# data[].attributes.headline
Act 2 Scene 1: Songs that show Helena’s emotional state throughout this scene

# data[].attributes.subject
Act 2 Scene 1: Songs that show Helena’s emotional state throughout this scene

# data[].attributes.body
Context:

Helena following Demetrius through the woods.

Demetrius is just trying to get rid of her.

Helena is confessing her love for him and telling him all the lengths she would go to for him to just let her stay with him.

Stay - Rihanna solo version 0.35

“Not really sure how to feel about it”

She’s so overwhelmed with love for Demetrius that throughout this scene she switches between blaming him for her feelings and then herself.

“Round and around we go”

She always find her way back to him. They’ve been through this before when she first gave him her heart and he loved her too, then he got bored with her loving him and fell for Hermia. This shows how she hopes history will repeat itself and he will love her the same way he did before.

“He said If you dare come a little closer” Demetrius telling Helena to leave him alone.

# data[].attributes.headline
Act 2 Scene 1 - Songs that show Helena’s emotional state throughout this scene

# data[].attributes.subject
Act 2 Scene 1 - Songs that show Helena’s emotional state throughout this scene

# data[].attributes.body
Say You Love Me - Jessie Ware 0.24

“Heart’s getting torn from your mistakes”

I feel like this represents Demetrius leaving her for Hermia after making false promises to always love her. She is waiting for Demetrius to realise that his behaviour is a mistake and that he will run back to her. Shows how delusional and madly in love she is. This is also shown in the line:

“All that I’ve been thinking of is that maybe that you’re mine”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Jessie Ware - Say You Love Me (Official Music Video)

# data[].attributes.headline
Act 2 Scene 1 - Songs that show Helena’s emotional state throughout this scene

# data[].attributes.subject
Act 2 Scene 1 - Songs that show Helena’s emotional state throughout this scene

# data[].attributes.body
Helium - Sia 1.52

“Help me out of this hell”

In this scene she says “I’ll follow you and turn this hell I’m in into a kind of heaven” Basically saying that Demetrius has created this nightmare for her by not loving her but as long as she’s with him she’ll take what she can get.

“And if you let go I’ll float towards the sun”

The love she feels for Demetrius will destroy her if he continues to disregard her as nothing or leave her without him. She says in the scene that not being able to look at him makes her sick.

# data[].attributes.headline
Act 2 Scene 1 - Songs that show Helena’s emotional state throughout this scene

# data[].attributes.subject
Act 2 Scene 1 - Songs that show Helena’s emotional state throughout this scene

# data[].attributes.body
Love Me, Love Me Not - Natalie Weiss 1.05

“And you don’t see all I’m giving away”

In this scene she literally says treat me like a dog. Do whatever you want with me abuse me, try and run away from me but just let me stay by your side. The lengths she would go to to keep Demetrius in her life are humiliating and outrageous and here she’s trying to get Demetrius to manipulate and use her just so he can be near her.

“Stop being so afraid to let our love become more”

Basically she’s trying to convince herself that Demetrius may still love her the way he did once before, and is just being too stubborn to admit it.

“I’m not running and I’m not leaving today”

Helena’s thoughts: You’re not getting rid of me.

You can treat me in the worst way possible and fall in love with my best friend and dangle it right in front of me and I’m still not going anywhere.

“There’s only so much I can do”

Angry shift in the song which reflects the scene, where Helena starts blaming Demetrius for her being so in love with him.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Natalie Weiss - Love Me, Love Me Not (Studio HQ)

# data[].attributes.body
Clashes with Oberon due to their strong willed and power hungry personalities.

Breaks the male dominant stereotype, which would have been a shock to a Shakespearean audience.

Portrayed as elegant and glamorous or vibrant and strange, to show her determination to stand out and seeking for attention.
Dramatic contrast in her hatrid for Oberon to her undying love for Bottom, after having the love potion used on her.
Battles of strong wills, feminine characteristics and then comedic, lustful relationship with bottom as a donkey.

# data[].attributes.body
Master of the fairies.

In a relationship with Titania.

Oberon can be interpreted in different ways, such as compassionate in feeling sorry for Helena and goes out of his way to make sure the lovers are together, on the other end he only helps the lovers after getting a laugh out of it. He enjoys the humiliation of the lovers and the entertainment, which may be why he keeps Puck as his servant, as he enjoys his silly and mischievous behaviour.

# data[].attributes.body
Set in his ways.

Traditional.

Harsh.

Overpowering of his daughter Hermia, refuses to accept her growing independence.

Shows the sexist divide back in Shakespearean times, fathers having control of their daughter’s future. Severe lack of freedom for women. Hermia is contrasting in the sense that she is not afraid to break this stereotype, as she refuses to let her father to choose her heart.

