Guide compiled by Trish Tillman
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
TEACHER’S GUIDE
Jonathan Moscone
Artistic Director
Susie Falk
Managing Director
Clive Worsley
Director of Artistic Learning
Beverly Sotelo
Artistic Learning
Programs Manager
Whitney Krause
Artistic Learning Coordinator
PREP YOUR STUDENTS FOR THE SHOW:
book your pre- or post-show classroom workshop!
Contact the Artistic Learning Coordinator Whitney
Grace Krause at 510.548.3422 x 105 for more -info.
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IN THIS GUIDE:
1. Cal Shakes Overview
Cal Shakes’ Mission and Funders .....................................................3
Artistic Learning Programs at Cal Shakes ..........................................4
2. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overview
A Note to Teachers.........................................................................6
Plot Summary................................................................................7
Who’s Who–The Actors ..................................................................9
Who’s Who–The Characters ............................................................12
Seeing the Play: Before and After.....................................................13
Shakespeare’s Language .................................................................14
New Words ...................................................................................15
3. A Midsummer Night’s Dream “TRANSFORMATIONS”
Is It a Dream or a Nightmare?..........................................................19
The Mixed-Up World of Midsummer: Historical Background................20
Midsummer Mashup.......................................................................22
4.
Elizabethan Culture Overview
William Shakespeare: A Mysterious Life............................................24
Fairies and Magical Beings in Elizabethan Times................................26
5. Resources
A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Film...............................................29
Additional Resources: Books and Internet .........................................30
6.

Classroom Activity Guide
Cal Shakes’ Mission and Funders .....................................................33
Social Networking Character Study: Facebook....................................34
How to Be Funny: Comedic Devices in Midsummer............................38
Meme Mania .................................................................................42
Dear Diary: Helena and Hermia and Demetrius and Lysander..............43
Exaggeration and Alliteration in A Midsummer Night’s Dream..............45
Brush Up Your Shakespeare–Reference Sheet....................................51
You’re the Critic: Cal Shakes Play Critique –
Elementary and Middle School.........................................................52
You’re the Critic: Cal Shakes Play Critique –
Middle and High School..................................................................54
GUIDE CREDITS
Editor: Clive Worsley
Contributors: Trish Tillman
Copy Editors: Scarlett Hepworth, Keith Spencer
Layout & Graphics: Callie Cullum
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Our Mission:
With Shakespeare’s depth of humanity as our touchstone, we build character
and community through authentic, inclusive, and joyful theater experiences.
We strive for everyone, regardless of age, circumstance, or background, to discover
and express the relevance of Shakespeare and the classics in their lives.
We make boldly imagined and deeply entertaining interpretations of Shakespeare and the classics.
We provide in-depth, far-reaching artistic learning programs for learners of all ages and circumstances.
We bring disparate communities together around the creation of new
American plays that reflect the cultural diversity of the Bay Area.
OUR FUNDERS AND SPONSORS
Artistic Learning Programs are underwritten by generous support from:
STUDENT DISCOVERY UNDERWRITERS
The National Endowment for the Arts in partnership
with Arts Midwest presents Shakespeare in American
Communities. California Shakespeare Theater is one of 40
professional theater companies selected to participate in this
program, bringing the finest productions of Shakespeare to
middle- and high-school students in communities across the
United States. This is the twelfth year of Shakespeare in
American Communities, the largest tour of Shakespeare in
American history.
Artistic Learning programs are supported by generous contributions the numerous donors to our
annual Gala Make-a-Difference Fund and the following foundation and corporate sponsors: Dale
Family Fund, Dodge & Cox, Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, The William
and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation, Thomas J. Long Foundation,
MCJ Amelior Foundation, and the Wells Fargo Foundation.
Cal Shakes’ 2014 Main Stage season is funded by the corporate sponsors below:
PRESENTING PARTNERS
SEASON PARTNERS
SEASON UNDERWRITERS
California Shakespeare Theater
701 Heinz Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94710
510.548.3422
• www.calshakes.org
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ARTISTIC LEARNING PROGRAMS
AT CAL SHAKES
Artistic Learning represents the California Shakespeare Theater’s commitment to integrate our
artistic and education efforts. The vision of Artistic Learning is for every young audience member
to become a thoughtful and engaged Bay Area citizen. Cal Shakes creates a culture of life long
learning, nourishing young imaginations in preparation for the work of life. Listed below are some
of our many programs for youth, both in and out of the classroom.
IN-SCHOOL ARTIST RESIDENCIES
To support student achievement and teacher professional development, Cal Shakes brings
working artists into the schools with the aim of developing students’ creative minds and
voices. We collaborate with teachers by complementing their established curricula (our “arts
integration”), or we enhance the classroom experience with theater-related disciplines such as
acting, Shakespeare, and stage combat.
AFTER-SCHOOL CLASSES and SUMMER PROGRAMS
Cal Shakes offers a variety of theater programs taught by theater professionals throughout the
school year and summer.
Our popular after-school programs offer many aspects of theater including acting, physical
comedy, and improvisation.
Cal Shakes hosts four Summer Theater Programs in which students study with Cal Shakes
professional actors and artists. Limited scholarships are available.
STUDENT DISCOVERY MATINEES (Field trips)
Our Student Matinees provide a multi faceted combination of live events and instructional
materials, including this free Teacher/Student Guide, optional pre- and post-show classroom
visits by Teaching Artists, a lively pre-performance engagement at the theater, and a Q&A session
with actors immediately following the show. This dynamic variety of instructional formats allows
each student to develop a unique and lasting appreciation of Shakespeare and the experience of
a live work of art.
TEACHER’S GUIDES INCLUDING STUDENT ACTIVITIES
This Teaching and Student Activity Guide is available for each Cal Shakes Main Stage production
of Shakespeare. It is available free of charge to all classrooms, whether or not a class attends a
student matinee.
For more information or to register for any of our programs,
please call the Artistic Learning Coordinator at 510.809.3293
or email [email protected].
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
OVERVIEW
Pictured: Students from Cal Shakes’ Three Week Shakespeare Conservatory at Oakland School for the
Arts perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Photo by Jay Yamada.
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A NOTE
TO TEACHERS
“The first and most important lesson… is that there are no rules about how
to do Shakespeare, just clues. Everything is negotiable.”
–Antony Sher and Greg Doran, on training in the Royal Shakespeare Company
Welcome! We are thrilled to have you and your students join us for this season’s Student
Discovery Matinee production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Our goal is to engage students
with the play on a variety of levels through the live performance and the activities in this
Teacher’s Guide.
Shana Cooper, the director, saw a production of Midsummer when she was about seven years
old. In the middle of the show, the actor playing Puck forgot his line. The actor turned to the
audience and made a joke about missing a line, the audience laughed, and then the actor turned
right back and became Puck again, continuing without missing a beat. For all the magic that is
written into this play, that very real moment of seeing someone change so quickly from one reality
to another hooked Shana on theater for life.
There is a mystery that everyone enjoys about theater. What is this trick of turning into someone
else, and why is it so satisfying? The characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream make the very
same emotional journey, in a very theatrical sense — they are changed, transformed, and become
new by the end of the play — even as Shakespeare continually reminds us that we are watching
a play, that we are a bunch of people watching a bunch of other people pretending to be other
people.
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
Enjoy!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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PLOT SUMMARY:
(page 1 of 2)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written between 1594 and 1598. It has three interlocking plots,
all involving marriages. The first is the planned marriage between Duke Theseus and the Amazonian
queen, Hippolyta; the second involves a mad scramble between four young lovers who fall in and
out of love with each other in the depths of the forest; and the third involves the marriage between
Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of the fairies, who reside in the forest of Athens.
