Yey! The very first Shakespeare that I read from cover to cover! Sneer if you have to but I graduated from a low-standard high school in a small island in the Pacific. The only dramatization that we did was Leon Ma. Guerrero's My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife. I played the lead role of Leon, the young farmer, though. In college, I took up a paramedical course in the city and we had World Lit but we only read mimeographed copies of Shakespeare sonnets. I still remember the term iambic pentamer but don't ask me to explain what that means since it was almost 30 years ago. Since then, Shakespeare works seem to be too classy for me to read. I thought that I would never find myself reading this book or any of his plays for that matter.

So this is how a Shakespeare's play looks like? I say it's awesome.

Midsummer Night's Dream is composed of 4 stories interwoven into the play: (1) The story of the Duke of Athens, Theseus and his fiancée, the Queen of the Amazons, Hipolita; (2) The story of the entangled lovers - two young men Lysander and Demetrius in love with Hermia who is only in love with Lysander. She has a friend, Helena who is in love with Demetrius; (3) The story of the artisan men who are to present a long short play about young Pyramus and his lover Thisbe to Theseus and Hipolita; and (4) The story of the fairies Oberon and Titania and the series of blunders committed by Puck (Robin Goodfellow) in using the "love-in-idleness," i.e., the juice of the flower Pansy that is put in one's eyelid while he or she is asleep and will make one go crazy in love with the first person one sees upon waking up.

It is crazy funny how Puck commits mistakes and the rendezvous of the characters. It's good that my edition of the book has both the Shakespeare original text and its modern version. The Introduction suggests that I should read both for me to appreciate Shakespeare's poetic expressions. So, I did and found it wonderful. I still prefer the original texts though although of course, it is harder to understand.

And the theme? Obviously, it's all about love. Of course, I know that Romeo and Juliet is about two young lovers who committed suicide. I just did not know, or maybe did not have time to know, that there are many other lovers in WS plays.

My friend, who obviously studied in a better high school, says that she played a part in the dramatization of this play when she was in 4th year high. Judging from her avatar, I would think that she should have played the lead roles of Hermia or Titania for she looks pretty and, based on her reviews and comments here in Goodreads, definitely smart. Those roles are far more sophisticated compared to mine, playing the farmer Leon, but it is not too late for me to get acquainted with Shakespeare's characters, right?

Review of 2023
This time rereading A Midsummer Night's Dream (AMSND), I read with GR Catching Up on the Classics. Those of us who have been reading and discussion this month have been a mix of those who have read AMSND before and those who are reading it for the first time/first since forever ago. In an effort to keep up, I have done a bit of a study.

The study:
I went into the read knowing that I would read the play from my trusty Bevington and from Shakespeare After All written by my current Shakespeare guru Marjorie Garber.

Another group member told us of Shakespeare's use of comedy, citing/paraphrasing some of Four Great Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew / A Midsummer Night's Dream / Twelfth Night / The Tempest, published by Signet. I remember this book from long ago on my bookshelf :-) This information is similar to what Bevington and Garber say, so this is a good place to start for a first read of the comedies.

Another group member provided information from the British Library website which provides a good check for me to know if I have adequately read and understood what I have read in the play and about the play--I am not interested in understanding all the information but in the parts that apply to my reading practice. https://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespea...

Another group member suggested a performance enacted at Rice University. Gotta go Texan everytime, so I watched. It is a good outdoor production where the outdoor sounds were edited out almost always. So very watchable and standard production with some better aspects. Puck was a good puck, being amoral troublemaker. The mechanics were innocents, not idiots as they are sometimes played as. Worth watching.

Thanks to my reading friends at Catching Up, I have enjoyed this reread

De los romances más disparatados que he leído. Una obra plagada de enredos y líos amorosos.

Man, being reasonable, must get drunk;

The best of life is but intoxication:

Glory, the grape, love, gold, in these are sunk

The hopes of all men and of every nation;

Without their sap, how branchless were the trunk

Of life's strange tree, so fruitful on occasion:

But to return,—Get very drunk; and when

You wake with headache, you shall see what then.

~ Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto II, Stanza 179.


If we offend, it is with our good will.

That you should think, we come not to offend,

But with good will. To show our simple skill,

That is the true beginning of our end.

Consider then we come but in despite.

We do not come, as minding to content you,

Our true intent is. All for your delight

We are not here. That you should here repent you,

The actors are on hand; and, by their show,

You shall know all, that you are like to know.