Egeus will even threaten to put his daughter to death or send her away forever to a convent, which shows his love of power over care for his own blood.

# data[].attributes.body
Queen of the Amazons.

Shakespeare used her from olden myths.

Despite her being overthrown by Theseus and is expected to be an unwilling bride, she is willing and flirting.

Challenges Theseus in his ways.

Submissive.

Mythical.

Connection to the fairies.

# data[].attributes.body
Heroic site of Athens.

Engaged to Hippolyta after defeating her in battle.

Represents power as the Duke

Breaks the stereotype that he is cruel and overpowering to his bride, but he is courtly and noble.

Dominant.

Ruled by love, all he wants is to marry.

Respects his bride to be’s power.

Represents the law of Athens.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Synopsis (Notes)

# data[].attributes.subject
A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Synopsis (Notes)

# data[].attributes.body
Hermia is in love with Lysander but her father, Egeus, is forcing her to marry Demetrius and seeks Theseus (the duke’s) guidance.

Lysander and Hermia create a plan to meet in the forest tomorrow night and run away to marry in secret.

Helena is in love with Demetrius and resents Hermia’s beauty.

Hermia tells Helena their plan to run away and wed.

Helena plans to tell Demetrius of the lovers plan to elope thinking he will be grateful.

Planning a play for the Duke and Duchess

Bottom - Arrogant, Extremely confident in his acting ability

Flute - Annoyed at playing a female

Snug - Under-confident

Plan to meet in the forest the next night

Introduced to Puck and fairy, talk of the King Oberon’s party that evening and not letting the queen near the occasion as she stole a child from an Indian King, causing Oberon to be jealous as he wants the child for himself.

Titania and Oberon hate each other.

Titania is in love with Theseus and Oberon is in love with his bride Hippolyta.

Their argument has caused bad things to happen in their land, rotting of crops, air is filled with diseases and cold frost is spread.

Oberon sends puck to retrieve a magical flower that forces a person to fall in love with the next living creature he or she sees. He plans to use it on Titania in an attempt to trick her into giving him the child.

Helena follows Demetrius into the forest and confesses again her love for him while he dismisses her.

Oberon over hears and vows that he will soon be the one chasing after her.

Puck returns with the flower and Oberon keeps some for Titania and then demands he pours some on Demetrius’s eyes so he falls in love with Helena.

Oberon pours the potion on Titania’s eyes.

Hermia and Lysander wondering if the woods lost stop to take a nap.

Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius and pours position onto Lysander’s eyes.

Demetrius leaves Helena alone in the woods

She finds Lysander sleeping.

Lysander awakes to Helena’s face and instantly falls in love with her.

Helena thinks Lysander is mocking her as she believes she is not pretty enough to earn Demetrius’s love.

Lysander hates Hermia and sees her as a mistake.

Hermia awakes to Lysander gone.

Bottom, Quince and the actors rehearse in the woods, while Puck watches them unknowingly.

Bottom exits and returns with puck. Bottom has a donkeys head instead of human head.

The actors flee in fear and puck chases after them, leaving Bottom confused as to why everyone ran away from him.

Bottom thinks his friends are playing a joke on him as one by one they comment on his exterior.

Bottom sings a song and awakens Titania who falls in love with Bottom at first sight(donkey).

Titania refuses to let Bottom leave the forest and orders her fairies to become his servant.

King Oberon meets Puck, and Puck tells him of the events of that day. The rehearsal, turning the actor playing Pyramus (Bottom) into a donkey and Titania falling in love with him when she awoke.

Hermia and Demetrius enter and Hermia accuses Demetrius of killing in Lysander in his sleep, as he has disappeared. Hermia leaves in anger and Demetrius stops to sleep in his sadness.

Oberon comes to the realisation that Puck has put the love potion on the eyes on the wrong man (Lysander instead of Demetrius). Oberon demands that puck finds and brings back Helena so that he can put the potion on the eyes of Demetrius so he can fall in love with her.

Lysander is still declaring his love for Helena much to her disbelief.

Demetrius and awakes and lays eyes on Helena falling in love with her.

Helena believes that Lysander and Demetrius are both ganging up on her and are competing for Hermia’s love.

Lysander thinks Demetrius is being cruel as he believes he is still in love with Hermia.

Hermia enters and is dismissed by Lysander much to her confusion, as he claims that he now hates her.

Helena thinks that Hermia is also joining in on her playing tricks on her and accuses her of trying to destroy their friendship, much to her surprise.

Hermia thinks Lysander is teasing Helena as he declares his love for her.

Demetrius and Lysander argue over who loves Helena more and Lysander challengers Demetrius to a duel.

Lysander insults Hermia as she tries to stop him from fighting.

Hermia blames Helena for Lysander’s sudden hatrid towards her.