The play’s first scene shows us Hermia, a spirited young woman who refuses to marry Demetrius, the
man her father (Egeus) has chosen for her. Egeus calls on Athenian law, which states that a girl must
accept her father’s choice of a suitor or else face death. Theseus feels sorry for Hermia and gives her
another choice–to live forever as a virgin and worship the goddess Diana.
Hermia is not fond of either choice, and decides to elope with her lover, Lysander, to the forest.
She tells her friend Helena of the plan that she and Lysanader have hatched; and Helena, recently
rejected by the man of her dreams, Demetrius, decides to use this information to try to win him back.
She reveals Hermia’s plans to Demetrius, but the information does not have the effect she desires:
Demetrius, closely followed by a lovelorn Helena, pursues Hermia and Lysander into the forest.
Next is the storyline shared by Titania and Oberon. Titania has refused to relinquish to Oberon
her Indian changeling boy, whom Oberon wishes to have as his henchman. To punish her, Oberon
orders the fairy, Puck, to wipe a love potion from a purple flower on Titania’s eyelids while she is
sleeping, so when she wakes, she will fall in love with the first horrible creature she sees. The two
plots converge when Oberon witnesses Demetrius cruelly insulting Helena, who is still in hot pursuit
of him. Oberon orders Puck to put the potion on Demetrius’ eyes while he sleeps, so that when he
opens his eyes he will fall in love with Helena. But Puck makes a mistake, putting the potion on
Lysander’s eyes instead. When Lysander awakens, he happens to see Helena run by, and he falls in
love with her! Oberon sees this and commands Puck to put the flower potion on the correct young
man’s eyes. Puck finds Demetrius asleep, puts the love potion on, and sure enough, he wakes up
just as Helena arrives—pursued by Lysander—and, of course, immediately falls for her as well.
Both young men are now in love with Helena, and Hermia can’t believe it, since neither young man
wanted Helena at all before the night fell. In fact, Helena herself can’t believe it and thinks the boys
are playing a cruel joke on her by only pretending to be in love. After enjoying the confusion for a
while, Oberon orders Puck to undo his mistake, and, once the lovers fall asleep exhausted on the
forest floor, Puck reapplies his potion so Lysander falls back in love with Hermia.
Things move from the sublime to the ridiculous when Titania awakens from a sleep in which she
has also been “treated” to Puck’s love potion. She falls in love with an ass! “Ass” is another word
for a donkey, or a foolish person, and in this case the ass is Bottom, one of the “Rude Mechanicals”
who are busy rehearsing a play they want to perform at Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s wedding. Puck’s
mischief has gone so far that he has transformed Bottom’s head into a donkey’s head, so that when
Titania opens her eyes to the vision of Bottom, she is in love with an ass!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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PLOT SUMMARY:
(page 2 of 2)
Eventually, however, all the plots untangle and everything works out. Oberon gets the changeling
boy he wants, takes the spell off of Titania’s eyes, and all is well between the Fairy King and Queen.
When Theseus and Hippolyta come to the forest for a morning hunt, they awaken the four young
lovers. Since Demetrius no longer loves Helena, Theseus overrules Egeus’ edict and declares that
Lysander should marry Hermia and Demetrius should marry Helena. The lovers decide that they
must have been caught in a very strange dream, and, at the wedding feast, they all sit merrily and
watch the ridiculous tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe performed by the Rude Mechanicals.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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WHO’S WHO: The Actors
CAST
Starveling: A tailor. He was originally asked to play Thisbe’s mother, but is
seen in the performance as the role of Moonshine.
Egeus: Hermia’s father, who wishes Hermia to marry Demetrius instead of
Lysander, even though his daughter loves Lysander.
Jim Carpenter*
Peter Quince: A carpenter. He leads the group of Mechanicals in their
attempt to put on a play for Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding celebrations.
He recites the prologue at the beginning of their performance.
Liam Vincent*
Flute: A bellows-mender, or someone who helps to repair leather. He plays
the role of Thisbe.
Craig Marker*
Helena: Hermia’s best friend. She is madly in love with Demetrius, who
now loves Hermia. She wishes to be more like her best friend, and tries to
attract Demetrius’ attention by following him into the forest after Hermia.
Lauren English*
*Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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WHO’S WHO: The Actors
CAST
Snout: A tinker, or a metalsmith. He is asked to play the role of Pyramus’
father, but plays the Wall in the performance.
Catherine Castellanos*
Titania: Queen of the Fairies. She refuses to be in the company of her
husband Oberon until he stops asking for the Indian boy to stay with him.
Hippolyta: Queen of the Amazons. She has agreed to be Theseus’ bride after
he defeated her in battle.
Erica Chong Shuch*
Puck: Fairy servant to Oberon. He is famous for playing pranks and causing
mischief.
Snug: A joiner. A joiner is a carpenter that does more detailed work
without nails and screws. This usually applies when making furniture.
He plays the role of the Lion.
Danny Scheie*
Philostrate: The Master of Revels, in charge of all wedding celebrations.
Lysander: In love with Hermia. His belief in the power of love is what causes
all of the lovers to travel into the woods.
Dan Clegg*
*Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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WHO’S WHO: The Actors
CAST
Bottom: She asks to play every role in the performance, making many
claims about her talent. She plays the role of Pyramus.
Margo Hall*
Oberon: King of the Fairies. He is currently at odds with Titania, Queen of
the Fairies, because she has custody of a young Indian prince that he wants
as his own. This conflict leads to most of the confusion in the woods.
Theseus: The Duke of Athens. He claims to be related to Hercules. Theseus
is a character from Greek mythology, made famous for lifting a boulder. This
strength may have contributed to his success in conquering the Amazons.
Daisuke Tsuji*
Demetrius: Although he originally
wooed Helena, Demetrius quickly fell
in love with Hermia. He is well-liked
by Egeus and feels he has the right to
marry Hermia.
Nick Pelczar*
Travis Rowland
Dancer 1
Hermia: Daughter of Egeus. She loves
Lysander against her father’s wishes.
Both Lysander and Demetrius are in love
with her, but she is determined to elope
with Lysander.
Tristan Cunningham*
Parker Murphy
Dancer 2
*Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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WHO’S WHO:
Map
The Character
Characters
Oberon
Titania
Theseus
Queen of the Fairies
The Duke of Athens
loves
King of the Fairies
se
rv
an
Hippolyta
loves
Queen of the Amazons;
Theseus’ bride
t
Puck
Fairy Servant to
Oberon
rivals
Young man in love
with Hermia
lo
ve
Young woman in love
with Lysander
s
Egeus
daughter
Hermia’s Father
Helena
loves
Young woman, Hermia’s
best friend, in love with
Demetrius
P.T. Quince
A carpenter and director
of the mechanicals’
play
Bottom
A weaver
Flute
director
put a spell on
Demetrius
Young man also in love
with Hermia
Hermia
loves
best friends
Lysander
A bellows-mender, or
someone who helps to
repair leather
Snug
Starveling
A kind of carpenter
referred to as a joiner
A tailor
Snout
Note: Role assignments subject to change.
A tinker, or a
metalsmith
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
A MiDSuMMer NiGht’S DreAM OVERVIEW
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SEEING THE PLAY:
BEFORE AND AFTER
“How now, spirit! Whither wander you?”
Puck, Act 2, Scene 1
Consider the following questions before and after the show.
BEFORE Viewing the Play—
what to watch for:
Look for moments of transformation
that happen to the characters – both
literally and emotionally.
How do the fairies help to show the
audience what is happening?
How are the audience members asked
to use their imaginations to create the
world of this play?
Look for moments that you recognize in
your own life: do the characters act like
people today? Why or why not?
