- NONFICTION BOOKS
- BEST NONFICTION 2023
- BEST NONFICTION 2024
- Historical Biographies
- The Best Memoirs and Autobiographies
- Philosophical Biographies
- World War 2
- World History
- American History
- British History
- Chinese History
- Russian History
- Ancient History (up to 500)
- Medieval History (500-1400)
- Military History
- Art History
- Travel Books
- Ancient Philosophy
- Contemporary Philosophy
- Ethics & Moral Philosophy
- Great Philosophers
- Social & Political Philosophy
- Classical Studies
- New Science Books
- Maths & Statistics
- Popular Science
- Physics Books
- Climate Change Books
- How to Write
- English Grammar & Usage
- Books for Learning Languages
- Linguistics
- Political Ideologies
- Foreign Policy & International Relations
- American Politics
- British Politics
- Religious History Books
- Mental Health
- Neuroscience
- Child Psychology
- Film & Cinema
- Opera & Classical Music
- Behavioural Economics
- Development Economics
- Economic History
- Financial Crisis
- World Economies
- How to Invest
- Artificial Intelligence/AI Books
- Data Science Books
- Sex & Sexuality
- Death & Dying
- Food & Cooking
- Sports, Games & Hobbies
- FICTION BOOKS
- BEST FICTION 2023
- NEW Fiction
- World Literature
- Literary Criticism
- Literary Figures
- Classic English Literature
- American Literature
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Fairy Tales & Mythology
- Historical Fiction
- Crime Novels
- Science Fiction
- Short Stories
- South Africa
- United States
- Arctic & Antarctica
- Afghanistan
- Myanmar (Formerly Burma)
- Netherlands
- Kids Recommend Books for Kids
- High School Teachers Recommendations
- Prizewinning Kids' Books
- Popular Series Books for Kids
- BEST BOOKS FOR KIDS (ALL AGES)
- Ages Baby-2
- Books for Teens and Young Adults
- THE BEST SCIENCE BOOKS FOR KIDS
- BEST KIDS' BOOKS OF 2023
- BEST BOOKS FOR TEENS OF 2023
- Best Audiobooks for Kids
- Environment
- Best Books for Teens of 2023
- Best Kids' Books of 2023
- Political Novels
- New History Books
- New Literary Fiction
- New Historical Fiction
- New Biography
- New Memoirs
- New World Literature
- New Economics Books
- New Climate Books
- New Math Books
- New Philosophy Books
- New Psychology Books
- New Physics Books
- THE BEST AUDIOBOOKS
- Actors Read Great Books
- Books Narrated by Their Authors
- Best Audiobook Thrillers
- Best History Audiobooks
- Nobel Literature Prize
- Booker Prize (fiction)
- Baillie Gifford Prize (nonfiction)
- Financial Times (nonfiction)
- Wolfson Prize (history)
- Royal Society (science)
- Pushkin House Prize (Russia)
- Walter Scott Prize (historical fiction)
- Arthur C Clarke Prize (sci fi)
- The Hugos (sci fi & fantasy)
- Audie Awards (audiobooks)
The Best Fiction Books » Classic English Literature
A midsummer night’s dream, by william shakespeare.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of our most recommended Shakespeare plays . “ It’s delicate, it’s charming, but also a deeply serious play because Shakespeare is concerned as much with the art of theatre, as with the work of the imaginative artist: whether the artist is a writer or an actor.”
Recommendations from our site
“ A Midsummer Night’s Dream has always been a great favourite of mine, ever since my school days. I was introduced to it at school when I was about 11 or 12. I’ve seen many productions of it. It’s the first play I edited, for the New Penguin Shakespeare, in 1967. I very much enjoyed writing about it then. It’s a play about imagination, about Shakespeare’s own heart, in many ways. The Mechanicals’ scenes, as they’re called, in which Shakespeare portrays amateur actors putting on the play of Pyramus and Thisbe, actually tell us an awful lot about Shakespeare’s attitude towards the theatre and the acting profession. They’re also wonderfully playable.It’s a play that appeals very much to young people. I’m speaking now from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust at Stratford-Upon-Avon and we have what’s called ‘Shakespeare Week,’ when we engage with over 10,000 primary schools. The Royal Shakespeare Company put on a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which uses amateur actors, including schoolchildren.” Read more...