~ (V.i.108-117)


n  The Lightweight Satiren



A Midsummer Night’s Dream is often viewed as a lightweight play, but it is much more than that. It is one of Shakespeare’s most polished achievements, a poetic drama of exquisite grace, wit, and humanity. It has perhaps become one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, with a special appeal for the young. But belying its great universal appeal it might be a stinging social satire too, glossed over by most in their dreamy enjoyment of the magnificent world Shakespeare presents and also by the deliberate gross-comedy in the end that hides the play from itself.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an Archetypal play where charm, innocence, violence and sexuality mix in giddy combinations. In this fantastic masterpiece, Shakespeare moves with wonderful dramatic dexterity through several realms, weaving together disparate storylines and styles of speech.

It offers a glorious celebration of the powers of the human imagination and poetry while also making comic capital out of its reason’s limitations and societies’ mores. It is also perhaps the play which affords maximum inventiveness on stage, both in terms of message and of atmosphere.



The Course of True Love

n  “The course of true love never did run smooth.”n

1. In some ways Lysander’s well-known declaration becomes one of the central themes, as the comedy interlocks the misadventures of five pairs of lovers (six if one counts Pyramus and Thisby) - and uses their tribulations to explore its theme of love’s difficulties.

2. Also central to the play is the tension between desire and social mores. Characters are repeatedly required to quell their passion for the sake of law and propriety.

3. Another important conflict is between love and reason, with the heart almost always overruling the mind. The comedy of the play results from the powerful, and often blinding, effects that love has on the characters’ thoughts and actions.

4. Third antipathy is between love and social class divisions, with some combinations ruled out arbitrarily, with no appeal to reason except for birth. This when combined with upward aspirations and downward suppressed fantasies form a wonderful sub-plot to the whole drama. Represented best by Bottom’s famous dream.

Each of these themes have a character representing them that forms the supporting cast to the lovers’ misadventures, defining through their acts the relationship between desire, lust and love and social customs:

1. The unreasonable social mores is represented by Egeus, who is one character who never changes. (Also perhaps by Demetrius who appeals to the same customs to get what he wants)

2. Unloving desire by Theseus who too never changes, and also perhaps by the principal lovers (H&L) in their original state. (Helena could be said to represent ‘true’ love but Shakespeare offers us nothing to substantiate this comforting assumption. It is also important that the women's loves not altered by the potion, which is very significantly dropped into the eyes, affecting vision - i.e. it can affect only superficial love.)

3. Lack of reason, though embodied in all the lovers, are brought to life by Puck as the agent of madness and of confusion of sight, which is the entry-point for love in Shakespeare.

4. Finally, class aspirations and their asinine nature by Bottom himself

Love, Interrupted

Out of all these, every character is given a positive light (or an extra-human light, in the case of the fairies) except Egeus, who is the reason for the night-time excursion and all the comedy. In fact, Shakespeare even seems deliberately to have kept the crusty and complaining Egeus out of the 'joy and mirth’ of the last celebrations - he disappears along with the over-restrictive society he is supposed to represent - of marriages, reasoned alliances and ‘bloodless’ cold courtships.

Hence, it is social mores that compel the wildness on love which is not allowed to express itself freely. When freed of this and allowed to resolve itself in a Bacchanalian night all was well again and order was restored to the world.



This reviewer has taken the liberty of assuming that this is the central theme of the play - which is also deliciously ironic since it is supposed to have been written for a wedding. What better time to mock the institution of marriage than at a wedding gala?

So in a way the four themes - difficulties of true love, restrictions by propriety and customs, and the comical unreason that beset lovers, and class differences that put some desires fully into the category of fantasies - are all products of social mores that impose artificial restrictions on love and bring on all the things mocked in this play by Shakespeare.



In fact this is one reason why Bottom could be the real hero of the play (as is the fashion among critical receptions of the play these days) - he was the only one comfortable in transcending all these barriers, at home everywhere and in the end also content with his dreams and in the realization that he would be an ass to try to comprehend what is wrong with the world.

