n  n    “Though she be but little, she is fierce!”n  n

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is Shakespeare’s funniest comedy, honestly. When a couple tries to run away, they get followed by a man in love with them, and then by a woman in love with him. And a fairy fucking around makes it all go to shit. As you do!

This play is probably funniest because of its excellent set of characters, including:
✔Hermia – is 4’9” and could kick your ass. runs a feminist blog
✔Lysander – is so beautiful and so, so useless
✔Helena – was told she was too tall for a pair of heels once by a shoestore clerk and stared him directly in the face while purchasing them. your one friend who’s pining over some shitty man
✔Demetrius – the shitty man. okay, actually, he’s doing his best, he’s just like, really bad at everything

n  →adaptation thoughts←n
Okay, first of all, may I just say: I won’t rest until someone does a version that changes the genders of Lysander and Helena and makes it a play about an arranged marriage being forced apart because they both find gay love. you're all weak for not taking this obvious opportunity

But in case you wanted a serious answer: I have not actually seen this adaptation yet, but I am a huge fan of the casting of this production:

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n  here are my other Shakespeare thoughts:n
Hamlet - ★★★★★
Romeo & Juliet - ★★★☆☆
Midsummer - ★★★★★
Macbeth - ★★★★★
Much Ado - ★★★★★

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mini-review, as I do for classics:
this was my first time reading Shakespeare on my own, and I kind of...saw that as a negative. I like discussing Shakespeare in a classroom setting, and being motivated to mark up the text and otherwise process it fully. I felt like I missed out on stuff here.
also, this play felt so short. maybe it's my edition's fault, for being 111 pages. maybe it's how abrupt the ending was (which is very). or how flat the characters were, or how there were a sh*t ton of them. long story short, it's not my fave Shakespeare.
all that being said, this was very readable and funny at some points. I think this is one of the plays you really need to see performed, rather than read it.

bottom line: I recommend watching this (I sure want to!) but I don't think I recommend reading it.

i can not believe that i actually enjoyed a william shakespeare play. what the fucketh

I really enjoyed this play. It was beautifully told, whimsical in parts, and there were fairies. Fairies are never a bad addition to a story, and that made it more of a magical experience. I loved the humour that was present in this, and the fact that Titania fell in love with Bottom, despite having the head of an ass, made me titter.

I know that this is one of the more popular Shakespeare plays, and I can understand why. The themes within this are wonderful, and I enjoyed the fantasy element. Some of it, I admit, went over my head a little, and I had to go back and read it again, but overall, this was a beautiful experience. I definitely will delve into more Shakespeare in the future.

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.

An entertaining and amusing tale, filled with an inexhaustible richness of symbolicism, atmosphere and verbal complexity. After having seen Shakespeare as a writer of tragic and twisted stories dealing with death and schemes as major leitmotifs for many years, a light-hearted story like "A Midsummer Night's Dream" proved to be exactly the right one to convince me of the direct opposite: that Shakespeare can also masterfully create romantic comedies full of amusing allusions.

این کتاب حاصل یه ایده باشکوه و جذاب دیگه از شکسپیره… عشاقی که وارد یک جنگل میشن و‌ وقتی چشم باز میکنن میبینن عه! عاشق یکی دیگه شدن
تم فانتزی این اثر تجربه جدیدی از آثار شکسپیر برای من بود و صحنه دعوای اون مربع عشقی با ادبیات شکسپیری هم برای من خیلی جذاب بود D:
شکسپیر توی این نمایشنامه یه نمایشنامه دیگه رو‌ خلق میکنه که آخر عاقبتش خیلی شبیه به رومئو‌ و ژولیته. ولی قسمت های مربوط به نمایش جذابیت زیادی برای من نداشتن
نمایشنامه شخصیت اصلی مطرحی نداشت، با این حال شخصیت تزیوس و جملاتش درخشان بودن✨

«طبع شریف، شایستگی عملی را که مردم قادر به انجام آن نیستند معیار قضاوت قرار نمی‌دهد، بلکه کوشش آنها را می‌ستاید. دانشمندان بزرگی را دیده ام که خود را برای خوشامد گفتن به من آماده کرده اند ولی هنگامی که با من مواجه شده‌اند به خود لرزیده و رنگ خود را باخته و با کلماتی مقطع از شدت ترس چند جمله ای شکسته ادا کردن و مانند اشخاص لال حرف خود را ناگهان بریده اند و نتوانسته اند به من خوشامد بگویند. باور کن عزیزم، من از همین سکوت مفهوم خوشامد آمها را درک کردم و همین شرمساری را که از احترام توام با ترس سرچشمه می‌گیرد به همان اندازه معنی داشت که زبانی فصیح بخواهد با تهور و بی پروایی مطلبی را ادا کند. پس محبت و سادگی و سکوت در مورد افراد عادی به نظر من مفهوم فراوانی دارد.»

