A Midsummer Night's Dream - Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

Stratford was a busy market town where holidays were celebrated with pageants andshows. Large fairs that were held each year attracted visitors from other counties andtraveling troupes of professional actors. One special celebration was Midsummer Night,the eve of June 24 th . "Frequently the characters in these pageants were fairies, goblins,witches and devils who could cast spells, change people into birds and animals and do allkinds of other extraordinary things." In addition, "midsummer madness", a malady thatwas blamed on the long hot days of summer, caused one to imagine strange things andbehave in peculiar ways often related to these folk stories and superstitions.When Shakespeare and his fellow actors first performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream in1595 the audience knew to expect a dreamlike fantasy and fairytale. The impish Puckacknowledges this expectation in the final lines of the play spoken to the audience:If we shadows have offended,Think but this, and all is mendedThat you have but slumbered hereWhile these visions did appear.And this weak and idle theme,No more yielding but a dream, … Act V Scene 1Shakespeare was well educated in Greek and Roman history, mythology and language,which may explain the setting in an enchanted forest on the outskirts of Athens.However the character of the play, including the types of plants and animals depicted,was more in keeping with the English countryside. Two examples are Oberon'sdescription of the beautiful bower where Titania sleeps, and the fairies' song:I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,With sweet muskroses and with eglantine.There sleeps Titania sometimes of the nightLulled in these flowers with dances and delight; … Act II Scene 1You spotted snakes with double tongue,Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;Newts and blindworms, do no wrong,Come not near our Fairy Queen. … Act II Scene 222