Stanley Wells recommends the best of Shakespeare’s Plays
Stanley Wells , Literary Scholar
“A play of intoxicating beauty and magic… it’s a play which I loved as a child.” Read more...
René Weis on The Best Plays of Shakespeare
René Weis , Biographer
Other books by William Shakespeare
Titus andronicus (arden shakespeare) by jonathan bate & william shakespeare, all the sonnets of shakespeare by paul edmonson, stanley wells & william shakespeare, the art of shakespeare's sonnets by helen vendler & william shakespeare, shakespeare's sonnets by katherine duncan-jones & william shakespeare, illustrated stories from shakespeare by anna claybourne, rosie dickins & william shakespeare, hamlet by william shakespeare, our most recommended books, great expectations by charles dickens, wuthering heights by emily brontë, jane eyre by charlotte brontë, frankenstein (book) by mary shelley, antony and cleopatra by william shakespeare, middlemarch by george eliot.
Support Five Books
Five Books interviews are expensive to produce, please support us by donating a small amount .
We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.
This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.
Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.
© Five Books 2024
- ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
by William Shakespeare & illustrated by Kate Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2008
Of late many classic titles—including the Bible—have been turned into manga, in a 21st-century version of the venerable Classics Illustrated comics. This take on the Bard boils his play down to approximately 20 words per page, drastically abridging the text, though keeping intact the original language and meter. A fully colored dramatis personae reduces the characters to sound bites and shines in comparison to the flat, gray-toned images that murkily tell the story itself. As drawn by Brown, the characters are decidedly more Western-looking in their styling than is typical to most manga, and the adaptor’s choice of setting is an anachronistic mishmash of quasi-antique and modern, a choice that will leave sophisticated readers knowledgeable with the text slightly puzzled. The Tempest (ISBN: 978-0-8109-9476-8), drawn by Paul Duffield, follows an identical template. These attempts to convert Shakespeare into visual language fall flat, although the slick manga styling alone may attract some new readers to these works. (plot summary, author’s biography) (Graphic fiction. 13 & up)
Pub Date: June 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8109-9475-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2008
GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION
Share your opinion of this book
More by William Shakespeare
BOOK REVIEW
by William Shakespeare ; adapted by Crystal S. Chan & Michael Barltrop ; illustrated by Julien Choy
by William Shakespeare ; adapted by Crystal Chan ; illustrated by Julien Choy
by William Shakespeare ; adapted by Georghia Ellinas ; illustrated by Jane Ray
IF ONLY I HAD TOLD HER
by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me , three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE
More by Laura Nowlin
by Laura Nowlin
INDIVISIBLE
by Daniel Aleman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 4, 2021
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FAMILY | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
More by Daniel Aleman
by Daniel Aleman
More About This Book
PERSPECTIVES
- Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
- News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
- Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
- Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
- Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
- More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
- About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
- Privacy Policy
- Terms & Conditions
- Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Popular in this Genre
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
Please select an existing bookshelf
Create a new bookshelf.
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
Please sign up to continue.
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Almost there!
- Industry Professional
Welcome Back!
Sign in using your Kirkus account
Contact us: 1-800-316-9361 or email [email protected].
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.
Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )
If You’ve Purchased Author Services
Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.
Book Review: A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer's Night Dream is one of Shakespeare's many plays that he wrote. Unlike many of his works, this one does not have a sad and tragic ending, and is a drama more than anything. The story is about four lovers Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius. There is a whole love triangle where Hermia loves Lysander, but is forced to marry Demetrius, who Helena loves. For Hermia to escape getting married to someone she doesn't love, she and Lysander run off into a forest where they are outside the law. Already in the forest, there is drama going on between two faeries, Oberon and Titania. Titania is protecting an Indian boy that Oberon wants, so Oberon gets his faerie Puck to go receive a love potion, so that Titania will now be distracted by love and Oberon can snatch the Indian child. Back in the city however, there is a group of actors organizing a play. After one of them tries to take up every part in the play, they get it all organized and head off to the forest to practice. So already in the first act we got everybody running off to the forest to cause drama. This play shines at how good its humor is, and is jammed pack with drama. I would recommend anyone to read this fancy story.