The Subtle Satire

The lovers’ inversions of love could be taken to be a satire on the fickle nature of love but I prefer to see it as another joke at the expense of social mores - of the institution of marriage and courtship, in which each suitor professes undying love in such magnificent lines until he has to turn to the next and do the same. This is reinforced by allusion to how women are not free to ‘pursue’ their loves as men are since social mores allow only the man to pursue and the woman has to chose from among her suitors. It is quite telling that it was Bottom who accepted love and reason seldom go together and expresses the hope that love and reason should become friends. His speech echoes Lysander’s in the previous scene. Lysander, the aristocrat instead  is just another attempting to find a way to understand the workings of love in a rational way, the failures emphasize the difficulty of this endeavor. Lysander thus ends his speech by believing/claiming his newfound love for Helena was based on reason, quite absurdly, but yet quite convinced - representing most of mankind.



By taking the lovers to the enchanted forest of dreams, far from the Athenian social customs and into  land where shadows and dreams rule, and then resolving everything there, even allowing Bottom a glimpse of aristocratic love, Shakespeare seems to say that it is the society that restricts love and makes it artificial - all that is needed is  bit of madness, a bit of stripping away of artificiality - throughout he cupid’s potion. Again the need for a bit of madness (lunacy, mark the repeated moon ref). It is almost an appeal to the Dionysian aspects of life - see alternate review on Nietzsche for detail. (Also see these two Plato-based reviews for important and balancing takes on 'rational' love - Phaedrus & The Symposium



Puck Vs Quince (or) Diana Vs Cupid (or) Art Vs Entertainment

Significantly the final words of the play belong to the master of misrule, the consummate actor and comedian, Puck. In some sense, Puck, with his ability to translate himself into any character, with his skill in creating performances that seem all too real to their human audiences, could be seen as a mascot of the theater. Therefore, his final words are an apology for the play itself. Also mark how Puck courteously addresses the audience as gentlefolk, paralleling Quince's address to his stage audience in his Prologue.

Thus, the final extrapolation on the theme could be that Shakespeare ultimately points out that though a bit of madness and wildness is needed to bring love back into the realms of the truth, it can also be achieved through great art, through sublime theater - not by bad theater though! This could be a statement that Art and thus Theatre is a substitute for the madness of love that is needed to escape the clutches of society (and live the fantasies away from the constricting artificial 'realities') and find yourself, to rediscover yourself away from ‘cold reason’.

When the actor playing Puck stands alone on the stage talking to the audience about dreams and illusions, he is necessarily reminding them that there is another kind of magic - the magic of the theatre. And the magic it conjures is the magic of self-discovery. Continuing the play’s discourse on poetry, Puck defines the poetry of theater as an illusion that transports spectators into the same enchanted region that dreams inhabit. Thus the spectators have not only watched the dream of others but have, by that focus of attention, entered the dream state themselves.

This ‘finding yourself’ seems to be the most essential part of love and as long as you are constrained by imposed restrictions, this is impossible. That is why Shakespeare has made it easy for us and created an art-form of a play that allows us to dream-in-unreason and wake up refreshed. But there is a caveat too, highlighted by the parallel prologues of Puck and Quince - A ‘Crude’ entertainment like ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ might only allow one to while away an evening happily. It might not give the transport and release and inward-looking that is necessary to achieve the madness that true art is supposed to confer. So Shakespeare uses the play to educate us on what is needed to find ourselves and then the play-within-the-play to also show us what to avoid.

Lord, What Fools Mortals Be

“Art, like love, is a limited and special vision; but like love it has by its very limits a transforming power, creating a small area of order in the vast chaos of the world . . . . At the moment when the play most clearly declares itself to be trivial, we have the strongest appeal to our sympathy for it. . . .” ~ Alexander Leggatt

n  “I will get Peter Quince to write a ballet of this dream. It shall be call’d “Bottom’s Dream,” because it hath no bottom.”n

In one of the most philosophically transcendent moments in the play, Bottom wakes up from his grand aristocratic/magical dream and is disoriented. Bottom decides to title his piece “Bottom’s Dream” because it has no bottom - all literature and art are bottomless, in that their meaning cannot be quantified, cannot be understood solely through the mechanisms of reason or logic. Here it parallels life and love, both beyond reason, limited only by the imagination.



Of course, this is a very simplistic representation of a wonderfully complicated play. It can be read in many different ways based on the viewpoint you chose to adopt. I have tried out a few and felt the need to comment slightly at length on this viewpoint. This is not to diminish the play, which I fully concur with Shakespeare is indeed a ‘Bottom’s Dream’ since it has no bottom in the wealth of meaning to be mined from it.

