RICKY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream was much loved by Tudor audiences and it was a massive hit. It was fast and funny and a brilliant example of what we would call today a romantic comedy or romcom.
LEAH: It also took place in a world which lots of Tudor people really believed in, a world of sprites and fairies, some of whom loved nothing more than playing jokes on humans.
JENNIFER STONE:In a Midsummer Night’s dream there are four young lovers. But it’s all a bit confusing. Demetrius loves Hermia but Hermia loves Lysander. Hermia’s dad wants her to marry Demetrius but Hermia has other ideas. This makes Hermia’s dad really cross and he goes to the Duke about Lysander.
CLIP – HERMIA’S FATHER:This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child;
Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
JENNIFER STONE:But Lysander doesn’t want to know and comes up with his own solution.
CLIP – LYSANDER:You have her father’s love, Demetrius…so do you marry him?”
JENNIFER STONE:And then there’s Helena. She and Demetrius were once engaged - but Demetrius dumped her. But unfortuanely Helen is still in love with Demetrius and Lysander knows it…
CLIP – LYSANDER:
and she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
JENNIFER STONE:Hermia and Lysander decided to make a break for it and run off into the words together.
CLIP – LYSANDER:
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
There will I stay for thee.
JENNIFER STONE:Anyway, before all this happened Oberon, King of the Fairies and his wife, Titania, had a really bad argument…and Oberon decides to play a trick on her. He orders his hobgoblin Puck to prepare for some magic.
CLIP – OBERON:
Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
PUCK: I’ll put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes!
JENNIFER STONE:Now it all gets even more complicated because there are some other people in the wood. A group of working men who are planning to put on a play and deciding who will play all the characters. And one of these men is called…
CLIP - QUINCE:Nick Bottom, the weaver.
BOTTOM:Ready. Name what part I am for, and proceed.
QUINCE:You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.
BOTTOM:What is Pyramus?
JENNIFER STONE:Oberon overhears Helena saying how sad she is that Demetrius doesn’t love her, so Oberon decides to help her out. With the magic potion made from the special flower he can make Demetrius change his mind.
CLIP - OBERON:
anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady
JENNIFER STONE:Unfortunately Puck makes a right mess of it and puts the potion in Lysander’s eyes and he falls in love with Helena. Oberon puts the potion on Demetrius’ eyes and he realises he is madly in love with Helena - so now she’s got both of them chasing her…
CLIP – FUNNY BUSINESS WITY FLOWERS
JENNIFER STONE:And then, to keep Oberon happy Puck gives Nick Bottom the head of a donkey…
CLIP – BOTTOM ENTERS AND ACTOR FAINTS
JENNIFER STONE:And then he puts some of the love potion in Titania’s eyes and when she wakes up and sees Bottom with a donkey’s head…she falls in love with him!
CLIP: TITANIA: “I love thee!”
JENNIFER STONE:It’s all a complete mess and, to cut a long story short, Oberon starts to feel sorry for Titania and breaks the spell that made her fall in love with Bottom, and he orders Puck to make everything right.
PUCK:
Jack shall have Jill;
Nought shall go ill;
The man shall have his mare again, and all will be well.
JENNIFER STONE:Oh, and by the way, Bottom is turned back into a man again.
RICKY: Can you draw a picture of a naughty imp like Puck?
LEAH: Why not have a go? It’ll be magic!
Video summary
Newsround’s Ricky Boleto and Leah Gooding visit the Globe to learn about Shakespeare's romantic comedy, 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream'.
They find out about the mischievous Puck, and Oberon, King of the Fairies, who has cast a spell on his wife Titania that makes her fall in love with a man called Bottom.
Jennifer Stone from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust talks us through the chaotic plot of one of Shakespeare’s best loved plays.
Includes funny performance extracts from Globe Education’s Playing Shakespeare.
This clip is from the series i.am.Will Shakespeare.
Teacher Notes
Pupils could invent their own spells like those cast by Oberon and Puck, or draw pictures of that naughty hobgoblin or even poor Nick Bottom with the head of a donkey.
This clip will be relevant for teaching English at KS2 in England and Wales, KS1/KS2 in Northern Ireland and 2nd Level in Scotland.
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