- Get a Free Review of Your Book
- Enter our Book Award Contest
- Helpful Articles and Writing Services
- Are you a Publisher, Agent or Publicist?
- Five Star and Award Stickers
- Find a Great Book to Read
- Win 100+ Kindle Books
Get Free Books
- Are you a School, Library or Charity?
Become a Reviewer
- Become an Affiliate
- Become a Partner
Award Winners
Non-fiction, book reviews.
- 2023 Award Winners
- 2022 Award Winners
- 2021 Award Winners
- 2020 Award Winners
- 2019 Award Winners
- 2018 Award Winners
- 2017 Award Winners
- 2016 Award Winners
- 2015 Award Winners
- 2014 Award Winners
- 2013 Award Winners
- 2012 Award Winners
- 2011 Award Winners
- 2010 Award Winners
- 2009 Award Winners
- Children - Action
- Children - Adventure
- Children - Animals
- Children - Audiobook
- Children - Christian
- Children - Coming of Age
- Children - Concept
- Children - Educational
- Children - Fable
- Children - Fantasy/Sci-Fi
- Children - General
- Children - Grade 4th-6th
- Children - Grade K-3rd
- Children - Mystery
- Children - Mythology/Fairy Tale
- Children - Non-Fiction
- Children - Picture Book
- Children - Preschool
- Children - Preteen
- Children - Religious Theme
- Children - Social Issues
Young Adult
- Young Adult - Action
- Young Adult - Adventure
- Young Adult - Coming of Age
- Young Adult - Fantasy - Epic
- Young Adult - Fantasy - General
- Young Adult - Fantasy - Urban
- Young Adult - General
- Young Adult - Horror
- Young Adult - Mystery
- Young Adult - Mythology/Fairy Tale
- Young Adult - Non-Fiction
- Young Adult - Paranormal
- Young Adult - Religious Theme
- Young Adult - Romance
- Young Adult - Sci-Fi
- Young Adult - Social Issues
- Young Adult - Thriller
- Christian - Amish
- Christian - Biblical Counseling
- Christian - Devotion/Study
- Christian - Fantasy/Sci-Fi
- Christian - Fiction
- Christian - General
- Christian - Historical Fiction
- Christian - Living
- Christian - Non-Fiction
- Christian - Romance - Contemporary
- Christian - Romance - General
- Christian - Romance - Historical
- Christian - Thriller
- Fiction - Action
- Fiction - Adventure
- Fiction - Animals
- Fiction - Anthology
- Fiction - Audiobook
- Fiction - Chick Lit
- Fiction - Crime
- Fiction - Cultural
- Fiction - Drama
- Fiction - Dystopia
- Fiction - Fantasy - Epic
- Fiction - Fantasy - General
- Fiction - Fantasy - Urban
- Fiction - General
- Fiction - Graphic Novel/Comic
- Fiction - Historical - Event/Era
- Fiction - Historical - Personage
- Fiction - Holiday
- Fiction - Horror
- Fiction - Humor/Comedy
- Fiction - Inspirational
- Fiction - Intrigue
- Fiction - LGBTQ
- Fiction - Literary
- Fiction - Magic/Wizardry
- Fiction - Military
- Fiction - Mystery - General
- Fiction - Mystery - Historical
- Fiction - Mystery - Legal
- Fiction - Mystery - Murder
- Fiction - Mystery - Sleuth
- Fiction - Mythology
- Fiction - New Adult
- Fiction - Paranormal
- Fiction - Realistic
- Fiction - Religious Theme
- Fiction - Science Fiction
- Fiction - Short Story/Novela
- Fiction - Social Issues
- Fiction - Southern
- Fiction - Sports
- Fiction - Supernatural
- Fiction - Suspense
- Fiction - Tall Tale
- Fiction - Thriller - Conspiracy
- Fiction - Thriller - Environmental
- Fiction - Thriller - Espionage
- Fiction - Thriller - General
- Fiction - Thriller - Legal
- Fiction - Thriller - Medical
- Fiction - Thriller - Political
- Fiction - Thriller - Psychological
- Fiction - Thriller - Terrorist
- Fiction - Time Travel
- Fiction - Urban
- Fiction - Visionary
- Fiction - Western
- Fiction - Womens
- Non-Fiction - Adventure
- Non-Fiction - Animals
- Non-Fiction - Anthology
- Non-Fiction - Art/Photography
- Non-Fiction - Audiobook
- Non-Fiction - Autobiography
- Non-Fiction - Biography
- Non-Fiction - Business/Finance
- Non-Fiction - Cooking/Food
- Non-Fiction - Cultural
- Non-Fiction - Drama