Lord, what fools these mortals be, Puck philosophizes, mockingly. And perhaps we are indeed fools - for entering into the dangerous, unpredictable world of love or of literature; yet what fun would life be without it?

n  n

My high school English teacher called this "the perfect play." He meant that in terms of it being performed. He would use it with new groups of drama students, because there was absolutely no possible way for them to screw it up. And now, close on 10 years later, I can't yet prove him wrong. I've been in this play twice (Hermia), I've seen it performed countless times by good groups of actors, mediocre ones, and one cast that was mostly pretty bad, I've seen it done in traditional Shakespearean costumes, modern day, Edwardian, 1950s, and one time a psychadelic 60s show, and I've still not yet had a bad evening at the theatre with it yet.

The text speaks for itself, I think. The first conversation is the perfect thing to draw in adults and giggly twelve year olds alike. Repressive fathers, good boys and mean boys, the pathetic boy-crazy friend with a weird obsessions... etc.

Even in the hands of average actors, I think the text just catches people up into it. You can almost act this one on instinct. You can do it with half remembered intonations and gestures from sitcoms, and people will laugh. For some characters, the direction for what to do is implied in the lines. Bottom, for instance, while he's trying to ensure that he plays every part in the play so no one interferes with his spotlight- the mousy sounds, the roaring, the pompous hero, the woman. Anyone who likes a bit of attention can get into that- as I say, the thing sort of just pulls you along with it. The last time I was in it, one of my best friends played Helena, and we were tearing each others hair out by the middle of the first rehearsal like it was the most natural thing in the world.

I still really enjoy Bottom and Titania and the play within a play at the end, and I still think Act III, Scene II confusion can be one of the funniest sequences in Shakespeare (topped only by the Twelfth Night girl on girl/duel bits and a couple of scenes from Much Ado).

After all that, I should probably also tell you that I'm incredibly biased: this was the first Shakespeare play that I ever read, and it was through reading this that I became close to some of the girls who are still my best friends, and its responsible for leading me to the rest of the Shakespeare plays that I came to love. Yeah, probably should've said that first, but whatever. I think if anything it strengthens my case, so oh well.

Re-reading the play this time, I couldn't stop thinking about The Magic Flute.

Like Mozart's opera, Shakespeare's play may have a silly plot composed of fanciful, seemingly arbitrary elements, yet, through the power of absolute artistic mastery, the framework of what might otherwise be nothing but a second-rate masque is transformed, by the unwearied attention of genius--and in Shakespeare's case, sublime poetry--into a work of great resonance, an archetypal myth.

Δεύτερη αναγνωση εν οψει θεατρικής παράστασης.

Η πρώτη ηταν στο γυμνάσιο, οπου, παρ ολο το νεαρο της ηλικίας μου, θυμάμαι πως δεν μπορούσα ν αφησω κατω το βιβλίο - κι ας ηταν και σε θεατρική φορμα- μέχρι να το τελειωσω. Ευφυεις διαλογοι, τρομερη πλοκή, μεγαλο μπερδεμα, γελιο και συγκινηση, ερωτας και φαρσα, δροσοσταλιδες φιλοσοφιας και αποφθεγματική γραφή οπως μονο ο Σαιξπηρ ξέρει να το κανει τόσο γοητευτικά.

Στην τωρινή μου ανάγνωση απολαυσα ακομη περισσότερο - που δεν ειχα εκτιμησει τοσο την πρωτη φορα- την, ας πουμε, παραλληλη ιστορια με την τραγελαφική αυτοσχεδια θεατρική παράσταση του τοπικου θιάσου της κακιάς ωρας, για τους γάμους του Θησέα και της Ιππολύτης.

Μου αρεσε πολυ το πάντρεμα της αρχαιοελληνικής μυθολογιας με την δυτική (ξωτικά νεραιδες τελώνια) στον ένα άξονα και στον άλλο την συγχρονη -της εποχης- πραγματικότητα, με τους νεους να ερωτευονται ο ενας τον αλλον -μηπως ετσι δεν ειναι στην πραγματικοτητα και ο ερωτας; Ο Α αγαπαει τον Β ο οποιος αγαπαει τον Γ ο οποιος κυνηγαει τον Δ και ουτω καθεξης..
Το ανακάτεμα και το συνοθύλευμα αυτό του μυθικού με το αληθινό, της φαντασίας και του ρεαλισμού

Κι αν όλα αυτά σας φαινονται απιστευτα, βάλτε τα σε ένα Ονειρο.
Ολα μπορουν να συμβουν, κι όλα επιτρέπονται σ' ενα Όνειρο Καλοκαιρινής Νύχτας

“Lovers and madmen have such seething brains
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends."



