Accessibility Features | Site Map | About Us | Contact Us | Credits
Royal Shakespeare Company logo
Exploring Shakespeare
Hamlet, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream
For Teachers
Home | A Midsummer Night's Dream: Language and themes

Language and themes

The director and actors talk about the popularity of this play and how it appeals to them. The director talks about details of the text and describes his research in preparing for rehearsals.
Actors tell what it’s like to play an immortal being and you can see the whole sequence of fairy enchantment in performance. Actors and director talk about the role of the fairies in bringing everything to a happy end and there is information on Elizabethan attitudes to the fairy world.
The last section describes preparing for the mechanicals' play and you can see how it looked in this production.

Director's cut

The text

Fairies and mortals

Chaos and harmony

Historical context

The play within the play

©2006 RSC All Rights Reserved