AFTER Viewing the Play
How did people change in the play? What
was the quality of their transformation?
Is Shakespeare trying to say something
about how humans behave in this play?
What do you think it is?
Do the characters grow up, in a sense, in
this play?
Did the setting and costumes of the
characters make sense to you? Why or
why not?
Do you believe in magic? Can it change
people’s minds? Or is it up to us to make
our own destinies? Explain.
Did you recognize any parts of this story
from modern movies or books, or your own
life?
See the “Write Your Own Critique” page in the Activity Appendix for more ideas about what to watch for and how to
write about your reactions after the show.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE
When asked the greatest challenge with Shakespeare’s works, the most frequent response from the modern-day audience is:
“the language.” It’s true that the language does sound a bit different to our ears, and Shakespeare uses phrases that we no
longer use in our everyday speech. But think of this: there are phrases we use today that would certainly baffle Shakespeare,
if he were here. That’s because language (especially English) is constantly transforming.
Here are some original quotes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Can you match them to their modern-day translations?
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
And ere a man hath power to say, ‘Behold!’
The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confusion.
Lysander, Act 1, Scene 1
Ay me! for aught that ever I could read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth.
Lysander, Act 1, Scene 1
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
Helena, Act 1, Scene 1
I have had a dream, past the wit of
man to say what dream it was.
Bottom, Act 4, Scene 1
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That, if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
Theseus, Act 5, Scene 1
Merry and tragical! tedious and brief!
That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow.
Theseus, Act 5, Scene 1
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
Puck, Act 5, Scene 1
Love falls in love with what it feels and knows,
not with what someone looks like. That’s why
Cupid is depicted as blindfolded.
Cheerful and tragic! Boring and short!
That’s ice burning or amazingly warm snow.
It’s so easy to imagine something to be real.
If we think that something good is coming,
We imagine how that’s going to happen.
Or at night, if we’re scared,
It’s way too easy to see a tree as if it
were a vicious bear.
Happy things don’t last long – like shadows,
like dreams, like lightning in a dark night.
Even though it shows us everything, lightning
happens so quickly that you can’t even begin
to say “Look!” before it’s gone.
Oh! In all the stories I’ve ever read or heard
about love, it never seems to go easily.
If we actors have offended you, just think of it this
way and everything will be all right: you were just
asleep when you saw these visions, and this silly
and pathetic story was no more real than a dream
you had just now.
I had a dream so crazy that no man has the brains
to explain what it was about.
See Brush Up Your Shakespeare on page 51.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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New Words That Appear
for the First Time
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
We’ve all heard that Shakespeare made up new words. Here are some concrete examples of words or
word forms coined by Shakespeare in Midsummer that we still use today.
Beach (transitive verb) - to run or drive ashore; to ground as if on a beach.
Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead,
By paved fountain or by rushy brook,
Or in the beached margent of the sea
Bedroom (noun) - a room furnished with a bed and intended primarily for sleeping; from
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, merely means a place to sleep on the ground.
Then by your side no bed-room me deny;
For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.
Eyeballs (noun) - the more or less globular capsule of the vertebrate eye formed by the sclera
and cornea together with their contained structures.
Then crush this herb into Lysander’s eye;
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error with his might,
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
Mimic (noun) - an ancient dramatic entertainment representing scenes from life usually in a
ridiculous manner; one that ridicules by imitation.
An ass’s nole I fixed on his head:
Anon his Thisbe must be answered,
And forth my mimic comes.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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New Words That Appear
for the First Time
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Moonbeams (noun) - a ray or beam of light from the moon.
To have my love to bed and to arise;
And pluck the wings from painted butterflies
To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes:
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
Rival (adjective) – having the same pretensions or claims; competing or standing in rivalry (first
used as an adjective in A Midsummer Night’s Dream—it had been well-known as a noun).
I know you two are rival enemies:
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is so far from jealousy,
To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
Swagger (verb) - to conduct oneself in an arrogant or superciliously pompous manner; especially:
to walk with an air of overbearing self-confidence.
What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,
So near the cradle of the fairy queen?
What, a play toward! I’ll be an auditor;
An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.
Trippingly (adverb) - in a nimble or lively manner.
Every elf and fairy sprite
Hop as light as bird from brier;
And this ditty, after me,
Sing, and dance it trippingly.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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New Words That Appear
for the First Time
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Fancy-free (adjective) - free from amorous attachment or engagement; free to imagine or fancy.
But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft
Quench’d in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
And the imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Flowery (adjective) - of, relating to, or resembling flowers; marked by or given to rhetorical
elegance.
Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
- From the Shakespeare and Company Teacher’s Guide to 2013 New England
Touring Production of Midsummer
A Midsummer Night’s Dream OVERVIEW
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TRANSFORMATIONS
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Is it a dream
or a nightmare?
“You speak not as you think–it cannot be.”
Hermia, Act 3, Scene 2
All the characters enter the forest hoping for an ideal outcome: Helena will get her man, Hermia
and Lysander will elope and avoid Theseus’ decree, the Mechanicals will produce a wonderful
play. Even Oberon and Titania, who live in the forest, strongly feel that each one’s sole claim to
the Indian boy will bring them each happiness.
But every dream turns sour as night comes to the forest. Helena is even more humiliated than
before, Hermia’s one true love turns on her with hatred, and Helena and Hermia turn on each
other, casting asunder their status as best friends. Demetrius and Lysander go from love to
hatred to love within the blink of an eye, but not before trying to kill each other. Oberon’s jealousy
manifests itself as a cruel joke on Titania, causing her to fall in love with an ass. But Oberon
receives no satisfaction from the jest, becoming only more jealous that her affection could be so
easily moved. The Mechanicals, instead of practicing for their big moment at the noble wedding,
are horribly frightened by Bottom’s transformation and mourn the loss of their dear friend.
In an ironic twist, Bottom’s transformation into an ass results in her being loved more dearly than
perhaps ever before, and achieves for her a kind of beautiful dream state, attended on by fairies
and the Fairy Queen herself.
Shakespeare is celebrated for his psychological insight, and we are wise to follow his lead, to
investigate fully the darkness behind the light. Here we see what happens when our customary
daily rituals and relationships are changed, and we suddenly find ourselves at war where we
once knew peace. In this veiled farce, the truth is still quite potent: that only by enduring the
challenge of change can we discover for ourselves what is real.
TRANSFORMATION
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THE MIXED-UP WORLD
OF MIDSUMMER
(page 1 of 2)
“This is hot ice and wondrous strange snow.”
Theseus, Act 5, Scene 1
Midsummer is conventionally seen as a straight-out comedy. The famous London diarist Samuel
Pepys recorded seeing A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed in 1662. He thought the play
was “ridiculous.” Notwithstanding Mr. Pepys, opinion and the clear comic elements of the
play, we find that there is also a darker side to the emotional journeys of these characters. Our
production especially strives to capture the double-sided nature of the joys and sorrows that
Shakespeare portrays in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
First of all, Shakespeare uses a whole tossed salad of literary devices to create the confusion
inherent to the play’s plot, mostly used for comic effect:
• Mistaken identities: Puck disguises himself, people
fall in love with the wrong person or animal.
• Multiple, intertwining plots: that of the mortals, the
Mechanicals, and the fairy war of the forest.
• Suspension of natural laws: magic is a real force in the forest.
• Switching up conventional behavior for the Elizabethan
social order: women pursue men, people live in the forest
rather than in civilization, unschooled men and women attempt
to perform a play.
• Purposely showing “bad” acting of the play-within-the-play to
comment on all the characters’ faults.
• Language: misuse of words or meanings, clever use of
insults, complex imagery.