One of William Shakespeare's most famous comedies, A Midsummer Night's Dream, delights in gorgeous language, clever plot twists, fairies and whimsy. I'd read this before, but it felt like the right time to get it out and read it again. While it doesn't have the emotional grip on the reader (or playgoer) that Hamlet, Henry II or several of his tragedies have, it was fun to revisit this and experience it again! 4.5 stars


...............

My favorite Shakespeare. I've been in it and I see it whenever I have the chance.

I forced it on 4th, 5th, and 6th graders last year. At first they were terribly confused by Shakespearean language but ultimately, they loved it.

During Bottom's soliloquy in the play-within-a play, after a half-page of ridiculous, melodrama and general wordiness, I asked the kids what he was trying to say, and one correctly deduced, "It's night. It's night. It's night. That's a wall. It's a wall. It's a wall."

My other favorite moment was when a student read the word "bosom" and warily asked what it meant. I said, "It can mean breast or chest or heart." He looked pained, and I said, "I think Shakespeare is using it to mean heart here." He said, "Thank God."

Oh, I loved this so much. It's charming and fun and hilarious and silly but it has a lot of heart- it's not just an empty comedy. There's wit and some really great observations on flights of fancy and the ridiculous things humans will do (with or without the help of forest nymphs) in the name of love. Also, an enchanted forest has got to be one of my favourite settings of all time, the heady summer air and a sense of magic really seeped through the pages.

Two of my favourite quotes, both by Robin Goodfellow a.k.a. Puck (and I'm reciting from memory here, so bear with me):

"If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended.
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear,
And this weak and idle theme;
No more yielding but a dream..."


"Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand
And the youth, mistook by me
Pleading for a lover's fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

أولا اعترف "خجلا" أن دي أول قراءة ليا لشكسبير، وبالصدفة جائت باسبوع الجودريدز له

فمن أول ابريل وانا بروايات الغابات أُجيل
وقررت ختم تجوالي بحكايات الجنيات الخرافية، برواية قوية كلاسيكية
وهل هناك اشهر من شكسبير، وحلم ليلة منتصف صيف الشهير؟

لكن اول عقبة صدمتني..أنجليزي ده يامرسي؟
ولكن جنيات جوجل ارسلتلي..موقع عظيم ساعدني
موقع نافع العلم غزير..به قسم شكسبير نو فير
لاقرا للشاعر المسرحي الجليل، بلغته الاصلية جنبا للغة هذا الجيل

لقد بهرتني المسرحية بحق كيف لم ألق لها من قبل بالا
حلم ليلة منتصف صيف ،لربما اكثر اعمال شكسبير خيالا
جمالا...خرافة...سعادة...ومرحا وضحكا جللا

اوك، انا زهقت من السجع ، عذرا صديقي القارئ دعني اصيغ المراجعة دون تضيع الامر هزلا
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
يجب ان اعترف انني اشعر انني الوحيد من يري ان تلك المسرحية كاملة، ليس فقط لأنني من هواة القصص الخرافية ولم أتوقع أن يقدم شكسبير مثله
ولكن أعجبني جدا سخريته من التراجيديات الحمقاء كأنتحار المحبين بل والسخرية من ترتيبات الزواج المسبقة بشكل ممتاز بل وتقديم العدالة الشعرية لمن يلعب بقلوب الفتيات ويتركها

ولكني ايضا ضبطت نفسي اضحك علي اكثر من موقف لم يعف عليه الزمن ويجعله مكررا...بل وانفجرت في الضحك لا أراديا بفصلها الأخير بأكثر من موقف منها هذا الحوار بين الدوق ثيسيوس و ديميتريوس اثناء مشاهدتهم المسرحية الهزلية
n  

nTheseus
I wonder if the lion be to speak.
Demetrius
No wonder, my lord. One lion may when many asses do.

n
يقصد هنا الممثلين الأخرين , بينما الأسد هو ممثل أخر , وبالفعل سيتكلم بلا اي لزوم
حسنا , لا أعلم أن كان لفظ حمار له نفس المعني المزدوج العامي في القرن السادس عشر ولكن هذا السطر فعلا جعلني اضحك بشدة

