Ay me! for aught that I could ever read – or – How Shakespeare is affecting my life today

Okay, boys and girls, for today's Lesson in Theatre Arts, I offer you a synopsis of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare:

Lysander loves Hermia, and Hermia loves Lysander.

Helena lovesDemetrius; Demetrius used to love Helena but now loves Hermia.

Egeus,
Hermia's father, prefers Demetrius as a suitor, and enlists the aid of
Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to enforce his wishes upon his daughter.

According to Athenian law, Hermia is given four days to choose between
Demetrius, life in a nunnery, or a death sentence.

Hermia, ever
defiant, chooses to escape with Lysander into the surrounding forest.

Complications
arise in the forest.

Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of Fairies, are
locked in a dispute over a boy whom Titania has adopted.

Oberon
instructs his servant Puck to bring him magic love drops, which Oberon
will sprinkle on the Queen's eyelids as she sleeps, whereupon Titania
will fall in love with the first creature she sees upon awakening.

Meanwhile, Helena and Demetrius have also fled into the woods after
Lysander and Hermia.

Oberon, overhearing Demetrius's denouncement of
Helena, takes pity upon her and tells Puck to place the magic drops
upon the eyelids of Demetrius as well, so that Demetrius may fall in
love with Helena.

Puck, however, makes the mistake of putting the drops
on the eyelids of Lysander instead. Helena stumbles over Lysander in
the forest, and the spell is cast; Lysander now desires Helena and
renounces a stunned Hermia.

In
the midst of this chaos, a group of craftsmen are rehearsing for a
production of "Pyramus and Thisbe," to be played for the Duke at his
wedding.

Puck impishly casts a spell on Bottom to give him the head of
a donkey.

Bottom, as luck would have it, is the first thing Titania
sees when she awakens; hence, Bottom ends up being lavishly kept by the
Queen.

Oberon enjoys this sport, but is less amused when it becomes
apparent that Puck has botched up the attempt to unite Demetrius and
Helena.

Oberon himself anoints Demetrius with the love potion and
ensures that Helena is the first person he sees; however, Helena
understandably feels that she is now being mocked by both Demetrius and Lysander (who is still magically enamored of her).

Finally,
Oberon decides that all good sports must come to an end. He puts the
four lovers to sleep and gives Lysander the antidote for the love
potion so that he will love Hermia again when they all wake up.

Next,
Oberon gives Titania the antidote, and the King and Queen reconcile.

Theseus and Hippolyta then discover Lysander, Hermia, Helena, and
Demetrius asleep in the forest. All return to Athens to make sense of
what they think is a strange dream.

Likewise, Bottom returns to his
players, and they perform "Pyramus and Thisbe" at the wedding feast
(which has since become a wedding of three couples).

As everyone
retires, fairies perform their blessings and Puck* delivers a tender
epilogue soliloquy.

*Puck, of course, will be played by the lovely and talented Miss Lucy Darby which is why her mother volunteered to do costumes and sets, which is why Lucy's mother has not been blogging as frequently (or cooking any great Cuban meals, or doing laundry and dishes, for that matter, but that's not important right now).  😉

"The course of true love never did run smooth."

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