A Midsummer Night's Dream
Celebrations are planned to mark the marriage of Theseus, Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Egeus brings his rebellious daughter Hermia in front of the Duke. She is refusing to marry Demetrius, her father's choice, because she is love with Lysander. The Duke orders Hermia to obey her father or, according to Athenian law, she must face death or enter a convent. Hermia and Lysander decide to elope that night. They confide their plan to their friend Helena and she, in love with Demetrius and hoping to win his affection, tells him of the plan. That night, all four lovers steal away into the forest.
A group of Athenian tradesmen, led by Peter Quince, are planning to perform a play, 'The Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe' in celebration of the Duke's wedding. They decide to rehearse in the same forest.
Oberon and Titania, fairy rulers of the forst, have quarrelled over Titania's refusal to give up her boy page to Oberon. He sends Puck to find a magic plant, the juice of which, squeezed on the eyes of someone asleep, will cause them to fall in love with the first creature they see on waking. Oberon uses the juice on Titania and she falls rapturously in love with Bottom, one of the tradesmen who has been bewitched by Puck. Oberon also tells Puck to use it on Demetrius, so that he will fall in love with Helena, but Puck, mistaking the two Athenian youths, uses it on Lysander instead, who promptly falls in love with Helena...
Eventually, however, all the enchantments are lifted, the human lovers are happily paired and Titania and Oberon are reconciled. The three couples are married and Bottom's troupe perform their play at the nuptial celebrations.