Hermia and Helena argue and Helena seeks the protection of Demetrius and Lysander, still suspicious that the three of them are teasing her.

Demetrius and Lysander mock Hermia and leave to duel each other for Helena’s love.

King Oberon scolds Puck for his mistakes and tells him to cast a fog/ darkness over the forest so Demetrius and Lysander loose each other. He also tells Puck to imitate each other’s voices to lead them in different directions and tire them out so much that they “sleep like the dead”, then pour a new flower potion into Lysander’s eyes that will erase his love for Helena.

Puck leads Demetrius and Lysander astray from each other, as he mimics their voices.

Demetrius, Lysander, Helena and Hermia fall asleep.

Puck pours the reverse potion onto Lysander’s eyes.

Titania is fawning over Bottom as the fairies run about as his servants. Bottom and Titania fall asleep.

Oberon enters, and announces that he convinced Titania to give him the child after taunting her so much, he pours the reverse potion into her eyes, now having what he wanted all along.

Titania awakes, disgusted by Bottom (donkey).

Puck removes Bottom’s donkey head.

Titania and Oberon now at peace with each other.

Hippolyta, Theseus and Egeus come across the four lovers sleeping on the ground.

They are woken up by the hunters ordered to blow their horns.

Lysander admits to Theseus that he was planning to leave Athens with Hermia to escape the law so they could marry.

Egeus demands that Theseus punishes Lysander for his crimes and tries to encourage Demetrius to join him in his anger, however Demetrius says that his love for Hermia has melted away and he is now in love with Helena.

Theseus overrides Egeus’s wishes and declares that the couples will marry alongside him and Hippolyta today.

The four find the events hard to recall as if they were a dream.

Bottom awakes back to normal and confused from what he thought he dreamt, and returns to his cast who are getting ready to perform their play.

Theseus, Hippolyta and the two other couples sit down for entertainment and watch the Pyramus play starring Bottom. Which has already created a reputation for its dreadful acting and it being so badly written. Theseus is very unimpressed with the quality of the play and the actors and frequently comments on his outrage.

The play ends much to everyone’s happiness and the friends all go to bed.

Oberon and Titania leads fairies in song and dance in celebration.

Puck concludes the play with a goodnight and declaration that this story was no more real than a dream.

# data[].attributes.headline
Helena - 24 Lines that show the character’s values/ morals/ status

# data[].attributes.subject
Helena - 24 Lines that show the character’s values/ morals/ status

# data[].attributes.body
“Demetrius loves you fair. O happy fair!”

“You’re the beautiful one as far as Demetrius is concerned. Oh, you’re so lucky!”

“Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, The rest I’d give to be to you translated”

“If the world were mine, I’d give it all up - everything except Demetrius- to be you”

“The more I love, the more he hateth me”

“The more I love him, the more he hates me”

“Through Athens I am thought as fair as she”

“People throughout Athens think I’m as beautiful as Hermia”

“Love looks not with the eyes but with the eyes”

“When we’re in love, we don’t see with our eyes but with our minds”

“Leave you your power to draw, And I shall have no power to follow you”

“If you let go of your power to attract me, I won’t have any power to follow you”

“Use me but as your spaniel - spurn me, strike me, Neglect me, lose me”

“Treat me like you would treat a dog - kick me, hit me, neglect me, try to lose me”

“And yet a place of high respect with me - Than to be used as you use your dog”

“And yet I would consider it an honour to be your dog”

“Your virtue is my privilege”

“I rely on your virtue to protect me”

“We cannot fight for love as men may do”

“We cannot fight for love as men can”

“No, no, I am as ugly as a bear, For beasts that meet me run away for fear”

“No, no, I’m as ugly as a bear, since animals that see me run away in terror”

“Oh, that a lady of one man refused Should of another therefore be abused!”

“Oh, how awful that a lady who’s been rejected by one man should therefore be treated horribly by another one!”

“Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?”

“Why does everyone always make fun of me?”

“These vows are Hermia’s. Will you give her o’er?”

“The promises you’re making to me belong to Hermia. Will you abandon her?”

“If you were men, as men you are in show, You would not use a gentle lady so To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts, When I am sure you hate me with your hearts”

“If you were real men, as you pretend to be, you wouldn’t treat a lady this way, making vows and promises and praising my beauty when I know you’re really both disgusted by me”

“What though I be not so in grace as you - So hung upon with love, so fortunate - But miserable most, to love unloved?”

“Why does it matter that I’m not as lucky or lovable as you are and that the love I feel is unrequited”

“‘Tis partly my own fault, Which death or absence soon shall remedy”

“It’s partly my own fault, since I followed you here. Leaving - or dying - will soon take care of everything”

“Impatient answers from my gentle tongue? Fie, fie! You counterfeit, you puppet, you!”