Secondly, as is usual in his plays, Shakespeare can’t seem to help himself in using doubles,
opposites, and mirror images of characters, situations, and plotlines.
• Characters: Hermia and Helena and Demetrius and Lysander get so mixed up in who
loves whom that they are almost interchangeable. There are very few descriptions of
their characters other than that Hermia may be short and Helena may be tall. Puck’s
TRANSFORMATION
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THE MIXED-Up World
of Midsummer
(page 2 of 2)
famous line “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” seems to be Shakespeare’s comment
that although everyone believes their love to be unique, we are really all the same,
with the same human desires and wishes and fears.
• Theseus and Hippolyta mirror Oberon and Titania, as rulers of the worldly and the
fairy realms. It is typical in productions of Midsummer that these parts are cast with
the same actors playing both roles.
• The ordered city of Athens is contrasted sharply with the wildness of the forest.
• Play within a play: In a kind of hall of mirrors, the audience watching any production
of Midsummer Night’s Dream ends up watching another audience of characters watch
a play performed by the characters in Midsummer Night’s Dream, who are pretending
to be characters in the play of Pyramus and Thisbe. (Which in itself is a “Romeo and
Juliet” story of tragic young love.)
• Physical transformations: Bottom is changed to half-animal, and as the mortals run
through the forest, they get progressively more and more dirty, more earthy, more
closely resembling the natural fairies.
How do all these things resolve? Since Midsummer is a comedy, and the genre demands that
things end well, our production uses the emotional journey of the characters through their
transformations as the bridge that gets them through this hall of mirrors and into a place of
relative resolution and happiness by the end. The lovers find themselves beaten almost literally
to the ground as they fall asleep exhausted by their fighting, and Bottom finds herself alone in the
forest, abandoned by her friends. But the lovers wake to a new reality—of love returned, one for
one, and the promise of a happy life, now sanctioned by the law of Athens. They have grown up
on the way, from their adolescent skirmishes and name-calling, to the adult world of reason and
clarity. Even as they lose something of themselves in the woods—their innocent and hopeful but
shallow dreams—they gain their own strength and are able to form authentic bonds with their
chosen spouses. Bottom awakes to a new knowledge of being loved and being able to give love,
even through the most ridiculous of circumstances, and proceeds with a new confidence born of
self-realization rather than bluster. Oberon and Titania are reconciled, and they call their fairies
to enchant and bless the wedding feast.
But even Shakespeare leaves this happy ending uncertain: Demetrius is still technically
enchanted. Does he see more clearly now? Or less? Puck even asks us all to consider the entire
experience of seeing the play as a dream we’ve been having.
TRANSFORMATION
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MIDSUMMER
MASHuP
It seems also that Shakespeare used everything he had ever heard of to create Midsummer. It
was customary in Elizabethan times for playwrights to use ideas, plots, and characters from many
sources, but rarely did they put them all in one play. It’s as if Shakespeare took zombies from
World War Z, gave them names from the Harry Potter series, put them all in The Hunger Games
competition, and ended in a support group like the one from The Fault in Our Stars.
Sources, Allusions, and References in the Play
• Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale—This story, from the famous Old English Canterbury
Tales, has the characters of Theseus and Hippolyta, as well as two men pursuing a
woman, just as Lysander and Demetrius pursue Helena.
• The Golden Asse by Apuleius from 790 A.D.—the source for the story of a man
turned into a donkey and loved by a woman.
• Ovid’s Metamorphoses—this Greek poet’s stories contain many situations of people
transforming into animals or objects, plus the story of Pyramus and Thisbe.
• Plutarch’s The Life of Theseus is another probable source; Theseus is also the wellknown mythological figure who defeated the Minotaur in the Greek myth.
• Roman and Greek mythology for the names of Diana, Phoebe, Cupid, Venus, and
many more.
For Students
Write a very short story, about two pages. The only requirements are that it must have a
beginning, middle, and end, and it must incorporate elements from three or more of your
favorite TV shows, movies, graphic novels, or books that are as different from each other
as possible.
For example: Take names of the characters in The Walking Dead, use a situation from
The Fault in Our Stars, and a location from Divergent. Maybe throw in a couple of
vampires too.
TRANSFORMATION
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ELIZABETHAN CULTURE
OVERVIEW
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William Shakespeare:
A Mysterious Life
(page 1 of 2)
“Out of this wood do not desire to go.”
–Titania, Act 3, Scene 1
William Shakespeare is considered one of the finest playwrights of all time. Writing in England
during the late 1500s during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, he established
himself as a major poet, actor, and playwright. He mastered the comic and tragic dramatic
forms and introduced over 2,000 new vocabulary words into the English language. Shakespeare
is read by nearly every American student and is perhaps best known for Romeo and Juliet,
Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
However, Shakespeare’s life is a constant source of debate and question in the scholarly
community. Many records of the time have been lost that might have tracked Shakespeare’s
life or given more clues to how, when, and why he wrote the plays we attribute to him–if these
records even existed. Trying to figure out all the details and motivations of Shakespeare’s life can
feel like looking for the tallest trees while walking deep within a dense forest — we can never be
certain. But here are some of the more interesting things we actually know about his life.
• Shakespeare was born under the old Julian calendar, not the current Gregorian calendar that
was created in 1582 and adopted in England in 1751. Shakespeare’s birthday in 1564,
April 23, would actually be May 3 on today’s calendar.
• Shakespeare is listed as an actor on documents from 1592, 1598, 1603, and 1608. It is
supposed that he played mostly unassuming parts, such as the ghost in Hamlet, to allow
him more time to write.
• On June 29, 1613, the Globe Theatre went up in flames during a performance of Henry the
Eighth. A theatrical cannon, set off during the performance, misfired, igniting the wooden
beams and thatching. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no one
was hurt except a man whose burning breeches were put out with a bottle of ale. It was
rebuilt in the following year.
• Countless turns of phrase, now commonly used, occur first in Shakespeare, including one
fell swoop, vanish into thin air, play fast and loose, be in a pickle, foul play, tower of
strength, flesh and blood, be cruel to be kind, and with bated breath. According to the
Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Shakespeare wrote about one-tenth of the most quotable
quotations ever written or spoken in English.
.
Elizabethan Culture Overview
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William Shakespeare:
A Mysterious Life
(page 2 of 2)
• Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, died in 1596. His daughter Susanna died in 1649. His younger
daughter Judith had three children, but all died before their mother and without children. His
granddaughter Elizabeth, daughter of Susanna, died childless in 1670, ending the William
Shakespeare line.
• Shakespeare was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. He supposedly
put a curse on anyone daring to move his body from that final resting place. Though it was
customary to dig up the bones from previous graves to make room for others, Shakespeare’s
remains are still undisturbed.
William…Shakespeare?
For Students
Look up the clues that people have collected about
who Shakespeare was. Do you think there really was
one man from Stratford-on-Avon who wrote all of
the plays, or was the name used to cover up the real
author(s)? Why would someone want to cover it up?
Does any of this matter in the end?
.
Elizabethan Culture Overview
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FAIRIES AND
MAGICAL BEINGS
IN ELIZABETHAN TIMES
(page 1 of 2)
“Lord, what fools these mortals be”
–Puck, Act 3, Scene 2
The woods in Midsummer provide a place for the most basic elements of human nature
to emerge. The fairies in our production embody the desires, passions, frustrations, and
confusions of the mortals.