- Non-Fiction - Education
- Non-Fiction - Environment
- Non-Fiction - Genealogy
- Non-Fiction - General
- Non-Fiction - Gov/Politics
- Non-Fiction - Grief/Hardship
- Non-Fiction - Health - Fitness
- Non-Fiction - Health - Medical
- Non-Fiction - Historical
- Non-Fiction - Hobby
- Non-Fiction - Home/Crafts
- Non-Fiction - Humor/Comedy
- Non-Fiction - Inspirational
- Non-Fiction - LGBTQ
- Non-Fiction - Marketing
- Non-Fiction - Memoir
- Non-Fiction - Military
- Non-Fiction - Motivational
- Non-Fiction - Music/Entertainment
- Non-Fiction - New Age
- Non-Fiction - Occupational
- Non-Fiction - Parenting
- Non-Fiction - Relationships
- Non-Fiction - Religion/Philosophy
- Non-Fiction - Retirement
- Non-Fiction - Self Help
- Non-Fiction - Short Story/Novela
- Non-Fiction - Social Issues
- Non-Fiction - Spiritual/Supernatural
- Non-Fiction - Sports
- Non-Fiction - Travel
- Non-Fiction - True Crime
- Non-Fiction - Womens
- Non-Fiction - Writing/Publishing
- Romance - Comedy
- Romance - Contemporary
- Romance - Fantasy/Sci-Fi
- Romance - General
- Romance - Historical
- Romance - Paranormal
- Romance - Sizzle
- Romance - Suspense
- Poetry - General
- Poetry - Inspirational
- Poetry - Love/Romance
Our Featured Books
I Married a Coconut
Capricorn's Journal: My Family's Fight for Survival
Island Brothers
Ruthless the Elf
The Hollow Key
The Nameless Gems
Bringer of Light
The Other Fellow May Be Right
Finding Sarah
License to Die
Ms. Alberta
Breksta's Academy
No Chemo, No Radio... No Knife
Sledge vs. The Labyrinth
All You'll Never Be Becase of Who You Are
Journey to Forge Mountain
The Tail of Grace & Kristoff
Kindle book giveaway.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Click here to learn about the free offer(s) from this author..
Author Biography
Now streaming on:
Reason and love keep little company together nowadays.
So says Bottom in "William Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream," and he could be describing the play he occupies. It is an enchanted folly suggesting that romance is a matter of chance, since love is blind; at the right moment we are likely to fall in love with the first person our eyes light upon. Much of the play's fun comes during a long night in the forest, where the mischiefmaker anoints the eyes of sleeping lovers with magic potions that cause them to adore the first person they see upon awakening.
This causes all sorts of confusions, not least when Titania, the Fairy Queen herself, falls in love with a weaver who has grown donkey's ears. The weaver is Bottom ( Kevin Kline ), and he and the mischievous Puck ( Stanley Tucci ) are the most important characters in the play, although it also involves dukes, kings, queens and high-born lovers. Bottom has a good heart and bumbles through, and Puck (also called Robin Goodfellow) spreads misunderstanding wherever he goes. The young lovers are pawns in a magic show: When they can't see the one they love, they love the one they see.
Michael Hoffman's new film of "William Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream" (who else's?) is updated to the 19th century, set in Italy and furnished with bicycles and operatic interludes. But it is founded on Shakespeare's language and is faithful, by and large, to the original play. Harold Bloom complains in his wise best seller, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, that the play's romantic capers have been twisted by modern adaptations into "the notion that sexual violence and bestiality are at the center of this humane and wise drama." He might approve of this version, which is gentle and lighthearted, and portrays Bottom not as a lustful animal but as a nice enough fellow who has had the misfortune to wake up with donkey's ears--"amiably innocent, and not very bawdy," as Bloom describes him.