“You’re going to make me mad enough to answer you? Damn you, you faker, you puppet!”

“Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think, Because she is something lower than myself, That I can match her”

“Please don’t let her hit me. Maybe you think that because she’s shorter than me I can take her”

“And now, so you will let me quiet go, To Athens will I bear my folly back”

“Now just let me go quietly back to Athens. I’ll carry my mistakes back with me”

Hermia asks what’s keeping Helena from leaving...

“A foolish heart, that I leave here behind”

“My stupid heart, which I’m leaving behind here”

“I will not trust you, I, Nor longer stay in your curst company”

“I’m not sticking around here any more. I don’t trust you”

“Shine comforts from the east, That I may back to Athens by daylight From these that my poor company detest”

“I wish the comforting light of day would shine so I can go back to Athens and get away from these people who hate me so much”

“So methinks. And I have found Demetrius like a jewel, Mine own, and not mine own”

“I won Demetrius so easily, as if he were a precious diamond I just found lying around. It’s mine because I found it, but I feel like someone else could easily come and claim it was hers”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
SpongeBob quotes are so universal that they never get old. That's because "SpongeBob SquarePants" is the one TV show that we are all guilty of watching and have absolutely no regrets every time we turn it on.

Most of us are no longer children, which is why our parents sometimes get that confused look on their faces when they see us watching "SpongeBob SquarePants." But you know what? "SpongeBob" is by far one of the funniest shows of our generation and the characters are some of the greatest. The best part about "SpongeBob," without a doubt, is the iconic quotes that we all still use in our daily language. With too many to count, here are some favorite "SpongeBob" quotes, from ones that all fans should know, to ones we use every day.

1. "Firmly grasp it in your hand."

2. "Ha ha ha ha, it's a giraffe."

3. "CHOCOLATE!!!!"

4. "Well, it's no secret that the best thing about a secret is secretly telling someone your secret, thereby, secretly adding another secret to their secret collection of secret, secretly."

5. "Do you smell it? That smell, the kind of smelly smell. A smelly smell that smells... smelly."

6. "Patrick, I don't think Wumbo is a real word."

"Come on. You know, I wumbo, you wumbo, he/she/me wumbo. Wombology, the study of wumbo! It's first grade Spongebob!"

7. "I don't get it. I made my house a mess, which was making it clean, which made Squidward clean my yard, but that really means he's messing it up. But the opposite of clean is filth, which means filth is clean, that means Squidward is really making my yard a wreck, but I normally wreck my own yard which means, Squidward is being the opposite of Squidward which means he's Spongebob!"

8. "Is Mayonnaise an instrument?"

9. "F is for fire that burns down the whole town, U is for Uranium...bombs! N is for no survivors!"

10. "You don't need a license to drive a sandwich."

11. "The best time to wear a striped sweater...is all the time."

12. "Once there was an ugly barnacle. He was so ugly that everyone died... the end."

13. "My leg!"

14. "It took three days to make that potato salad...three days!!!"

15. "Can I be excused for the rest of my life?"

16. "Can I get some extra salt?"

"We're all out."

" Could you check?"

"...No."

17. "Patrick, you're a genius!"

"Yeah, I get called that a lot."

"What? A genius?"

"No, Patrick."

18. "Oh, these aren't homemade. They were made in a factory... a bomb factory. They're bombs."

19. "You just CAN'T WAIT for me to die, can you?"

20. "Do instruments of torture count?"

21. "Hello, we're with the pet hospital down the street, and I understand you have a dying animal on the premises."

22. "Hey Patrick, I thought of something funnier than 24... 25!"

23. "We should take Bikini Bottom and push it somewhere else!"

24. "Is this the Krusty Krab?"

"No! This is Patrick!"

25. "The Krusty Krab pizza is the pizza for you and me."

26. "This is a load of barnacles..."

27. "Now he's gonna kick my butt!"

28. "This is not your average, everyday darkness. This is... ADVANCED darkness."

29. "Too bad Spongebob isn't here to enjoy Spongebob not being here."

30. "Remember, licking doorknobs is illegal on other planets."

31. "I'm not just ready, I'm ready Freddy!"

"It's Larry..."

32. "I'll have you know that I stubbed by toe last week and only cried for 20 minutes."

33. "Hey Patrick what am I now?"

"Uh...stupid?"

"No! I'm Texas!"

"What's the difference?"

34. "Patrick, don't you have to be stupid somewhere else?"

"Not until 4."

35. "Are you Squidward now? ... That's okay take your time."

36. "Who are you people?!"

37. "Squidward that's not the peace treaty, that's a copy of the peace treaty."

38. "What's your name son?"

"Name? Uhh, beef wellington."

"No your name."

"Uhh, fork on the left?"

39. "Ravioli Ravioli, give me the formuoli."