ودعني اصحبك معي لأكثر ما اعجبني بالقصة...ولنر قصص الحب الظريقة والمختلطة بشئ من السخرية والتقاليد العتيقة...هجاء للانتحار واللعب بقلوب البنات..تقديس الحب الذي يمنح للطبيعة الاستمرار..ويجعلنا مغفلين في بعض الأحيان

*** سبع قصص حب ***
❤❤ ضد روميو و جولييت ❤❤
~~~~~~~~~~~~

الرواية مليئة بقصص الحب المنطقية منها والغير منطقية..ولكن كلها تنال نهاية عادلة جميلة سعيدة
وفي نفس الوقت تسخر من نهايات قصص الحب المأساوية المبالغ فيها في مسرحية بداخل مسرحية
الحق يقال ظننت أن شكسبير هنا يسخر من رائعته الأشهر "روميو و جولييت" والتي أراها قمة المحن المقدم بحنكة أدبية حقيقية خالدة... ولكن هنا بمسرحية "حلم ليلة منتصف صيف" يتم تقديم بنهايتها في حفل زفاف دوق أثيا مسرحية تعتبر محاكاة ساخرة علي قصة شبيهة بروميو وجولييت

والغريب ان حسب الحسابات حول تواريخ اول عرض لمسرحيات شكسبير فأن حلم ليلة صيف تلي روميو وجولييت بعام واحد...في 1595/1596

قصص الحب هنا تم تقديمها بشكل ظريف...لا اخفي انني في المراجعة هذه المرة سأختصر شرح الاحداث -المسرحية قصيرة أصلا فالتقرأها رجاءا- وسأكتفي بانطباعاتي وتحليل ما استطعت فهمه منها -فلست متعمق للاسف بعد في ادب شكسبير
ولكن الملاحظ قبل البدء أن بالرغم من المعترف عليه ان اعمال شكسبير تعج باللوردات والملوك إلا أن المسرحية تلك مختلفة بحق..حيث ستجد أيضا ان شخصية عمال القصر لديهم دور كبير بل واكبر من دور الدوق نفسه
بل وايضا دور الجنيات والذي سنتطرق له لاحقا

❤❤❤ الأولــي ❤❤❤
دوق أثينا ثيسيوس وملكة الأمازون هيبوليتا
----------------
لا أدري لم افهم كثيرا كيف أحتل مملكتها وفي نفس الوقت هي واقعة في الحب به بهذه الدرجة ولكن علي كل حال هما علي توافق وحب من بداية المسرحية ويخططان لحفل زواجهما بشوق شديد خلال 4 ايام
لن تجد الكثير عن قصتهما..لكن شخصية ثيسيوس أعجبتني بشدة انه عادل وعاشق وخفيف الدم ايضا من تعليقاته عن المسرحية

❤❤❤ الثـانية والثـالثـة ❤❤❤
هيرميا - ليساندر - ديميتروس - هيلينا
------------------

هيرميا تحب ليساندر وليساندر يحبها ...وابيها رجل نبيل صديق الملك يحاول ان يجعلها تقتنع بأن تتزوج ديميتروس الذي يحبها وابيها يفضله عن ليساندر
n  

nLysander
You have her father’s love, Demetrius.
Let me have Haemia’s. Do you marry him.

n
اللي هو ليساندر بيقول لديميتروس "طالما ابوها بيحبك كدة متسيب البت واتجوزه هو" … هيرميا بقي بتضرب قنبلة أن ديميتروس رسم الحب علي اعز صديقاتها هيلينا وتركها بعد ماوقعت في حبه -وقعت في الحب فقط المسرحية لا يوجد بها جنس خارج اطار الزواج ودي ميزة مهمة

يحتد الصراع ولن اتكلم عن الأحداث.يكفي ان تعرف ان هذا الصراع سيستغرق مشهد كامل هو الأطول خلال الفصل الثالث في الغابة...ولكن الجنيات سيتغير كل شئ
الحب بين الاربع شخصيات كان ظريفا..وأعتقد ان النهاية العادلة حتي وإن تدخلت فيها الجنيات كانت موفقة جدا واعجبتني للغاية
شعرت بالشفقة علي هيلينا جدا ولكن عنادها وعدم تصديقها كان ظريفا وان كان مطولا

❤❤❤ الرابعة ❤❤❤
نك بوتوم ونك بوتوم
----------
هو شخص واحد..بوتوم ذلك العامل البسيط والذي يقوم بدور البطولة في المسرحية التي يعدها فريق من العمال بالقصر لتقديمها في حفل زواج الدوق
