023 This is a comedy!?: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1596)

2024-01-26

It’s the one with the donkey-headed tradie! An Athenian hero with his Amazon war-bride condemns a young girl to death or nunnery, so young lovers flee into the forest, followed by two other young lovers who don’t love each other yet, so a fairy king tries to fix the love quadrangle, but not before he makes his wife fall for a donkey-man mutant to get revenge on her for not handing over an royal Indian toddler. That old chestnut. One of Shakespeare’s most famous… comedies??? Like a lot of Shakesp...

It’s the one with the donkey-headed tradie!

An Athenian hero with his Amazon war-bride condemns a young girl to death or nunnery, so young lovers flee into the forest, followed by two other young lovers who don’t love each other yet, so a fairy king tries to fix the love quadrangle, but not before he makes his wife fall for a donkey-man mutant to get revenge on her for not handing over an royal Indian toddler.

That old chestnut.

One of Shakespeare’s most famous… comedies??? Like a lot of Shakespearian comedies, this one has a dark edge. But does it work as farce or drama? Join Michael and Sophie to find out!

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Sources:

The Oxford Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oxford University Press)

Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)

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