40. "Are you open?"

"Read the sign..."

"...l'll have a Krabby Patty Deluxe and some double chili kelp fries."

41. "HAHAHAHA THAT GUY GOT HIT IN THE HEAD WITH A COCONUT HAHAHA."

42. "My sandwich tastes like a fried boot."

"My sandwich is a fried boot!"

43. "Too bad that didn't kill me."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shakespeare Is Boring, Or So We Like To Think

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
SpongeBob quotes are so universal that they never get old. That's because "SpongeBob SquarePants" is the one TV show that we are all guilty of watching and have absolutely no regrets every time we turn it on.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In the great theater tradition, young actors and artists have sought apprenticeships for generations to continue their education and cut their teeth in the big leagues. Many regional theaters in the United States still offer these apprentice positions, both formally and otherwise. For the next generation of actors, the spots are coveted and not taken lightly.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie BFA Actor Training Program a few years ago, Eleonore Dendy became one of the young actors-to-watch coming out of a training program. Currently she can be seen on stage at the Guthrie in Minneapolis, playing Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I caught up with Eleonore during the last week of their rehearsals to discuss the production and the the challenges she has faced while working on Shakespeare (her first time tackling his work since school) for a modern audience.
C.W.: You are a classically-trained actor, but have you had a lot of experience working on Shakespeare outside of a classroom setting?
E.D.: Zero. This is my first show I've done outside of an academic setting with Shakespeare. Since graduating, I've only done contemporary work, so I was excited to revisit my training and dive deep into text work.
Director Joe Dowling's particular take on the play is notoriously fantastical and draws on many colorful and technical elements to embody the larger-than-life, dream-state quality of the script. Without giving any surprises away, can you tell us a bit about how modern technology is used to enhance the story this time around?
The technical elements really come into play because more and more, audiences are expecting spectacle in productions. I think all productions, really, but especially in a show like this. It's so hard to answer that question without giving away what we're doing...this version...is like watching an IMAX movie, but with real people in front of the IMAX movie. To take a production like this and appeal to a modern audience, I think that embracing modern technology and where we are and how we interact with our world really comes into play; as well as incorporating musical elements, that are visceral and that are relatable. That's why contemporary music is used in our production: to bring the play forward in time for a modern audience. What I've also noticed...from our training, and how we're being coached in this show, the text is delivered in a much different way, I suppose. I think obviously using the scansion, the words and the rhymes; but there's an irreverence to pronunciation; a contemporary feel, that I wasn't used to embracing.
So there's a preciousness with the language that you're used to, that you don't necessarily have to adhere to?
Exactly. We are exploring when we can bend the rules. Audiences are really interested in that.
How do you think this production is unique to others being produced today?
Ultimately this incarnation of the production is quite a bit darker than any version Joe has done in the past, or that I've seen. We know A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy, obviously, but-we don't really think about what a dream is, what it can be. A dream can be a nightmare, it can be disorienting, it can be so many things. I think the production shows that range in a really nice way. Many people know the story, and it's easy to understand. But it allows for a lot of creative surprises and visual treats. Audiences want to see what a theater does with this piece that they know. Plus it's winter in Minnesota, and it's a really smart idea this on the stage for people to escape the winter and escape to a warm, ethereal dream world.
Has there been any specific historical or critical research that you've drawn from in this process? Why were you drawn to these?
The Guthrie provides us with huge dramaturgical packets, which is wonderful. The packets have everything we need to know about the history of the piece, fun facts, and whole stories that are referred to in the play. For me, I always am interested in what people's names mean in the world...there's this one part that helps me key into Hermia. She has this monologue when Lysander invites her to run away, and she says yes; she uses these romantic images, like doves, Cupid's arrow...and then she throws in: "And by that fire which burned the Carthage queen/ When the false Troyan under sail was seen,"-a reference to the story of Dido. When Dido's lover left her, she made her sister tie her and burn her at the stake so he would see her dying as he left...it's funny to me that someone would put that in the middle of something about love, relationships, etc. This super violent image!
She works herself up quite a bit!
Yes! But the four lovers in Midsummer..they're kids, and everything is so...the stakes are so high when you're in love for the first time. It was this interesting, really weird and creepy window into that relationship and that person's feelings. So finding pieces like that within the text is a lot of fun and informative.
Obviously, at this point, you are still in rehearsals-and just now adding tech elements. But is there a particular scene that you love doing?
Absolutely. Act 3 scene 2 is...when we do 3.2 it really feels like our show. 3.2 is where the lovers are lost in the forest, the men have had the love juice squeezed into their eyes and everything builds up to the four of them meeting up and having this huge altercation. Everything unleashes. All of Puck's mischief comes to fruition. Titania and Bottom, their relationship has developed and he turns into an ass. That scene is so long, but the action moves so quickly...it's like a roller coaster. That's the scene where we in the cast really get cooking, and also where Hermia gets to become a creature and lose her mind and..that's where she finds her voice really. It's fun to play! That scene is like a little boost every time we get to it.
Is there anything you're really grappling with?
There are a few things...I think in terms of just being on the thrust stage..there's a sweet spot in that space, and filling that space vocally can be difficult. The Guthrie is one of the few theaters that doesn't really mic shows at all, so transitioning from the rehearsal room into the theater can be pretty challenging. As far as the play goes, the show opens with us hearing the explanation of Hermia's betrothal to Demetrius, and her romantic feelings for Lysander.The law states that, should she not marry Demetrius has decreed, she should be put to death. So the story starts with this incredibly high-stakes, dramatic scene that opens this comedy ...as an actor, making that jump can be really awkward. You want to be in the world of the play but it's so far been difficult to make it cohesive style-wise. We enter a topsy-turvy world. That contrast is fantastic and important, but if you don't balance it right, it looks we're doing two different plays that don't complement each other. That first scene, for me, has been the most difficult . To go honestly from that, to all these ridiculous antics that follow, and being true to both...to make that journey make sense to the audience, rather than going from truth to cartoon. But everyone in the cast and artistic staff are amazing story-tellers, and holding fast to the truth of what Shakespeare wrote is important to us. We are always striving for that.