ويتدخل بوتوم في عمل المخرج طوال الوقت بتوجيهات لباقي فريق التمثيل بشكل ساخر وايضا في تفخيم وتضخيم دوره سيجعلك تشعر أن أمثال بوتوم موجودين في كل مكان في مجالات الادب والفن عاما في مصر
فبوتوم بالرغم من موهبته التمثيلية البشعة فهو المتحكم وتأثيره كان علي كل شخصيات المسرحية بل وديكوراتها البشرية

استغرق دور بوتوم وقت طويل من المسرحية كما قلت في بداية الرواية .. كتبه شكسبير بشكل جيد فعلا
ستشعر انه رجل يحب نفسه جدا بشكل خفيف الدم واعجبني جدا ايضا...انه يحب نفسه حتي عندما حدثت القصة السادسة

❤❤❤ الخامسة ❤❤❤
تايتانيا واوبيرون
--------
ملكة وملك الجنيات الخرافية بالغابة
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy"
يبدو أن شكسبير يريد أن يظهر أن هناك غرائب ما بهذا العالم


حسنا, طوال الشهر قرأت روايتين حديثيتين عن الجنيات الخرافية بالغابات...ومسرحية تجمع بين 4 من اشهر قصص الجنيات الخيالية الفلكلورية في مسرحية واحدة بداخل الغابة وبشكل سوداوي واقعي

كان يجب أن أنهي تلك الرحلة الروائية بالغابات..وعلي حسب علمي أن تلك المسرحية لشكسبير بها ايضا غابة وجنيات خرافية..وبصراحة قد فاق توقعاتي
الجنيات لهم دور مهم في الحبكة التي تجعلها كالحلم بالنسبة للابطال..شعرت ان هناك معني خفي لفكرة الفتي الهندي ابن صديقة تايتانيا والذي بسببه يحدث مشكلة بين الزوجين الملك والملكة..فقد قرأت مؤخرا في رواية "بندول فوكو" أن شكسبير لديه معان خفية كثيرة عن الغرائبيات والهند شهيرة بذلك, لذا لا اعتقد أن اصل الفتي من الهند قد جاء من فراغ

اما عن تقلبات الجو التي تم ذكرها في الأحداث ايضا بسبب ان ملكة الجنيات في مزاج سئ ايضا يثبت ان الرجل لديه نظرية ما
بعد البحث وجدت ان الجنيات لم تظهر في قصص اخري لشكسبير سوي أثنان وهما :
"The Tempest"
"The Merry Wives of Windsor"
وحتي دورهما كان بشكل اقل من هنا ..كما تم ذكر جنية معالجة في روميو وجولييت
قصة الحب هنا لا تعد قصة حب قدر ما هي خلاف زوجي بسيط تسبب في عدم المعاشرة بينهما.. وبسبب هذا الخلاف حدثت كل الاعاجيب لكل الشخصيات بسبب عطر الحب...وما زاده هو ان أوبيرون لديه من النبل أن اشفق علي مصير الأحباء لذلك حدثت عقدة الحكاية عندما جعل عفريت يدعي روبين ان يساعده في حل الخلاف بينه وبين زوجته وايضا بين الاحباء

❤❤❤ السادسة ❤❤❤
تايتانيا و بوتوم -برأس الحمار
--------------

بالرغم من انه خطأ عطر الحب إلا أن خفة دم بوتوم ومدي شعوره بنفسه لن يجعله يلحظ ولا بأنه ذو رأس حمار ولا حتي بحب ملكة الجنيات الجميلة له … بل سيحاول ان يجعل خدمها يخدموه فحسب , إلم أقل لكم انه في علاقة حب مع نفسه؟


❤❤❤ السابعة والأخيرة ❤❤❤
بيراموس وثيسبي
--------

وهي مسرحية تم تقديمها في أخر المسرحية..مسرحية بداخل مسرحية تسمي
"الدراما القصيرة المرهقة عن بيراموس وحبيبته ثيسبي، تراجيديا حزينة جدا وكوميدية"
أو بالأنجليزية
“A tedious short drama about young Pyramus and his love Thisbe, a very sad and tragic comedy.”
هذه المسرحية هي أحد اكثر ما اعجبني بتلك القصة واضحكني بشدة... وتم تقديمها في حفل الزواج بعد النهايات السعيدة