That Helena is a bitch.
I know the big draw for this play is all the fairy goings-on, but upon re-reading/re-listening to it for the umpteenth time, I was more interested in the insane inner workings of Helena's mind.



Ok. Get this.
Hermia and Lysander are in love. But Hermia's dad wants her to marry Demetrius, and you know how dads can be about that sort of thing. For example, my husband really liked this boy that my oldest daughter dated several years ago. For the purposes of this review, we'll call him Kevin. In his eyes, Kevin was the best boyfriend his little girl could choose. My daughter didn't feel the same. As you may already know, daughters rarely like the guy their fathers want them to like.
And now, because he's petty as hell, he refers to every poor boy that she brings home as Not-Kevin.
Sometimes to their face.



Now. Demetrius is determined to marry Hermia even though she obviously loathes him.
Because some men find rejection sexy.
And Helena is obsessed with Demetrius and follows him around like a puppy. Even though he obviously doesn't want her.
Because some women find rejection sexy, too.



You're probably wondering why Hermia and Lysander don't just give her father a bit of time to cool off with all this Demetrius stuff, right?
Well, because if Hermia doesn't agree to marry Demetrius quick-like, her dad is going to send her to a convent (of Diana b/c this is set in Greece) or have her killed, which is his right under the law...but probably just the convent.
Harsh, right?
This guy makes my husband look tactful, and as you may realize from the above-mentioned story, that's not an easy thing to do.
So, Hermia and Lysander make plans to meet in the woods, run off to the big city, get hitched, and live happily ever after.



Remember how I said Helena is a bitch?
Well, this is where Helena proves she is a level 10 clinger that will do anything for a scrap of attention.
She rats her best friend Hermia's escape plan out to Demetrius!
In the hopes that he...? What? Finds Hermia in time to stop her from marrying someone else? If Hermia is out of the picture, Demetrius will have to look elsewhere for matrimonial prospects!
Helena is just shooting herself in the cooch by telling him that her rival for his love is sneaking off to get married.
A real stalker would know this. <--just saying



She. is. terrible.
And if Demetrius weren't such a douchebag, I probably would have felt a little sorry for him getting saddled with such an obvious crazypants for the rest of his life.



Ok. Enter the fairies.
They have their own problems. The biggest of which is that Oberon is apparently jealous of how much time Titania spends doting on the son of her (now dead) human friend.
God, men are so weird!



So what happens?
Lots of bickering, lots of crying, lots of fairy dust getting thrown around on the wrong people, lots of mistaken love, and of course a dude with an asshead.
Sounds freakishly similar to my early twenties.



I'm sure you know the story. I think most everyone has seen or heard this story in one form or another in their life. And if you haven't read the original play and want to, it's pretty easy to get into. I've read it a few times, but this time around I listened to the full-cast audio version.
It's excellent. And I'd suggest that as an option to anyone who is interested. After all, this was supposed to be acted out, so it works well when you have voice actors doing their thing to bring Shakespeare's story to life.
Highly Recommended.

The Strange Party

I’ve just had the weirdest dream
(Things aren't always what they seem)
All my GR friends were here
Celebrating the new year
At my parents-in-law’s place
Who had gone away someplace
Partygoers one by one
Showed up ready to have fun
There was Nick with a cigar
Blowing smoke rings from afar
Violeta had brought salad
Vesna sang us a sweet ballad
Ken kept drinking from a can
Like a real American
Someone knocked and there was Lee
Come all the way from Italy
Lisa put some music on
But no one fancied reggaeton
Ilse danced a grim Fandango
Me and Bogdan did the tango
On the sofa friend Irena
Dreaming hummed a cantilena
Jeroen David and Katia
Wrestled on the bath mat yeah
S. came with an alligator
And forgot about it later
Fio who had eaten shrooms
Went exploring many rooms
Julie drank a lot of wine
She even guzzled some of mine
P.E. looked through every drawer
Opened and closed every door
After one too many tokes
We all laughed at Olga's jokes
Laysee made a kitchen mess
Trying to bake a cake no less
Cookie didn’t show up at all
She’ll be in my dream next fall
In the front yard there was Noam
Chatting up the garden gnome
Mark rode his bike in the foyer
Right behind him barked his lawyer
Great fun it was while it lasted
Everyone I knew was blasted
But my in-laws were due back
Any minute now alack!
My wife whispered “get them out
Even if you have to shout
Your weird friends have gone too far
And I don’t know who they are
Plus I’m tired I need some sleep
Please be so kind as to sweep
Up the crumbs and clear the smoke”
(Un)fortunately I awoke

(If you wish to join the party, let me know, and I'll include you in a custom-made dream-couplet, faster than you can say Sandman.)

‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، این نمایشنامه در موردِ عشق و دلباختگی دو جوان اهلِ آتن میباشد.... دختری به نامِ <هرمیا> عاشقِ مردی بنامِ <لیزاندر> است، پدرِ دخترکِ زیبارو <اجوس> نام دارد. اجوس دخترش هرمیا را مجبور کرده است تا دست از عشق برداشته و با <دیمتریوس> که از ثروتمندانِ شهر است ازدواج کند. ولی هرمیا از دستور پدر سر باز میزند. بنابراین اجوس نزدِ <تزوس> دوکِ شهرِ آتن رفته و از دوک میخواهد تا از راه قانون با دخترش برخورد کند ... قانون آتن در آن روزگار این است که اگر دختری به فرمانِ پدرِ خویش گوش ندهد، باید ترکِ دنیا کرده و سراسرِ عمر را در صومعه و دیری دور از شهر گذرانده و یا آنکه به مرگ تن در دهد
‎هرمیا و لیزاندر تصمیم میگیرند تا شبانه به جنگل رفته و از آنجا با یکدیگر از شهر بگریزند... هرمیا این موضوع را به دوستِ صمیمی خویش <هلنا> خبر میدهد... هلنا از آنجایی که دلباختهٔ دیمتریوس میباشد، بنابراین این موضوع را به وی اطلاع میدهد، بلکه اینگونه جایی در قلبِ او برایِ خود باز کند
‎شب فرا میرسد، هرمیا و لیزاندر به جنگل میروند... از سویِ دیگر دیمتریوس نیز به آنجا رفته و هلنا به دنبالِ دیمتریوس به جنگل میرود... در سویِ دیگرِ داستان، پریان در جنگل زندگی میکنند که شاهِ پریان <ابرون> نام داشته و ملکهٔ پریان <تیتانیا> نام دارد.... آن دو با یکدیگر بحث و دعوا دارند ... ابرون به منظورِ تنبیه کردنِ ملکه به دستیارش <پیک> دستور میدهد تا در زمانی که تیتانیا به خواب فرو رفته است، عصارهٔ "ریحانهٔ عشق" را در چشمِ او بچکاند.. این عصاره سبب میشود تا هنگامی که از خواب برمیخیزد، نخستین کسی را که ببیند، یک دل نه صد دل دلباختهٔ او شود
‎در همین گیر و دار است که ابرون صدای التماس کردنِ هلنا را در جنگل میشنود که عاجزانه عشق را از دیمتریوس گدایی میکند و دیمتریوس نیز او را از خود میراند....ابرون به پیک دستور میدهد تا زمانی که دیمتریوس به خواب فرو میرود عصاره را در چشمانش بچکاند تا هنگامی که دیده از خواب میگشاید، با دیدنِ هلنا، دلباختهٔ او شود
‎پیک به اشتباه عصاره را در چشمانِ لیزاندر میریزد و زمانی که از خواب برمیخیزد، اولین کسی را که میبیند هلنا میباشد و در نتیجه عاشقِ هلنا میشود و یارِ خویش یعنی هرمیا را فراموش میکند.... عزیزانم، بهتر است خودتان این نمایشنامهٔ زیبا را خوانده و از سرانجامِ این داستان عاشقانه و هیجان انگیز آگاه شوید
****************************
‎جمله ای از کتاب

‎در گلزارِ جهان، گلی که میسوزد و گلاب میشود، نیکبخت تر از آن گلی است که در رویِ خاری روییده و یکی دو روز میماند و سپس پژمرده میشود و میخشکد
---------------------------------------------
‎امیدوارم این ریویو در جهتِ آشنایی با این کتاب، کافی و مفید بوده باشه
‎<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>

عجیب ترین و کوتاه ترین نمایشنامه‌ای که از شکسپیر خوندم!! انگار شکسپیر موقع نوشتنش موادی چیزی کشیده بود! فانتزی و رویایی و جادویی!! یه جایی خوندم که شکسپیر این نمایشنامه و رومئو و ژولیت رو همزمان باهم نوشته و مکمل های خوبی برای هم هستن. تو یکیشون نحسی عشق دوتا عاشق محکوم به فنا یکی دیگشون تیکه انداختن به عشق ابدی.