A Midsummer Night's Dream opened on February 13 th and runs through March 9 th. You can purchase tickets at www.guthrietheater.org.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
An Interview With Eleonore Dendy | Speak the Speech | The Shakespeare Standard

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the great theater tradition, young actors and artists have sought apprenticeships for generations to continue their education and cut their teeth in the big leagues. Many regional theaters in the United States still offer these apprentice positions, both formally and otherwise. For the next generation of actors, the spots are coveted and not taken lightly.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'It's time for a big adventure': Emma Rice on her opening Globe production

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The new boss of Shakespeare's Globe admits she doesn't always understand the world's biggest playwright. But a gender-swapping Midsummer Night's Dream shows she won't be playing it safe

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Pippa Nixon returned to the Globe to play Hermia in the 2008 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, having previously performed in The Merchant of Venice.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Image

A scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Old Globe Theater with, from left, Charles Janasz, John Lavelle, Donald Carrier, Sean-Michael Wilkinson, Triney Sandoval and Miles Anderson. Credit Credit Jim Cox

Chances are you've either seen it or have been in it. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is sort of like the Shakespearean " Godspell " in that sense. And not unsurprisingly, the summer is a particularly vibrant time for productions of the comedy, which works well in an outdoor setting - what with those enchanted fairy-filled woods outside Athens, where lovers' woes are mystically resolved.

"There is no question there is something deeply magical about sitting in a theater as the sun is setting, and the play is changing with that sunset," said Charles Fee, whose production of the play will open this summer at the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in Nevada.

"Midsummer" lends itself to nontraditional treatments, and the art of directorial tinkering is probably almost as old as the script. The Royal Shakespeare Company and Google Creative Lab are teaming up on a part-live, part-Internet production - the epitome of updates - that is but only one of many intriguing interpretations this summer.

Here several of those overseeing these productions talk about their renditions of "Midsummer," describing how they have conceptualized their productions; what take they've chosen for the fairy Puck, that "merry wanderer of the night"; and just what about "Dream"continues to draw our attention.

Image

Colorado Shakespeare Festival
Through Aug. 11

Mary Rippon Outdoor Theater, University of Colorado, Boulder; coloradoshakes.org

Directed by Geoffrey Kent

CONCEPT Set in the Jazz Age, this outdoor production will have a "Downton Abbey" feel. Mr. Kent said this choice makes thematic sense since the 1920s were the era of women's suffrage, and the play partly deals with a young woman wanting to marry the man of her own choosing, not of her father's.

PUCK The veteran character actor Lawrence Hecht is an unusual choice for the impish sprite. "He's a laborious, slow-moving Puck, who's got a bad back and bad knees and a bad neck," Mr. Kent said. "He's a like an aging Teamster fairy who cannot be fired but works at his own pace."

Mr. Kent has cast Hermia against type too: Jenna Bainbridge is partly paralyzed from the waist down and walks with a decided limp.

POPULARITY "The other comedies are laced with history jokes and jokes on the reign of the current queen," Mr. Kent said. " 'Midsummer' doesn't have any of that. You don't need footnotes to understand why it's so funny."

