A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 20 Minutes
1. Theseus, King of Athens, can’t wait to marry Hippolyta:
Theseus:
I will wed thee with pomp, with triumph, and with
revelling.
2. Egeus comes to complain to the King that his daughter Hermia
refuses to marry the man of his choice Demetrius:
Egeus:
As she is mine I may dispose of her.
3. Hermia doesn’t want to marry Demetrius because she is in love
with Lysander. Hermia’s friend Helena is in love with Demetrius:
he used to love her too but now loves Hermia and wants to
marry her.
Demetrius: Relent, sweet Hermia;
Lysander: You have her father’s love, Demetrius;
Let me have Hermia’s.
4. The King tells Hermia that she must obey her father. So
Hermia and Lysander decide to run away through the forest.
Lysander: Steal forth thy father’s house tomorrow night.
5. They tell Helena their plan and she tells Demetrius to try to
make him like her:
Helena:
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so.
6. Meanwhile, some workmen are rehearsing a play for the King’s
wedding. The organiser is Peter Quince, a carpenter. He is
having trouble with Nick Bottom, a weaver, who wants to play
all the parts:
Bottom:
Let me play the lion too.
7. In the forest, Oberon, King of the fairies, has fallen out with his
Queen, Titania. He plans to play a trick on her. He orders his
servant Puck to go and pick a magic flower. If the juice from
this flower touches someone’s eyes when they are asleep, they
will fall in love with the first living thing they see when they wake
up.
Oberon:
Fetch me that flower, the herb I showed
thee once.
8. When Puck gets back with the magic flower, Oberon pours
some juice on Titania’s eyelids while she is asleep:
Oberon:
What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true-love take.
9. Meanwhile, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena are all
lost in the forest. Oberon tells Puck to put magic juice on the
eyes of Demetrius to make him fall in love with Helena. Puck
sees Lysander and Hermia asleep and, thinking Lysander is
Demetrius, pours the juice into Lysander’s eyes. Helena and
Demetrius find Hermia and Lysander and wake them up. The
first person Lysander sees is Helena, so he falls madly in love
with her and loses all interest in Hermia:
Lysander: Not Hermia but Helena I love.
10. In another part of the wood the workmen are rehearsing their
play. Puck changes Bottom’s head into a donkey’s head for fun.
His friends are scared and run away. Titania wakes up and falls
in love with the first creature she sees – Bottom! She tells the
fairies to do whatever he asks:
Titania:
Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
11. Oberon and Puck realise their mistake over Lysander so they
put some magic juice on Demetrius’s eyes. As he wakes up the
first person he sees is Helena:
Demetrius: O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
12. Not so long ago nobody loved Helena: now both Demetrius
and Lysander say they love her! She thinks they are making fun
of her.
Helena :
O spite! O hell! I see you are all bent
To set against me for your merriment.
13. Not long ago Hermia was being chased by both men: now
both reject her. She thinks that Helena has stolen Lysander
from her and gets very angry.
Hermia:
You thief of love! Have you come by night,
And stolen my love’s heart from him?
14. Oberon is very cross with Puck for this mistake. He orders
Puck to use another herb to undo the spell on Lysander. Then
Oberon feels sorry for Titania and undoes the love spell on her
too. Oberon and Titania are happy again.
Titiana:
My Oberon! What visions I have seen!
15. King Theseus is out hunting and finds the four lovers, all
asleep. He wakes them up. Demetrius tells him he now loves
Helena, and she him. Lysander says he has loved Hermia all
along. Everyone is happy. They can’t explain what happened –
it all seems like a dream:
Demetrius: Are you sure
That we are awake? It seems to me
That yet we sleep, we dream.
16. Puck turns Bottom back to normal. He seems to think he also
had a dream, which he gives a special name:
Bottom:
It shall be called ‘Bottom’s Dream’, because it hath
no bottom.
17. It is Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding day and the workmen
perform their play. Bottom is a star. Hermia marries Lysander
and Helena marries Demetrius. Oberon blesses them:
Oberon:
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be.
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