Kevin Kline is, of course, the embodiment of amiability, as he bashfully parries the passionate advances of Titania ( Michelle Pfeiffer ). Her eyes have been anointed with magical ointment at the behest of her husband, Oberon ( Rupert Everett ), who hopes to steal away the young boy they both dote on. When she opens them to regard Bottom, she is besotted with love and inspired to some of Shakespeare's most lyrical poetry: I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee; And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep, And sing, while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep. Meanwhile, more magical potions, distributed carelessly by Puck, have hopelessly confused the relationships among four young people who were introduced at the beginning of the play. They are Helena ( Calista Flockhart ), Hermia ( Anna Friel ), Demetrius ( Christian Bale ) and Lysander ( Dominic West ). Now follow this closely: Hermia has been promised by her father to Demetrius, but she loves Lysander. Demetrius was Helena's lover, but now claims to prefer Hermia. Hermia is offered three cruel choices by the duke, Theseus ( David Strathairn ): marry according to her father's wishes, go into a convent or die. Desperate, she flees to a nearby wood with Lysander, her true love. Helena, who loves Demetrius, tips him off to follow them; maybe if he sees his intended in the arms of another man, he will return to Helena's arms.
The woods grow crowded. Also turning up at the same moonlit rendezvous are Bottom and his friends, workmen from the village who plan to rehearse a play to be performed at the wedding of Theseus and his intended, Queen Hippolyta ( Sophie Marceau ). And flickering about the glen are Oberon, Titania, Puck and assorted fairies. Only the most determined typecasting helps us tell them apart: As many times as I've been through this play in one form or another, I can't always distinguish the four young lovers, who seem interchangeable. They function mostly to be meddled with by Puck's potions.
Hoffman, whose wonderful " Restoration " re-created a time of fire and plague, here conducts with a playful touch. There are small gems of stagecraft for all of the actors, including Snout, the village tinker, who plays a wall in the performance for the duke, and makes a circle with his thumb and finger to represent a chink in it. It's wonderful to behold Pfeiffer's infatuation with the donkey-eared Bottom, who she winds in her arms as "doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle gently twist"; her love is so real, we almost believe it. Kline's Bottom tactfully humors her mad infatuation, good-natured and accepting. And Tucci's Puck suggests sometimes that he has a darker side, but it not so much malicious as incompetent.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is another entry in Shakespeare's recent renaissance on film. After " Much Ado About Nothing ," Ian McKellen's " Richard III ," Al Pacino's documentary "Looking for Richard," Laurence Fishburne as "Othello," Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet," Helena Bonham Carter in " Twelfth Night ," Baz Luhrmann's modern street version of "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet," the " King Lear "-inspired " A Thousand Acres ," the remake of "Taming of the Shrew" as " 10 Things I Hate About You ," and the Bard's celebration in " Shakespeare in Love ," we can look ahead to the forthcoming "Hamlet" with Ethan Hawke , Branagh's "Love's Labor's Lost," Mekhi Phifer as Othello in the modern urban drama " O " and Anthony Hopkins in " Titus ," based on the rarely staged "Titus Andronicus" ("All Rome's a wilderness of tigers").
Why is Shakespeare so popular with filmmakers when he contains so few car chases and explosions? Because he is the measuring stick by which actors and directors test themselves. His insights into human nature are so true that he has, as Bloom argues in his book, actually created our modern idea of the human personality. Before Hamlet asked, "to be, or not to be?," dramatic characters just were. Ever since, they have known and questioned themselves. Even in a comedy like "Midsummer," there are quick flashes of brilliance that help us see ourselves. "What fools these mortals be," indeed.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
Now playing
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Space: The Longest Goodbye
Marya e. gates.
Megamind vs the Doom Syndicate
Peter Sobczynski
The Animal Kingdom
Monica castillo.