Credit Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal Shakespeare Company and Google Creative Lab
Friday Through June 23
Online at Google+
Directed by Gregory Doran

CONCEPT This online version of " Midsummer " will unfold in real time across the weekend. Participants - audience members sounds too passive - can interact with characters (like "Billy Shakespeare," above left, with "Francis Bacon") on Google+; create ancillary characters; share thoughts on the play; and engage with the production in other ways. But fear not, traditionalists; "the heart of the play is still the play, and it was important to us to preserve that," said Geraldine Collinge, director of events and exhibitions for the RSC.

PUCK "He's the only character that we're allowing to play across the Internet," as well as be shown in the more traditional live portion of the production, said Tom Uglow, director of Google Creative Lab (during an interview on Google Hangouts, appropriately enough). Participants will be able to interact with Puck's online presence.

POPULARITY The play's still the thing, though given that this is a Royal Shakespeare Company production at heart, the text is still important. "It's got a mixture of comedy and seriousness, and it does address our times," Ms. Collinge said. Besides, "In how many plays do people get turned into donkeys?"
International Festival of Arts & Ideas
Through June 23

University THeater, 222 York Street, New Haven; artidea.org

Directed by Tom Morris

CONCEPT This production comes to the United States from Bristol Old Vic in England, in association with the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, the same team behind the 2011 Tony Award-winning " War Horse." Inspired by the setting of Athens, the world's first democracy, Mr. Morris has set this "Midsummer" in a chaotic, futuristic world, he said, where "there is an impulse through the course of the play toward civilization."

PUCK Naturally the show features puppets, and Puck is made of wood and metal. "In some ways he's a Bunraku-style puppet operated by three puppeteers," Mr. Morris said. Unlike a sprite portrayed by a human actor, this Puck can fly and fall to pieces, Mr. Morris said, adding, "He doesn't quite have people waiting for him at the stage door, but he's the character people are talking about after the play."

POPULARITY "A lot of our lives are based on a theory that when we go to bed on, say, a Wednesday, we wake up on a Thursday, and we are the same person," Mr. Morris said. "But we know that really we might go to bed on Wednesday in love with one person and wake up Thursday either not in love or in love with someone else. We all recognize that experience." The play is a "beautiful, wise, crazy articulation of that conundrum."

Nashville Shakespeare Festival
Aug. 15-Sept. 15

Centennial Park Bandshell; nashvilleshakes.org

Directed by Denice Hicks

CONCEPT Set in Nashville now, this green production features costumes made from recycled materials. The concept is partly inspired by references in Act II, Scene 1, during an argument between Oberon and Titania, the king and queen of the fairies, that today sounds an awful lot like allusions to global warming. As Titania says:
The spring, the summer, The childing autumn, angry winter change Their wonted liveries; and the mazed world, By their increase, now knows not which is which.
PUCK He will have horns, but he will also wear a hoodie. "There's a real negative movement against hipsters lately, and I'm kind of interested in that," Ms. Hicks said. "What's wrong with hipsters? They keep our coffee shops running."

POPULARITY The ferocity of the lovers' battles still resonates today, and "the humor of the amateur actors as they try to put their play together is still really, really fresh," Ms. Hicks said. "There's great advice for life and art within this play."

The Old Globe
Through Sept. 29

Lowell Davies Festival Theater, Balboa Park, San Diego; theoldglobe.org

Directed by Ian Talbot

CONCEPT "Midsummer" opens with a father angry enough to sentence his daughter to death if she refuses to marry the man of his wishes. "I've set it in the Victorian era because that's an era when female emancipation hadn't happened," Mr. Talbot said. "I think it was a sexist world."

PUCK While the fairy world in the production is dark - like that of the Lost Boys in "Peter Pan" - Puck is still playful and "brings Oberon out of his dark moments," Mr. Talbot said. "I equate Puck's relationship with Oberon to the fool in 'Lear.' "

POPULARITY The romance is timeless: "When you get to a certain age, you think back to youthful love, that thrill of the initial feeling of being committed to someone," he said. "The wallowing about emotion and true love is something that we all enjoy."

Shakespeare & Company
July 20-Aug. 17

The Dell at the Mount, Edith Wharton's Home, 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, Mass.; shakespeare.org

Directed by Jonathan Croy

CONCEPT Seven young actors who have been through the theater's training programs play all the parts in this 90-minute version. The setting is "sort of this side of Napoleonic," Mr. Croy said. "These are people who could have sprung full-blown from a Jane Austen novel in the way that they express themselves, in the way they seem to feel things, in the way the poetry becomes a metaphor for the size of their feelings."

PUCK A woman (Annie Considine) plays the role, and four others, in the production. One of the interesting benefits, Mr. Croy said, is "the ways that the different characters reveal things about each other when they come from the same actor."

POPULARITY "I honestly believe 'Midsummer' is the most perfectly constructed comedy ever written," Mr. Croy said. "Anything that's similar that seems stale or tired is because of the literally hundreds of years of people stealing from it."

