A Midsummer Night's Dream was written by William Shakespeare and was first performed in 1595 or 1596. It is a romantic comedy about the trials and tribulations of love that 4 couples go through. Those couples are the 2 pairs of young Athenian lovers: Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius; Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and his new bride, Hippolyta, the conquered Amazon Queen, and finally Oberon and Titania, the Fairy King and Queen.

At the beginning of the play the setting is the city of Athens. Theseus and Hippolyta are looking forward to their wedding day in four days time. They are suddenly interrupted by Egeus, Hermia's father. Egeus wants Thesues to force Hermia to marry Demetrius, who claims he loves her. But Hermia does not love Demetrius; she loves Lysander and refuses to marry Demetrius. So Theseus gives Hermia a choice: she has to marry Demetrius or she will either be sent to a nunnery or put to death.

Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus and Demetrius leave the stage and Hermia and Lysander are left alone. They decide to elope the following night to the wood outside the city. Helena, who loves Demetrius enters. Hermia and Lysander tell her their plan and they then leave the stage. Left on her own Helena decides she will tell the plan to Demetrius, in the hope that he will be so grateful that he will fall in love with her! Her plan back fires; now Demetrius loves Helena even less and Hermia even more. Desperate to find Helena Demetrius decides to go and look for her in the wood. Distraught Hermia follows him.

So the 4 young Athenian lovers are now all in the woods, and it is only Act II! You will discover what happens in the woods with the fairies, why Bottom is an ass and whether it all 'ends happily ever after' during the course of the Summer School!

Click here to download printable version of this page