Shakespeare’s fairies grew out of a rich tradition of supernatural creatures. Many Elizabethans
believed that there were spirits in the world to be feared. The names of these creatures,
including “Puck” and “Robin Goodfellow,” were also names for the devil. Their stories were folk
tales of humans being led astray into humiliation or death. They acted as cautionary tales to
warn of the dangers of carelessness. As most of these spirits appeared human, a collection of
rituals and traditions had evolved to help people identify fairies in order to protect themselves
from these malevolent beings. With his plays, Shakespeare changed the way the world viewed fairies. His fairies owe as much
to courtly Italian romances as to the traditional spirits of his native England. Unlike the solitary
fiends of lore who lived from moment to moment, Shakespeare’s fairies are structured in a court
system with a king and queen. Plays like A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest show
fairies who invest in mortals and take sides in non-spirit world politics. Like the mortals, their
actions are based in a sense of justice and their own emotions and desires. Shakespeare’s fairies
are still tricksters, but no longer intend harm to humans. Instead they are celebratory and are
deeply tied to nature through song and dance. They also demonstrate good will towards humans:
Titania cares for the Indian boy out of devotion to her own priestess, and Oberon orders Puck
to resolve the Athenians’ love situation without any kind of reward. Both rulers even bless the
bridal beds at the end of the play. This beneficence is a far cry from the fear-inspiring fairies
to which Shakespeare’s Elizabethan audiences were accustomed. Shakespeare even changed
their physical appearance, and in his works fairies are tiny and incredibly swift. Without
Shakespeare’s influence, many of the fairies we know of today probably wouldn’t exist. We can
see his legacy in the kindness of Cinderella’s fairy godmother, the size of Peter Pan’s Tinkerbell,
or the help of the tooth fairy.
As stated above, the fairies we see in A Midsummer Night’s Dream take an even more modern
approach, using movement and physicality to turn internal passion into visible transformation.
.
Elizabethan Culture Overview
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FAIRIES AND
MAGICAL BEINGS
IN ELIZABETHAN TIMES
(page 2 of 2)
Did You Know About Changelings?
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream Oberon and Titania are at odds over a changeling boy
Titania has taken. Tradition said that fairies sometimes kidnapped human babies and
exchanged them with fairy babies. These were called changelings. The fairy babies would
grow up in the mortal world and be identified by their abnormalities. This reasoning was
sometimes used to explain developmental differences in children.
.
Elizabethan Culture Overview
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RESOURCES
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
on Film
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a popular play on stage, and even more popular on film.
Over 22 film versions exist that are directly named after the play; there are many more
which employ vastly different interpretations or are simply inspired by the story. Many of
these films update the play to a modern setting. Here’s a snapshot of the variety:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1909)
Director: Charles Kent
Stars: Charles Chaplin
A silent short film based on the classic.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)
Directors: William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt
Stars: James Cagney and Mickey Rooney
A Black and White Film set in traditional renaissance.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1967)
Directors: George Balanchine and Dan Eriksen
A filmed ballet focusing on the characters of the lovers and the fairies.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999)
Director: Michael Hoffman
Stars: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, Rupert Everet, Calista Flockhart and Christian Bale
A 20th century interpretation, while still using Shakespeare’s language.
Get Over It (2001)
Director: Tommy O’Haver
Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Sisqo, Martin Short and Carmen Electra
Set in high school, and in addition to some similarities in plot, there is a sub-
plot involving the main characters acting in a musical production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
A Midsummer Night’s Rave (2002)
Director: Gil Cates, Jr.
Puck is a drug dealer, the magic flower called “love-in-idleness” is replaced with magic ecstasy, and the King and Queen of Fairies are the host of the rave and the DJ.
RESOURCES
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ADDITIONAL
RESOURCES
BOOKS AND INTERNET
INTERNET
Teaching Resources for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Folger Shakespeare Library: www.folger.edu
• Massive collection of lesson plans and activities for teaching Shakespeare at all grade levels.
The Globe Theater: http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/education
• www.pbs.org/shakespeare/educators/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/shakespeare
Life in Elizabethan England
•
•
•
•
•
Elizabethan.org/compendium
Teachit.co.uk/armoore/Shakespeare
Snaithprimary.eril.net/ttss.htm
http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/
http://www.bardweb.net/england.html
Activities on Shakespeare’s various plot and character relationships:
•Collaborativelearning.org/muchadoplotrelationships.pdf (for Much Ado About Nothing, but
can be adapted to any Shakespeare play)
•The Stratford Festival’s “Tools for Teachers: Stratfordfestival.ca/education/teachers.
aspx?id=1096
•Shakespeare Resource Center’s “Elizabethan England”: Bardweb.net/England.html
•The Kennedy Center’s “The Poetics of Hip Hop”: Artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/
lessons/grade9-12/Poetics_of_Hip_Hop.aspx
•Shakespearean Insult Worksheet: Gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/collections/quest/collections/
sites/divans-hutchinson_yvonne1/Yvonne%20scans/insultsheet.pdf
•Shakespeare retold: BBC.co.uk/drama/shakespeare
RESOURCES
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ADDITIONAL
RESOURCES
BOOKS AND INTERNET
BOOKS
T Davis, James E., ed. Teaching Shakespeare Today: Practical Approaches and Productive Strategies.
Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 1993.
Crystal, David, and Crystal, Ben. The Shakespeare Miscellany. The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer
Publishers, Inc. Woodstock and New York, 2005.
Crystal, David, and Crystal, Ben. Shakespeare’s Words: A Glossary and Language Companion.
Penguin Books, The Penguin Group. London, 2002.
Papp, Joseph and Elizabeth Kirkland. Shakespeare Alive! New York, New York: Bantam Books,
1988.
Epstein, Norrie. The Friendly Shakespeare: A Thoroughly Painless Guide to the Best of the Bard. New
York, New York: Penguin Books, 1993
Asimov, Isaac. Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare. New York, New York: Random House, 1970.
Bender, Michael. All the World’s a Stage: a Pop-Up Biography of William Shakespeare. San Francisco:
Chronicle Books, 1999.
Foster, Cass and Lynn G. Johnson. Shakespeare: To Teach or Not To Teach. Grades 3 and Up.
Scottsdale, AZ: Five Star Publications, 1992.
Garfield, Leon. Shakespeare Stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.
Morley, Jacqueline and John James. Shakespeare’s Theatre: the Inside Story. East Sussex, London:
Simon and Schuster Young Books, 1994.
RESOURCES
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CLASSROOM
ACTIVITY GUIDE
September 2014
Jonathan Moscone
Artistic Director
Susie Falk
Managing Director
Clive Worsley
Director of Artistic Learning
Beverly Sotelo
Artistic Learning Programs Manager
Whitney Grace Krause
Artistic Learning Coordinator
Note to Teachers: This guide was created as a supplement for teachers preparing students to see California Shaketspeare
Theater’s 2014 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Worksheets can be used individually or in conjunction with
others in the guide. While we realize that no aspect of this guide fully outlines course standards for this particular subject
area, the discussion questions and topics are devised to address certain aspects of California State standards. Cal Shakes
authorizes minimal reproduction of the activities in this guide for educational, non-profit use only. All lessons must be
appropriately credited
There are many excellent lesson plans for A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the Internet. Please see our Resources Page
for links. This guide concentrates primarily on ideas that help students understand language, plot, and character through
activities that get students on their feet and speaking.
If you are interested in a California Shakespeare Theater Professional Development Workshop, which provides easy-tolearn tools for teachers to incorporate theater and arts education activities into California standards-based core curriculum,
please contact the Artistic Learning Coordinator at 510-548-3422 x 105 or [email protected].
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Our Mission:
With Shakespeare’s depth of humanity as our touchstone, we build character
and community through authentic, inclusive, and joyful theater experiences.
We strive for everyone, regardless of age, circumstance, or background, to discover
and express the relevance of Shakespeare and the classics in their lives.
We make boldly imagined and deeply entertaining interpretations of Shakespeare and the classics.
