she’ll either like it, or want to change it.
Luckily there’s a great atmosphere of mutual respect and fun during all of this! Logistically it’s been
lovely. Brendan and I happened to move to Brooklyn, and so did Tina, so it’s been relatively easy for
us all to meet.
What do you want the impact of the music to be on the audience? What do you hope they will
walk away with after seeing this production?
We want the music to support the play, and hope that it will help bring a contemporary, unique twist to
this classic work. It’s been an incredibly fun, new challenge for us so far to work on this piece - and we
hope the audience will have as much fun as we do!
PRE-SHOW QUESTIONS
1. Part of the fun of creating a Shakespearean play is envisioning a concept for the production. In A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, the world of fantasy is inspired by the musical stylings of GrooveLily, a
band that has been described as a “21st century folk pop musical theater power trio.” Imagine your
class is directing this play. How would GrooveLily affect your conceptual vision for the show? What
might the scenery in the forest look like? What might the Fairy King and his retinue of sprites look like?
What might the court of the royals look like, and how would you design the lighting?
2. Explore the topic of dreaming. Compile a list of the rules of dream worlds, or of the different ways
dreams break the rules of real life. Discuss images and feelings evoked by dreams.
POST-SHOW QUESTIONS
1. What surprised you the most in your viewing of Midsummer? How did this production compare to
your expectations?
2. Consider the significance of the play’s title – A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Why is this an appropriate choice for this piece? What dreams occur within the play? What things happen to the characters that seem like a dream? How does this tie in with the characters’ perception of reality? Consider
Puck’s epilogue. How does what he says affect the audience’s perception of what is real?
2. Midsummer includes a play-within-a-play, the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Does this play have
any relevance to the main story? Is it simply a comical interlude? What do you think its purpose is?
3. The lovers in Midsummer are often said to be quite difficult to distinguish from one another. Helena
and Hermia and Demetrius and Lysander have a lot in common on paper. How do they compare in
our production? Do you think Shakespeare meant for them to be similar? If so, what would that
accomplish?
4. Much of the action of Midsummer revolves around creating order in a chaotic environment. Each
group of characters – the lovers, the fairies, and the mechanicals – is experiencing, to various degrees,
turmoil in its world. How does this disorder exist in each of the plot lines? What sets it in motion? How
is it resolved? Is there a relationship between the stories?
5. The fairies meddle in the world of the humans around them. Why do you think they choose to do
this? Does the reason vary depending on the situation? Pick a specific example from the play and
discuss what you think caused Oberon, Titania or Puck to interfere. What was the outcome of this
interaction? How do you think the situation would have been different had the humans been left on
their own?
SURFING FOR SHAKESPEARE
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
http://tech-two.mit.edu/shakespeare/works.htm
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/
Shakespeare Magazine
http://shakespearemag.com
Resource Central – Shakespeare
http://www.ulen.com/shakespeare/
British Theatre Museum
http://theatremuseum.org