Film Credits
William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)
Rated PG-13 For Sensuality and Nudity
115 minutes
Kevin Kline as Nick Bottom
Sophie Marceau as Hippolyta
Calista Flockhart as Helena
Anna Friel as Hermia
David Strathairn as Theseus
Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania
Rupert Everett as Oberon
Dominic West as Lysander
Christian Bale as Demetrius
Based On The Play by
- William Shakespeare
Written and Directed by
- Michael Hoffman
Latest blog posts
Steve Martin Is an Auteur Without Having Directed a Thing
The Unloved, Part 124: Play Dirty
Beyoncé and My Daughter Love Country Music
A Poet of an Actor: Louis Gossett, Jr. (1936-2024)
By William Shakespeare Written between 1594 to 1596
General Note: In January 2009 I decided that I�d like to go back and read all the plays of William Shakespeare, perhaps one a month if that works out. I hadn�t read a Shakespeare play since 1959, 50 years ago! But I had read nearly all of them in college. I wanted to go back, start with something not too serious or challenging, and work my way through the whole corpus. Thus I began with The Two Gentlemen of Verona. At this time I have no idea how the project will go, nor if it will actually lead me through the entire corpus of Shakespeare�s plays. However, I will keep a separate page listing each play I�ve read with links to any comments I would make of that particular play. See: List of Shakespeare�s play�s I�ve read and commented on
COMMENTS ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT�S DREAM
Nonetheless, while there are few surprises, and not many great insights into human emotions and feelings as we find in the histories and tragedies, they are still light-hearted and grand fun. A Midsummer Night�s Dream is no exception. Certainly not great, but fun and fluff, and even on a third or four read, a good time.
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of our most recommended Shakespeare plays. “ It’s delicate, it’s charming, but also a deeply serious play because Shakespeare is concerned as much with the art of theatre, as with the work of the imaginative artist: whether the artist is a writer or an actor.”.
3.95. 539,025 ratings12,478 reviews. Shakespeare's intertwined love polygons begin to get complicated from the start--Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia but she only has eyes for Lysander. Bad news is, Hermia's father wants Demetrius for a son-in-law. On the outside is Helena, whose unreturned love burns hot for Demetrius.
Of late many classic titles—including the Bible—have been turned into manga, in a 21st-century version of the venerable Classics Illustrated comics. This take on the Bard boils his play down to approximately 20 words per page, drastically abridging the text, though keeping intact the original language and meter. A fully colored dramatis personae reduces the characters to sound bites and ...
Review. A Midsummer's Night Dream is one of Shakespeare's many plays that he wrote. Unlike many of his works, this one does not have a sad and tragic ending, and is a drama more than anything. The story is about four lovers Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius. There is a whole love triangle where Hermia loves Lysander, but is forced to ...
Full Book Analysis. The desire for well-matched love and the struggle to achieve it drives the plot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The play opens on a note of desire, as Theseus, Duke of Athens, waxes poetic about his anticipated wedding to Hippolyta. The main conflict is introduced when other lovers’ troubles take center stage.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Full Book Summary. Theseus, duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, with a four-day festival of pomp and entertainment. He commissions his Master of the Revels, Philostrate, to find suitable amusements for the occasion. Egeus, an Athenian nobleman, marches into Theseus’s ...
A Midsummer Night’s Dream might be one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, with countless stage, film, and tv adaptations performed over the years. It is a brave task to readapt a story many people recognize, but Paul Leonard Murray has successfully pulled it off. While he has reduced the running time to around an hour, Murray has lost none of the core themes and ideas explored in the ...
Reason and love keep little company together nowadays. So says Bottom in "William Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream," and he could be describing the play he occupies. It is an enchanted folly suggesting that romance is a matter of chance, since love is blind; at the right moment we are likely to fall in love with the first person our eyes ...
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM By William Shakespeare Written between 1594 to 1596. Comments by Bob Corbett July 2010. General Note: In January 2009 I decided that I’d like to go back and read all the plays of William Shakespeare, perhaps one a month if that works out. I hadn’t read a Shakespeare play since 1959, 50 years ago!
William Shakespeare. 3.77. 26 ratings2 reviews. Midsummer Night's Dream is Shakespeare's classic tale of two couples who can't quite pair up to everyone's satisfaction. Demetrius and Lysander love Hermia. Hermia loves Lysander but has been promised to Demetrius by her father. Hermia's best friend Helena loves Demetrius, but in his obsession for ...