We provide in-depth, far-reaching artistic learning programs for learners of all ages and circumstances.
We bring disparate communities together around the creation of new
American plays that reflect the cultural diversity of the Bay Area.
OUR FUNDERS AND SPONSORS
Artistic Learning Programs are underwritten by generous support from:
STUDENT DISCOVERY UNDERWRITERS
The National Endowment for the Arts in partnership
with Arts Midwest presents Shakespeare in American
Communities. California Shakespeare Theater is one of 40
professional theater companies selected to participate in this
program, bringing the finest productions of Shakespeare to
middle- and high-school students in communities across the
United States. This is the twelfth year of Shakespeare in
American Communities, the largest tour of Shakespeare in
American history.
Artistic Learning programs are supported by generous contributions the numerous donors to our
annual Gala Make-a-Difference Fund and the following foundation and corporate sponsors: Dale
Family Fund, Dodge & Cox, Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, The William
and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation, Thomas J. Long Foundation,
MCJ Amelior Foundation, and the Wells Fargo Foundation.
Cal Shakes’ 2014 Main Stage season is funded by the corporate sponsors below:
PRESENTING PARTNERS
SEASON PARTNERS
SEASON UNDERWRITERS
California Shakespeare Theater
701 Heinz Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94710
510.548.3422
• www.calshakes.org
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Social Networking
Character Study – FACEBOOK
(page 1 of 4)
Have your students create a Facebook profile.
Overview: Being able to empathize with fictional characters sheds light on our own personal
situations, and reframes the plot of the play in relevant terms.
Grade: 6–12
Goal: To bring the characters of A Midsummer Night’s Dream into a real-world context.
State Standards: English Literary Response and Analysis 3.0-3.4
Outcomes: By creating a mock Facebook page, students will be able to use basic facts from the text
to imaginatively enter into the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of fictional characters.
Activity: Familiarize students with the profile layout of a social networking site page, such as
Facebook. (See following examples.)
1. Ask the students to fill in the profile with:
a. vital statistics
b. likes and dislikes
c. friends
Note: Students should use information drawn from their knowledge of the play (for example,
Puck loves to play tricks on people), and then fill out the profile using their imaginations (for
example, when Puck was little, a favorite trick was turning over children’s milk glasses and
watching the milk run all over the floor).
2. Profile photos may be drawn or cut out from magazines, or an actual photo of the student
could be used and attached to the page. Remember, many actual Facebook profile pages
do not have an actual photo of the person who made them–students sometimes choose a
picture of something they feel represents them–a tree, a poster they like, etc.
3. Share the pages you have created in student pairs or in a group discussion.
Activity guide
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Social Networking
Character Study – FACEBOOK
(Page 2 of 4)
Reflection:
• Name one thing you had to imagine about your character that you think is really
interesting.
• Was it easy to imagine events outside the play—for instance, what might Hermia’s
activities and interests be? Or do you feel the play did not provide enough information?
How so?
• How easy was it to decide who your character’s friends are? Would your character ignore a
friend request from other characters in the play? Why or why not?
Extension exercise in writing dialogue:
Extend this activity beyond the basic profile by having the students write on each other’s profile
“walls.” A wall is the area on a profile page where friends can write short messages to each other
that are posted directly on the page for others to view.
Note: Require the students to fill out the worksheet manually, rather than actually fill out a public profile online. If you
can post the following mock profile page onto your classroom or school blog website for students to fill out online within
the framework of this project, that would work as well, but false profiles in a public space should be actively discouraged.
Student examples should show a deep understanding of the plot and qualities of the character. Some examples follow.
Activity guide
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shakesbook
Midsummer
Helena
is
updated 400 years ago
•
Athens, Greece
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Religious Views: Demetrius is God
Interests: Demetrius
ABOUT
Networks: Athens, Magical Forest Outside Athens
From Athens, Greece
Relationship status: single
Email: DemetriusLuvr4Ever
@athens.nobility.net
Activities: Talking to Demetrius, writing Demetrius love letters,
following Demetrius, attempting to break into Demetrius’ house,
stealing Demetrius’ socks, going through Demetrius’ garbage, origami
Favorite Music: Demetrius singing in the shower, Demetrius yelling at
me to get out of his bathroom
FAVORITE QUOTES
“So we grow together, Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition; Two lovely berries moulded on one
stem”
–Hermia, my BFF
FRIENDS
Write something...
Lysander
RECENT ACTIVITY
Helena
Hermia wrote:
“My dad is being soooo stupid! He’s being SUCH a jerk
about the whole marriage thing. Me and Lysander are
eloping in the forest, ttyl!”
Like • Comment • Share
Write a comment...
Demetrius wrote:
“Helena, please stop poking me. It’s just sad.”
Like • Comment • Share
Write a comment...
Activity guide
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shakesbook
Midsummer
is
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Religious Views:
Interests:
ABOUT
Networks:
From
Activities:
Favorite Music:
FAVORITE QUOTES
Relationship status:
Email:
Write something...
FRIENDS
RECENT ACTIVITY
Like • Comment • Share
Write a comment...
Like • Comment • Share
Write a comment...
Activity guide

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HOW TO BE FUNNY:
COMEDIC DEVICES IN MIDSUMMER
(page 1 of 4)
There’s a saying in the theater: “Tragedy is easy, comedy is hard.” It means that showing sadness
or tragic events is something we’re all familiar with, whereas comedy is very much a matter of
opinion and has to be presented very carefully on stage in order to make the audience laugh.
(Don’t believe it? Try doing some stand-up comedy sometime.)
Slapstick/Physical Comedy
the use of the body as a comedic force
In Shakespeare’s time: Though Shakespeare did not include stage directions, it is almost
certain that he employed physical comedy, particularly with his famous clowns, such as
Touchstone, Feste, and Costard. In Shakespeare’s time, clowning was influenced by the old
Greek clowns, as well as the Italian Commedia Del’Arte style. Following the departure of his
first major clown actor, Will Kempe, Shakespeare began writing different kinds of clowns.
He began to create wittier, more cerebral clowns for his new actor, Robert Armin, giving us a
clown persona that was more idiot savant than buffoon.
In Modern Times: Charlie Chaplin redefined the use of the body for comedy in the 1920s,
and modern comedians such as Jim Carrey, Lucille Ball, and the Three Stooges have kept the
slapstick movement alive in the cinema and on our television screens.
Character Comedy
the use of a well-known or established character to provoke comedy
In Shakespeare’s time: The greatest example of character comedy in Shakespeare’s folio
is his use of Falstaff, a character he created to be a clown in Henry IV Part I. However,
the bumbling, vainglorious Falstaff was so popular, that Queen Elizabeth I commissioned
Shakespeare to write a play in which Falstaff fell in love. The play born from this commission,
The Merry Wives of Windsor, relies heavily on Falstaff to create and maintain the comedic
atmosphere.
In modern times: Modern examples of character-driven comedy are Borat, Stephen Colbert in
The Colbert Report, and stand-up comics such as Larry the Cable Guy and Sarah Silverman.
Activity guide
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HOW TO BE FUNNY:
COMEDIC DEVICES IN MIDSUMMER
(page 2 of 4)
Wit/Wordplay Comedy
the use of words and banter to create comedy
In Shakespeare’s time: Shakespeare was the master of witty back-and-forth, using wordplay
and battles of wits in many of his plays, notably between Kate and Petruchio in The Taming
of the Shrew, Berowne and Rosalind in Love’s Labours’ Lost, and Beatrice and Benedick in
Much Ado About Nothing. A good example from Midsummer occurs in Act 2, Scene 2, when
Lysander attempts to coax Hermia into sleeping together on the ground rather than apart:
HERMIA
Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed;
For I upon this bank will rest my head.
