A Midsummer Night's Dream: Discover Primary & Early Years | TheBookSeekers

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Discover Primary & Early Years


Oberon Plays for Young People

,

No. of pages 52

Published: 2009

Great for age 7-10 years

Add this book to your 'I want to read' list!

By clicking here you can add this book to your favourites list. If it is in your School Library it will show up on your account page in colour and you'll be able to download it from there. If it isn't in your school library it will still show up but in grey - that will tell us that maybe it is a book we should add to your school library, and will also remind you to read it if you find it somewhere else!

...in the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush supposed a bear!" With all the dark undercurrents of the traditional fairytale, Shakespeare weaves farce, slapstick, romance and revelry to create what is perhaps his most joyous play. Primary Classics, produced by the National Theatre's Discover programme, aims to introduce children aged 7 to 11 to Shakespeare. This version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, adapted and originally directed by Carl Heap, preserves the core of Shakespeare's plot, retains the original langauge, yet is presented very much with the target age group in mind. Carl Heap's introduction will help readers, teachers and practitioners alike to imagine or produce their own version.

 

 

This book is part of a book series called Oberon Plays For Young People .

This book has been graded for interest at 14-17 years.

There are 52 pages in this book. This book was published in 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC .

Rene Weis is Professor of English at University College London and a distinguished editor and biographer of Shakespeare.

 

This book contains the following story:

A Midsummer Night's Dream

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a comedic play written by William Shakespeare that intertwines the stories of four groups of characters in a magical and dreamlike world.

Act 1:The play opens in Athens, where Duke Theseus is preparing to marry Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. Egeus, a nobleman, brings his daughter Hermia before the Duke and demands that she marry Demetrius, the man he has chosen for her. However, Hermia is in love with Lysander, and they plan to elope to avoid the forced marriage.

Act 2: In the enchanted forest near Athens, a group of amateur actors, led by a weaver named Bottom, rehearses a play they plan to perform at Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Meanwhile, Oberon, the fairy king, and Titania, the fairy queen, are in the midst of a dispute. Oberon enlists the mischievous fairy Puck to use a magical flower that causes anyone hit with its juice to fall in love with the first person they see upon waking. Oberon intends to use the flower on Titania to teach her a lesson.

Act 3: As Puck carries out Oberon's instructions, chaos ensues. He accidentally uses the love potion on the wrong Athenian, causing Lysander to fall in love with Helena, who is desperately in love with Demetrius. This creates confusion and tension between the four young lovers. Meanwhile, Titania, under the influence of the potion, falls in love with Bottom, who has been given the head of a donkey as part of a prank by Puck. The mischievous fairy also causes further mayhem with the actors by altering Bottom's appearance and confusing his fellow performers.

Act 4: Oberon eventually intervenes and reverses the effects of the love potion on the young lovers, restoring their original affections. Titania and Bottom's enchantment is also lifted.

Act 5: The final act takes place during the wedding celebration of Theseus and Hippolyta. The amateur actors perform their comically inept play, which is met with both ridicule and delight. In a final twist, Puck addresses the audience, acknowledging that the entire story was nothing more than a dream. He asks for the audience's forgiveness if the play has offended or caused any confusion. He bids the audience goodnight, effectively concluding the enchanting and whimsical tale.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a captivating and fantastical play that explores themes of love, illusion, and the transformative power of the imagination. The interplay between reality and dream, along with the mischievous antics of the fairies and the comical misunderstandings of the human characters, make it one of Shakespeare's most beloved and enduring works.

This book is in the following series:

Oberon Plays for Young People

This book features the following characters:

Hippolyta
This book features the character Hippolyta.

Shakespeare
This book features the character Shakespeare.