Books with title William Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare between 1590 and 1596. It is one of his most played pieces. The events of the play take place in and around Athens in ancient Greece and include scenes from a fairytale world inhabited by elves and fairies. This edition features illustrations by Arthur Rackham, who is regarded as the most famous and prolific artist of the Golden Age of book illustration.

First edition thus. Illustrations, decorations, and cover design by Arthur Rackham. Calligraphy by Graily Hewitt. With sixteen full color illustrations, fourteen two-color illustrations by Rackham. Also title page, borders, headpieces. Reproduced from the original 1928 manuscript preserved in the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library. Rackham's 1928 illustrations are very different from those in his 1908 edition, published by Heinemann. Small tear in jacket. 140 pages. cloth-covered boards, dust jacket. 4to..

An interesting yet wholesome piece of work by William Shakespeare. This piece of work is certainly one of Shakespeare's more conservative and darker pieces of work. The play opens in a palace in Athens one hour before the wedding of Theseus, Duke of Athens, to his newly conquered Amazonian queen, Hippolyta. Their nuptials are interrupted by Egeus, an Athenian father begging help of Theseus. His daughter, Hermia, is in love with young Lysander, and wants to marry him. Egeus already bequeathed her to Demetrius, who is also in love with her. Hermia's childhood friend, Helena, is in love with Demetrius, and follows him around like a lost puppy. Theseus tells Hermia that she has until morn to decide to marry Demetrius, join a nunnery, or die.This novel is certainly a good read for anyone who would like to get a feel into a more conservative side of Shakespeare's writings.

A Midsummer Night's Dream takes place in Athens. Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is planning his marriage with Hippolyta, and as a result he is a planning a large festival. Egeus enters, followed by his daughter Hermia, her beloved Lysander, and her suitor Demetrius. Egeus tells Theseus that Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius, wanting instead to marry Lysander. He asks for the right to punish Hermia with death if she refuses to obey.Theseus agrees that Hermia's duty is to obey her father, and threatens her with either entering a nunnery or marrying the man her father chooses. Lysander protests, but is overruled by the law. He and Hermia than decide to flee by night into the woods surrounding Athens, where they can escape the law and get married. They tell their plan to Helena, a girl who is madly in love with Demetrius. Hoping to gain favor with Demetrius, Helena decides to tell him about the plan.Some local artisans and workmen have decided to perform a play for Theseus as a way to celebrate his wedding. They choose Pyramus and Thisbe for their play, and meet to assign the roles. Nick Bottom gets the role of Pyramus, and Flute takes the part of Thisbe. They agree to meet the next night in the woods to rehearse the play.Robin Goodfellow, a puck, meets a fairy who serves Queen Titania. He tells the fairy that his King Oberon is in the woods, and that Titania should avoid Oberon because they will quarrel again. However, Titania and Oberon soon arrive and begin arguing about a young boy Titania has stolen and is caring for. Oberon demands that she give him the boy, but she refuses.Oberon decides to play a trick on Titania and put some pansy juice on her eyes. The magical juice will make her fall in love with first person she sees upon waking up. Soon after Puck is sent away to fetch the juice, Oberon overhears Demetrius and Helena in the woods.Demetrius deserts Helena in the forest, leaving her alone. Oberon decides that he will change this situation, and commands Robin to put the juice onto Demetrius's eyes when he is sleeping. He then finds Titania and drops the juice onto her eyelids. Robin goes to find Demetrius, but instead comes across Lysander and accidentally uses the juice on him.By accident Helena comes across Lysander and wakes him up. He immediately falls in love with her and starts to chase her through the woods. Together they arrive where Oberon is watching, and he realizes the mistake. Oberon then puts the pansy juice onto Demetrius's eyelids, who upon waking up also falls in love with Helena. She thinks that the two men are trying to torment her for being in love with Demetrius, and becomes furious at their protestations of love.The workmen arrive in the woods and start to practice their play. They constantly ruin the lines of the play and mispronounce the words. Out of fear of censorship, they decide to make the play less realistic. Therefore the lion is supposed to announce that he is not a lion, but only a common man. Bottom also feels obliged to tell the audience that he is not really going to die, but will only pretend to do so. Puck, watching this silly scene, catches Bottom alone and puts an asses head on him. When Bottom returns to his troupe, they run away out of fear. Bottom then comes across Titania, and succeeds in waking her up. She falls in love with him due to the juice on her eyes, and takes him with her.Lysander and Demetrius prepare to fight one another for Helena. Puck intervenes and leads them through the woods in circles until they collapse onto the ground in exhaustion. He then brings the two women to same area and puts them to sleep as well.

Wanting to produce a 90-Minute Shakespeare play? This ready-to-use adaptation of one of the Bard's most popular plays, respects the verse and retains all major characters and plotlines. The play has been shortened, but none of Shakespeare's words have been changed. For the Shakespeare purist who loves the language, but desires a shorter running time, these are the scripts to use. The production-tested adaptations are perfect for a variety of groups, including professional theaters using a 90-minute TYA (Theatre-For-Young-Audiences) contract, universities, high schools, and community theaters. Free from side-by-side translations or notes, the scripts are rehearsal ready. The most common comment from audiences who have viewed productions of these adaptations is: "What was cut? It seemed like that was the whole play."Romeo & Juliet is also available.Coming soon: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, KING LEAR and TWELFTH NIGHT.DIANE TIMMERMAN, a professional actor and director, is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Butler University where she has directed all five of her Shakespeare adaptations. Acting credits include roles at Chicago's Court Theatre, Dayton's Human Race Theatre Company, the Indiana Repertory and Phoenix Theatres of Indianapolis. Diane has appeared in numerous commercials and films, including The Package with Gene Hackman.

"Shakespeare's intertwined love polygons begin to get complicated from the start--Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia but she only has eyes for Lysander. Bad news is, Hermia's father wants Demetrius for a son-in-law. On the outside is Helena, whose unreturned love burns hot for Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander plan to flee from the city under cover of darkness but are pursued by an enraged Demetrius (who is himself pursued by an enraptured Helena). In the forest, unbeknownst to the mortals, Oberon and Titania (King and Queen of the faeries) are having a spat over a servant boy. The plot twists up when Oberon's head mischief-maker, Puck, runs loose with a flower which causes people to fall in love with the first thing they see upon waking. Throw in a group of labourers preparing a play for the Duke's wedding (one of whom is given a donkey's head and Titania for a lover by Puck) and the complications become fantastically funny."