LYSANDER
One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;
One heart, one bed, two bosoms and one troth.
HERMIA
Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,
Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.
LYSANDER
O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!
Love takes the meaning in love’s conference.
I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit
So that but one heart we can make of it…
Then by your side no bed-room me deny;
For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.
HERMIA
Lysander riddles very prettily.
Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,
If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.
But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy
Lie further off; in human modesty.
Activity guide
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HOW TO BE FUNNY:
COMEDIC DEVICES IN MIDSUMMER
(page 3 of 4)
Wit/Wordplay Comedy
In modern times: An excellent example of modern wordplay is Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland, which turns many puns and phrases on their heads. In it, Alice
mistakes a “tale” for a “tail” and debates whether time can physically “fly.” Another example
of wordplay in children’s literature is The Phantom Tollbooth, which features a bee that spells
(a “Spelling Bee”) and two sisters named Rhyme and Reason.
Insult Comedy
the use of insults, often one-liner, at the
expense of another character,to create comedy
In Shakespeare’s time: The art of the perfect insult had been attempted long before
Shakespeare’s time. The Latin poet Martial (41-104 AD), who wrote cheerful, cutting
epigrams about the scandals of his acquaintances, is considered to be the first “insult comic.”
Shakespeare used insult comedy in a particularly inventive and outrageous way. Here are a
few of his best insults:
“You are as a candle, the better burnt out.”
“There’s no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune.”
“That trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies,
that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with
pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey Iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in
years?”
And in Midsummer, Lysander mockingly refers to Hermia’s short stature:
“Get you gone, you dwarf,
You minimus of hind’ring knotgrass made,
You bead, you acorn…”
In modern times: Insult stand-up comics have become more popular in recent years. One
strain of this genre is the “audience insulter,” whose entire set is based around improvisational
insulting and ridiculing of specific audience members. Some well-known modern insult comics
include Lisa Lampinelli, Don Rickles, and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
Activity guide
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HOW TO BE FUNNY:
COMEDIC DEVICES IN MIDSUMMER
(page 4 of 4)
Farce
Comedy created by the fast-paced use of broad satire with exaggerated
characters trying to get out of improbable situations.
For example, the “Mechanicals”, who, led by Nick Bottom, take the rehearsal and
performance of their play quite seriously.
Or the “mortals,” Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius, who are terribly self-absorbed
and too serious about their own feelings: e.g., Helena is anxious about her looks, reacting
awkwardly when Lysander calls her “fair;” Hermia is very defensive about being shorter than
Helena, etc.
In modern times: Farce continues to be a popular form today. Some contemporary examples
include Will Farrell in “Blades of Glory,” The Three Stooges, “Monty Python and the Holy
Grail,” and Sacha Baron Cohen in “Borat.”
Activity guide
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MEME MANIA
Overview: Students will use image macros or “memes” from Internet culture to relate to
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Grades: 7–12
Goal: To connect the situations and characters to modern pop culture.
Outcomes: Students will be able to relate action and language in the play with current portrayals
of similar situations or emotions.
Activity
Create a meme (picture with text) relating to the plot, or a scene of the play, A Midsummer Night’s
Dream. These are meant to be comedic.
In order to create the meme, the students will go to one of several meme-makers on the
Internet. Two examples are: http://www.mememaker.net/create/upload and https://imgflip.com/
memegenerator. The background of the meme can be anything they like.
Here’s what we created. Now go have fun and create your own!
Activity guide
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Dear DIARY:
Helena and Hermia and
Demetrius and Lysander
(page 1 of 2)
Overview: Writing a diary, blog, or journal entry from the perspective of one of the play’s
characters creates empathy with that character, sheds light on each student’s own personal
situation, and reframes the plot of the play in more relevant terms.
Grades: 6–12
Goal: To bring the characters of A Midsummer Night’s Dream into a real-world context.
Outcomes: Students will be able to use facts from the text to imaginatively enter into the
thoughts, feelings, and motivations of fictional characters by writing a diary entry about an
off-stage moment from the perspective of a character in the play.
Activity:
1. Ask the students to write a diary, blog, or journal entry from the point of view of Helena,
Hermia, Demetrius, or Lysander, focusing on a moment when that character is not seen
onstage. Think about: What is happening when the character is offstage in this situation?
What is the character thinking and feeling?
2. Ask the students to choose a character and a moment to write about. Examples:
• How does Hermia “steal forth her father’s house” and run away?
• Imagine Hermia’s mother and how she and Egeus raised Hermia.
• Describe how Demetrius made Helena fall in love with him prior to the play’s opening.
• What is this journey through the forest like for Helena? What is she thinking and
feeling after she exits, having just heard Lysander confess his love to her?
Reflection:
• Name one thing you had to imagine about your character that you think is really interesting.
• Was it easy to imagine beyond the play—for instance, what Helena’s or Hermia’s thoughts
might be? Do you feel the play did not provide you with enough information? How so?
Activity guide
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Dear DIARY:
Helena and Hermia and
Demetrius and Lysander
(page 2 of 2)
Reflection (continued):
• Was it easy to decide which character to write an entry for? Are there characters you think
might be more likely to keep a diary or blog?
Extension Exercise:
Do the same writing exercise, but have one student write about the same incident from
multiple characters’ points of view. Alternatively, have many students describe the same
incident from different characters’ viewpoints.
Instead of a written piece, do a vlog (video blog) from the point of view of one character, or
featuring two characters talking about the incidents and expressing their opinions and feelings
about what happened.
Activity guide
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EXAGGERATION
AND ALLITERATION
IN A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
(page 1 of 4)
This lesson will take several days.
Goal: To give students an appreciation and understanding of Shakespeare’s language and comic
genius.
Outcomes: Students will write and perform a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream as though
Nick Bottom had written it.
Standards: Grades 9-12. English Comprehension & Analysis 2-2.4; Literary Response & Analysis
3-3.4; Writing Response to Literature 2.2; Speaking Applications 2.3
Vocabulary: alliteration, exaggeration, abhorred, amorous, paramour, mantle, thrum
Activity: “It’s Tuesday”
Divide students into two groups and line up facing each other. The first student in Group A
makes a boring statement about any subject. First student in Group B responds by overreacting
and attaching an exaggerated emotion to the response. Then the second set of students does the
same, and so on.
Example:
Group A student makes boring statement such as “It’s Tuesday,” or “The walls are white,” or
something similar.
Group B student overreacts and attaches a specific exaggerated emotion to the statement:
e.g., hysteria, sadness, anger, etc. Example of Panic: “Oh my gosh, it’s Tuesday! I’m supposed
to pick up Beyonce at the airport in 10 minutes! I’m LATE! I can’t believe I messed up!
AAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!”
Activity guide
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EXAGGERATION
AND ALLITERATION
IN A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
(page 2 of 4)
Shakespeare’s Language (Handout below)
Have class read aloud together the death scene from Romeo and Juliet
Teacher’s Note: Discuss meaning and vocabulary as needed if you haven’t already studied
Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo & Juliet (Act 5, Scene III)
Paraphrase
Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O,
here Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh.
Dear Juliet
Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The
dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here’s to my love!
Eyes, look at Juliet one last time.
You are still beautiful
Is death in love with you?
Is death a dreaded monster who keeps you in
this dark tomb to be his lover?
I fear that, so I’ll never leave you but stay here
with the worms that are your servants.
I’ll die here and get rid of the world’s bad luck
that has burdened my tired body.
Arms, hug her one last time.
Lips, who are the doors of life’s breath, seal my
bargain with death with an honorable kiss.
