A Midsummer Night’s Dream

We have a father who wants to put his daughter to death for loving a young man whom dad did not choose, the squabble of a fairy king and queen over a changeling child that causes chaos in the human world, three sets of confused lovers in the woods, and some village actors who just want to be on stage. They all intertwine in a moonlit night in a magical forest. “Lord, what fools these mortals be."

A detailed synopsis is on Wikipedia.

This play has a dark undercurrent that is rarely performed. Just a hint: The play opens with Theseus marrying Hippolyta. Read about Theseus here in Volume 1 of Plutarch's book, Parallel Lives of the Ancient Greeks and Romans (it is sometimes just called Lives), the chapter on Theseus. You can read and download the chapter if you don’t want the buy the book: Then consider why Shakespeare opens this play with this story of their marriage; how does it reflect on the rest of the play?

Ovid (43 BCE – 18 CE), besides writing one of Shakespeare’s favorite books, Metamorphoses, also wrote The Heroides, letters from ancient (mostly) women to their lovers. This is the letter Ariadne wrote to Theseus after he used her and dumped her: Ariadne to Theseus.

For those of you who provide readers' parts a scene at a time, this Character Chart shows all the characters' lines in each scene: A Midsummer Night's Dream

If your group reads the plays straight through in one sitting and you want to divide up the parts, we have a number of “cast” lists already divided up for you. These are text files that you can edit to suit your group. We always recommend in a straight-through read that each participant take a moment beforehand to mark their parts—then everything proceeds so smoothly.

Cast for 9, plus a reader for Stage Directions
Cast for 10, plus a reader for Stage Directions
Cast for 11, plus a reader for Stage Directions
Cast for 13, plus a reader for Stage Directions

The Internet Shakespeare Editions from the University of Victoria has some short articles about pertinent topics in this play. This is one of only three plots that Shakespeare made up instead of re-purposing another plot.

Here is a link to a pdf of one of Shakespeare’s sources: Of the Silkworms and Their Flies, by Dr. Thomas Moffett. It contains a fleshed-out tale of Pyramus and Thisbe.

And here is a link to a pdf of a letter imagined by Ovid from Ariadne to Theseus: Epistle X. Since the play opens with one of Theseus’s weddings, it’s interesting to hear from another woman he used.