Context: Each of the title words gives a different colour to the play. 'Midsummer' is hot, sexy, short, relaxed, loving. 'Night' can be magic, scary, dangerous, unfamiliar, exhilarating. 'Dream' suggests psychology, surrealism, transformation.
What do you think? Whose dream is it anyway? Maybe the play is working through the characters' desires. Theseus wants peace and happiness in his new marriage. Hermia wants Lysander. Bottom wants to be the centre of attention. He finds this with Titania in the fairy world and he vows to write up the events of the night and call it: 'Bottom's dream' - yet he seems unable to tell his friends when they meet. How quickly dreams fade when you wake up...