Come, death, you nasty guide,
You desperate pilot who has grounded your
tired ship on the rocks!
Here’s to my love!
Activity guide
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EXAGGERATION
AND ALLITERATION
IN A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
(page 3 of 4)
Then read aloud together the Pyramus and Thisbe scene (Act 5, Scene I) in A Midsummer
Night’s Dream
Teacher’s Note: Have students use exaggeration and overreaction when reading as they did in
the “It’s Tuesday” exercise.
Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams.
I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright.
For by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams,
I trust to take of truest Thisbe sight. —
But stay, O spite!
But mark, poor knight,
What dreadful dole is here!
Eyes, do you see?
How can it be?
O dainty duck! O dear!
Thy mantle good,
What, stained with blood?
Approach, ye Furies fell!
O Fates, come, come,
Cut thread and thrum.
Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!
Discussion
What is the difference between the two death scenes?
What do you notice about the language?
Why do you think Shakespeare wrote the two scenes in such different ways?
What is alliteration?
What else makes the Pyramus scene so funny?
What is a malapropism?
How does Nick Bottom improperly use big vocabulary words?
Activity guide
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EXAGGERATION
AND ALLITERATION
IN A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
(page 4 of 4)
Performance
Divide the class into groups.
Each group is to pick a “straight” scene from the play and rewrite it as Nick Bottom would write it
for his play.
Each group performs their scene.
Rubric for Writing and Performance:
New scene must include alliteration, exaggeration
Added plus, if you include overly ambitious vocabulary and malapropisms
Each group member must participate
Performance must be loud enough to be heard
Teacher’s Note: You may want to assign scenes. For example:
• Titania and Oberon discuss the changeling boy (II.i.120)
• Helena’s “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind” (love is blind) speech
(I.i.234)
• Hermia and Lysander discuss the difficulties that must be faced by those who are
in love: “The course of true love never did run smooth” (I.i.134)
• Hermia tells Demetrius that Lysander would never have left her in the woods, and
therefore Demetrius must have killed him (III.ii.45)
Reflection
What did you particularly enjoy about this performance?
What, if anything, might you change to make it better?
Activity guide
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CAL SHAKES HANDOUT
DEATH SCENE FROM ROMEO AND JULIET
By William Shakespeare
Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here’s to my love!
Activity guide
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CAL SHAKES HANDOUT
DEATH SCENE FROM MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
By William Shakespeare as though written by Nick Bottom, a Weaver
Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams.
I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright.
For by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams,
I trust to take of truest Thisbe sight. —
But stay, O spite!
But mark, poor knight,
What dreadful dole is here!
Eyes, do you see?
How can it be?
O dainty duck! O dear!
Thy mantle good,
What, stained with blood?
Approach, ye Furies fell!
O Fates, come, come,
Cut thread and thrum.
Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!
Activity guide
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Brush Up Your
Shakespeare
Reference Sheet
Below are some commonly used, but unfamiliar, words that Shakespeare used.
addition – title
perchance – maybe
affined – bound by duty
chuck – term of endearment,
chick
alarum – call to arms with
clout – a piece of white cloth
politician – schemer
trumpets
cog – to deceive
post – messenger
anatomize – to analyze in
detail
coil – trouble
power – army
cousin – any close relative
prithee – please
ancient – ensign
descant – improvise
quest – a jury
anon – until later
discourses – speaks
recreant – coward
arrant – absolute
dispatch – to hurry
resolve – to answer, reply to
aroint – begone
e’en – evening
but soft – be quiet
assail – to make amorous
siege
enow – enough
soundly – plainly
fare–thee–well – goodbye
attend – to await
stale – harlot
fie – a curse
aye – yes
subscription – loyalty,
fustian – wretched
baffle – to hang up (a person)
by the heels as a mark of
disgrace
allegiance
got – begot
tax – to criticize, to accuse
grammarcy – thank you
troth – belief
halter – noose
teem – to give birth
honest – chaste, pure
thee – you (informal)
heavy – sorrowful
thou – you (informal)
housewife – hussy, prostitute
thy – your (informal)
impeach – dishonor
tucket – trumpet flourish
list – listen
verge – edge, circumference
mayhap – maybe
verily – truly
mess – meal, food
mew – confine
villain – common person, not
noble
minister – servant
want – lack of, don’t have
moiety – portion
well–a–day – alas
morrow – day
wherefore – why
nay – no
yea – yes
ne’er – never
zounds – by his (Christ’s)
office – service or favor
wounds
baggage – strumpet, prostitute
balk – to disregard
barm – the froth on ale
belike – maybe
belov’d – beloved
blank – a target
bolted – refined
brach – bitch hound
brake – bushes
brave – fine, handsome
bum – backside, buttocks
caitiff – a wretched humble
person
catch – song
character – handwriting
Cousin, ’coz – relative, good
friend
perforce – must
oft – often
passing – surprisingly,
exceedingly
Activity guide
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You’re the Critic:
Cal Shakes Play
Critique
Elementary and Middle School
(page 1 of 2)
NAME: __________________________________
1. Circle the number of stars that best matches how you’d rate this performance. (One star
is the lowest rating and five stars is the best rating.) Then write a paragraph on the back
of the paper that specifically describes why you gave it that rating. Do not simply say “I
didn’t like it,” but say why. For example, “I didn’t like the fact that the director changed
the setting to New York” or “I loved the way the actors made me believe that they were
really going to kill each other.”
Star rating: ___ stars
2. Outline the main actions that happened in the plot (what were the big events in the
story?).
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Activity guide
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You’re the Critic:
Cal Shakes Play
Critique
Elementary and Middle School
(page 2 of 2)
3. What is the central idea or theme of the play?
4. Describe what the actors did to help you understand the Shakespearean language.
5. What did you particularly like or dislike about the staging (set design, lights, costumes,
music, etc.)?
6. Shakespeare writes about feelings that we all experience. In A Winter’s Tale, we see
people with feelings like love, jealousy, anger, frustration, and others. Pick one of these
emotions that you’ve experienced strongly and write what happened in your life to make
you feel that way and what happened because of it.
Activity guide
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53
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You’re the Critic:
Cal Shakes Play
Critique
Middle and High School
(page 1 of 2)
Give this production a rating of 1 to 5 stars. (One star is the lowest rating and five stars is the
highest.) On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph review of the play. In other words,
describe why you gave it that rating. Give specific examples to support your reasons. On the
same sheet of paper, reflect on the following questions:
Star rating: ___ stars
1. How would you describe the world of this play?
2. Does Shakespeare give good reasons as to why the characters act the way they do? What
justifications can you find?
3. Why are we still staging this play 400 years since Shakespeare wrote it? Why do you think
the director chose this play?
4. Which character did you sympathize with most? Why?
5. Think about and describe:
i. The vocal and physical actions of the actors (characterization)
ii. The set
iii. The costumes
Activity guide
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You’re the Critic:
Cal Shakes Play
Critique
Middle and High School
(page 2 of 2)
6. What do you think are some of the themes of the play?
7. Did the elements of characterizations, set, and/or costumes reinforce any of these themes?
8. Shakespeare writes about things that we all experience: love, jealousy, death, anger, revenge,
passion, misunderstandings, etc. Write a paragraph about one big emotion in the play that you’ve
also experienced in your life.
9. Now, imagine you are the director of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and use a new sheet of
paper to create your new production.
• Cast the characters of Helena, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, Puck, Oberon, Titania,
and Nick Bottom with famous actors.
• Would you set the play in modern times? What other setting could you place the play
in that would make sense? Why?
• How about costumes? Imagine how the characters in your new production would be
dressed that would illustrate the kinds of characters they are and what setting you
have put the play in.
Activity guide
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