The play is a romantic comedy written by Shakespeare at the end of the

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16 century, in 1595/1596. There are 5 acts

The action takes place in ancient Athens and like most Shakespearean
comedies, it begins with events that descend into a potential tragedy, but rise
again into a happy ending – a triple marriage.
Shakespeare’s inspiration is the story told by the famous historian Plutarh
who wrote The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. Theseus, one of the
main characters of the play, was considered the founder of Athens.

The main characters are

 Theseus, the duke of Athens
 Hipopolyta, Theseus’ bride, the queen of Amazons
 Titania, the queen of the faries
 Oberon, the king of the faries
 Puck, Oberon’s servant
 Hermia, a young Athenian girl who loves Lysander
 Helena, another girl who follows Demetrius
 Demetrius, a young Athenian, Helena’s first love
Lysander, Hermia’s sweetheart

Plot summary
Theseus and Hippolyta are planning their wedding festival when Egeus, an
Athenian nobleman, enters the scene, followed by his daughter Hermia.
Theseus wants Hermia to marry a young Athenian nobleman named
Demetrius, but she refuses. Hermia flees into the woods with her true
love, Lysander.
Helena, determined to win Demetrius's love for herself, tells him about
Hermia's plan to elope with Lysander. He immediately goes looking for Hermia
in the woods. Meanwhile, Oberon quarrels with his wife Titania, the Fairy
Queen. Oberon sends the mischievous Puck to sprinkle a love potion on Titania.
Oberon also instructs Puck to place the love potion on Demetrius to make him
love Helena.
 Puck finds an Athenian man in the woods and assumes it is the man
Oberon told him to place a love spell on. Unfortunately, Puck accidentally
places the spell on Lysander, who then falls in love with Helena and no
longer loves Hermia. Oberon sees Puck's mistake, and applies the love
potion on Demetrius to make him fall in love with Helena as he had
originally meant. However, now both men love Helena, and Hermia is
unloved. Meanwhile, Titania falls for Nick Bottom, an actor with a
donkey's head, while under the influence of the love potion.
Chaos ensues, and the play becomes a comedy of errors. Finally, King
Oberon removes the enchantments from all but Demetrius, who's still in love
with Helena. Duke Theseus and Hippolyta share their wedding festival with the
newly matched lovers.

The midnight summer 1999

Director: Michael Hoffman (screenplay also)

-Cast: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett,
Stanley Tucci, Christian Bale
-Duration: 1h 56min
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-The movie was released on the 24 of September 1999 in
UK.

2016

Director: David Kerr

-Screenplay: Russel T. Davies
-Cast: Matt Lucas, John Hannah, Nonso Anozie
-Duration: 1h 30min.
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-The movie was released on the 30 of May 2016 as a TV
movie.

ACT 1 SCENE 1 – 1999

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The play takes place is Monte Athena, Italy, 19
century.
The action of this scene happens in the garden, during the
day, on a lovely weather.

Theseus and Hippolyta almost kiss when they are

interrupted by Egeus. Hippolyta witnesses the whole
discussion.

Theseus seems rather sympathetic with Hermina’s

problem, but he advises her to follow her father’s will, and
marry Demetrius.

While Lysander and Demetrius have a fight, Hermina cares

for Helena, and speaks kindly to her. So does Lysander.
ACT 1 SCENE 1 2016
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The play takes place in the 21 century. The action of this
scene happens in a large room of Theseus’s palac

Theseus is portrayed as a dictator. He keeps Hippolyta as

a prisoner and he will marry her against her wish. She
does not participate at the discussion about Hermiae,
during the night, on a stormy weather.

Theseus seems to enjoy the perspective of killing Hermia

if she does not marry Demetrius, who is actually one of his
soldiers.

Lysander mocks Demetrius during the discussion.

Afterwards, when he plans his escape with Hermia and
Helena interrupts them, they both seem to be annoyed by
her

Bibliography

Primary sources

William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

Websters’s Thesaurus Edition for English Test Preparation,
Icon Group International, San Diego, 2005.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999), produced by Fox
Searchlight Pictures, directed by Michael Hoffman.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016), produced by BBC

Cymru Wales, directed by David Kerr.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Russell Jackson (editor), The Cambridge Companion to

Shakespeare on Film, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 2000.

Anthony R. Guneratne, Shakespeare, Film Studies, and the

Visual Cultures of Modernity, Palgrave Macmillan, New
York, 2008.