The delightful A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's earlier plays, and is remarkable for its adept weaving of four subplots into a single, satisfying phy. It was probably written in 1595 to celebrate a court wedding of the time, though which one has not been established. In Shakespeare's time, strange dreams were supposed to be common at midsummer, and the tide refers to the fantastical quality of events which take phce in the phy. There is no single source for the play, and Shakespeare draws fred), on Ovid, Plutarch and Chaucer, among others.……

A Midsummer Night"s Dream is full of the lunatic behaviour of both mortal and fairy lovers, of love potions, magic and general mayhem.

Although it is one of Shakespeare"s early plays, it is a delightful mixture of comedy, poetry and satire, skillfully woven into a satisfying whole.

The text of this edition is taken from the Cambridge University Press New Shakespeare, edited by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch and Iohn Dover Wilson.

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY

ACT 1 SCENE 1

SCENE 2

ACT 2 SCENE 1

SCENE 2

ACT 3 SCENE 1

SCENE 2

ACT 4 SCENE 1

SCENE 2

ACT 5 SCENE 1