هي المسرحية التي يعدها العمال منذ بداية الرواية ويقوم ببطولتها بوتوم وبقية العمال والتي تتحول لمسخرة حقيقية ليس فقط لأداء الممثلين المقدم بأسوا طريقة ممكنة ولا كسرهم للحائط الرابع وحديثهم المباشر للجمهور...ونوع الادوار نفسها -كالحائط والقمر والاسد - وحتي تعليقات الابطال "ثيسيوس" دوق اثينا والمشاهدين معه كانت اكثر مرحا

فكرة المسرحية بداخل المسرحية اكيد فكرة جيدة، لكن الحكاية نفسها تم تقديمها بشكل كوميدي جدا مثير جدا للضحك
ولتنتهي المسرحية بالمرح...بالحب الذي هو سر انتظام الحياة والطبيعة .. وحتي العدالة

❤ ❤ ❤❤ ❤ ❤❤ ❤ ❤❤ ❤ ❤❤ ❤ ❤❤ ❤ ❤❤ ❤ ❤❤ ❤ ❤❤ ❤ ❤❤ ❤ ❤

النهاية
❤ ❤ ❤
يجب أن اعترف اني كنت مخطئا..خصوصا اني لم اقرأ شكسبير اولا لاني تعليم "حكومي" فلم يكن في المقرر علي الاقل حتي 2000 سنة التخرج من الثانوية العامة مسرحية له...وللاسف لا اعتبر نفسي قارئ جيد..لان الكثير لم أقرأه بعد برغم اهميته وشعرت انه كان سيكون مملا وثقيلا

ولا انكر ان دي اكتر مسرحية اصلا كنت متشوق اقرأها من اواخر التسعينات مع صدور فيلم مبني عليها في 1999 ولكني لم اشاهده لان الرقابة منعته وقتها

ولكن الاسم كان عالقا ببالي لفترة طويلة وكنت وقتها بعمل اغاني كوكتيلات علي شرائط كاسيت واسميها "حلم ليلة صيف ج1 ووصل حتي ج7 قبل ان يظهر راديو سوا وقتها في 2002
-فقرة الذكريات الاليمة :)-
ولكن جائت الفرصة اخيرا
ومتأخرا افضل من ابدا
ولم اتخيل اني ساستمتع بها لهذه الدرجة مطلقا

ماذا تعلمت من المسرحية؟
لا شئ...أنها ملهاة ساخرة اجتماعية ظريفة بل ونظيفة بعكس كثير من الروايات والمسرحيات الحديثة المعاصرة
اضحكتني كثيرا وامتعتني وجذبتني
أه..وأن الحب قد يصنع منا مغفلين احيانا...كما يقول العنوان الدعائي للفيلم التسعيناتي..ولكن في نفس الوقت الحب اساسي جدا لسير الحياة والطبيعة..فقط في اطاره السليم

ولتستمتع بالمسرحية لهذا الحد مثلي فطبعا بلغته الاصلية افضل.. و بالاستعانة بقاموس "انجليزي -انجليزي" ومتصل بالانترنت الموضوع ظبط كتير بس عايز شوية تركيز
لكن بصراحة الموقع الممتاز سابق الذكر
No Fear Shakespeare
وده ممكن تقرأ النص الاصلي ونص مكتوب بالانجليزي الحديث
لكن النص القديم برغم صعوبته لكنه افضل بكتير في السجع علي الاقل
لكن الموقع ده حاول بشكل ممتاز انه يخليك برضه تستمتع بالنص الجديد واضافة قليل من السجع من وقت للتاني زي ماعملت في اول الريفيو هنا بالعربي

اقرأ الاتنين..وترجم لو تحب بس فعلا متعة الحكاية بلغتها الاصلية
ستجد انك ستبتسم وربما تضحك بالرغم من ان 400 عاما مرت عليها
اتمني لك قراءة سعيدة بغابة شكسبير والذي سأقرأ له المزيد بالتأكيد


Happy Shakespeare Day...Happy Earth Day...Happy Spring . :)
23 ِApril 2016

Reading , Act a Day,
From 18 April 2016
To 22 April 2016

While it is generally true that plays should be seen and not just read, this is even more true of Midsummer Night's Dream.

It is a popular play to be performed and I have seen it several times but struggled with the reading. Still, it is a brilliant work by Shakespeare, and very entertaining. Like so many of his works, this one has been very influential on so many romantic comedies that have come since.

Shakespeare may have tried to recreate or even improve on the fairie ideal with Ariel from The Tempest, but Puck may well be his perfect impish creation.