A Midsummer Night's Dream - State Theatre

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Resources
BOOKS
The Friendly Shakespeare: A Thoroughly Painless Guide to the
Best of the Bard, by Norrie Epstein. Penguin, 1994.
Includes notes on theater and staging, authorship,
characters, and actors; a glossary of Elizabethan sexual
slang; interviews; and a chapter entitled “Why Is
Shakespeare Boring?”
Manga Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, illustrated
by Kate Brown. Amulet Books, 2008.
Shakespeare’s language remains largely intact, and is
illustrated with the style and visual language of manga.
The Shakespeare Miscellany, by David Crystal and Ben Crystal.
Overlook Hardcover, 2005.
A witty, insightful book with fascinating facts and insights
into Shakespeare’s life and works.
Shakespeare’s Words: A Glossary and Language Companion, by
David Crystal and Ben Crystal. Penguin, 2002.
A glossary of more than 14,000 words from Shakespeare,
explained and illustrated with quotations.
Shaking Hands with Shakespeare: A Teenager’s Guide to
Reading and Performing the Bard, by Allison Schumacher.
Kaplan Publishing, 2004.
An overview of Shakespeare’s work with an emphasis on
engaging the material the way actors do: through text
analysis, character study, reading aloud, and acting.
Includes information about Shakespeare’s life and times,
how to understand his language, the plots and characters,
and how to be an audience member.
FILM
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935). Directed by William
Dieterle and Max Reinhardt. Starring James Cagney and
Mickey Rooney. 133 mins. Not rated.
A black-and-white production featuring a cast of
Hollywood stars not especially known as Shakespearean
actors. But the film is a lot of fun and has some terrific
special effects.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968). Directed by Peter Hall.
Starring Helen Mirren. 124 mins. Not rated.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1993). Directed by Adrian
Noble. Starring Lindsay Duncan and Alex Jennings. 103 mins.
Rated PG-13.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999). Directed by Michael
Hoffman. Starring Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci,
Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, and Christian Bale. 116 mins.
Rated PG-13.
Shakespeare Retold: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005).
Directed by Ed Fraiman, adapted from Shakespeare by Peter
Bowker. 90 mins.
Part of the BBC-TV series of Shakespeare plays reimagined
for modern audiences.
ON THE WEB
“In Search of Shakespeare,” PBS’ site for students and
teachers, offering games, lesson plans, resource list, and an
exploration of Shakespeare’s life and times.
www.pbs.org/shakespeare
Folger Shakespeare Library
www.folger.edu
Shakespeare Resource Center
http://www.bardweb.net/
Folger Shakespeare Library
www.folger.edu