Directed by Charles Fee

CONCEPT The 1960s setting includes paisley and leather in the costumes and a Volkswagen Beetle, right, on the outdoor set. Mr. Fee, who is artistic director at the Great Lakes Theater Festival, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Lake Tahoe, has employed the concept before, but he said he finds it rewarding to return to familiar ground.

"We begin in 1960s Athens, in a very rigid world," he said. "It's a little bit like a magical mystery tour. We go out into the woods, and we have drugs put in our eyes, and we see things completely differently. It's a bit psychedelic."

PUCK Expect a bit of Jimi Hendrix. "When I was 10 it was 1968, and I lived in San Francisco, and the fact is, he looks like one of the Merry Pranksters," Mr. Fee said. "He's beginning to follow a kind of guru, a sort of maharishi figure in Oberon, but he's like the guys I saw in the city in the late '60s."

POPULARITY The battles for love connect with audiences, Mr. Fee said, and the play features such a wide spectrum of characters that every attendee is in some way represented on stage. "The poetry is exquisite, and the comedy is low and very, very bawdy," he said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chances are you've either seen it or have been in it. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is sort of like the Shakespearean " Godspell " in that sense. And not unsurprisingly, the summer is a particularly vibrant time for productions of the comedy, which works well in an outdoor setting - what with those enchanted fairy-filled woods outside Athens, where lovers' woes are mystically resolved.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer," sang Nam Nguyen, a guitar-playing fairy in A Midsummer Night's Dream , one of William Shakespeare's most well-known comedies.

The Victoria College Drama Society (VCDS) opened its 2018-2019 season on Thursday night with a dreamy performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream .

Directed by Abby Palmer, the play was adapted to suit a contemporary audience and ran for 2.5 hours with a 10-minute intermission. Some of Shakespeare's original text is still used, but much of the convoluted words and language have been edited and translated into modern English.

More interestingly though, is that Palmer's adaptation is set in 1968 America. The new setting is brought to the forefront with the inclusion of swapped gender roles, LGBTQ+ people, and people of colour, as well as snazzy costumes, lively singing, and dancing. In multiple scenes, characters dressed in bold miniskirts, platform heels, and tie-dye break out into popular songs like the '60s hits "I'm a Believer" and "Stand by Me." This specific directorial adaptation is more relevant than ever in today's political climate of social movements and regressive leadership.

focuses on four interconnected plots: the relationships between the characters of Hermia ( Eiléanór O'Halloran ), Lysander ( Rachel Leggett ), Helena ( Mitchell Byrne ), and Demetrius ( River Oliveira ). Against the law of Theseus ( Devon Wilton ), Hermia and Lysander intend to get married, while Demetrius attempts to win over Hermia, and Helena tries to win Demetrius.

In the forest and the realm of Fairyland, Oberon (Wilton), king of the fairies, and his assistant Puck ( Nicole Eun-Ju Bell ) concoct a special potion to set things right among the couples. Meanwhile, a group of hippie actors rehearse a play of their own that they hope to perform at Theseus's wedding. Things go wrong and chaos ensues, but everything seems to have a funny way of working out in the end.

This hilarity balances the commotion of the many different and deep themes and scenes in the play. Characters in serious conversations in the foreground are met with amusing moments between characters in the background. In one instance, Hermia and her father argue over her arranged marriage to Demetrius while Lysander and Helena secretly fight behind them. The audience was constantly having a laugh at these actions and other witty one-liners.

Visual elements helped to bring the dream world even more to life, with a colourful set design, hilarious sound effects like the characters' car driving behind the audience, and lighting effects that featured prominently throughout the show.

The play was performed at the Emmanuel College Quad, which added to the ambience and fit seamlessly with the forest scenes on stage. Most of the seating was on tarps on the grass, although some chairs were provided.

Audience interaction was a large part of the show. It was a bit startling when characters suddenly walked up and down the aisles, and even across the tarps of people on their way to the stage. Puck spoke directly to the audience several times throughout the show, as if talking to a friend. For a small outdoor theatre, this truly enhanced the intimacy and sense of community, especially in the chilly fall evening.

Overall, the musical performances of the cast and the modern dream world setting made for a magical night.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Theatre review: A modern take on A Midsummer Night's Dream

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer," sang Nam Nguyen, a guitar-playing fairy in A Midsummer Night's Dream , one of William Shakespeare's most well-known comedies. The Victoria College Drama Society (VCDS) opened its 2018-2019 season on Thursday night with a dreamy performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream .

# data[].attributes.headline
My Modern Interpretation of the Character of Hermia

# data[].attributes.subject
My Modern Interpretation of the Character of Hermia

# data[].attributes.body
In a modern era I envision Hermia as an outright feminist, who isn’t afraid to voice her own opinion, in either political matters or anything that she is passionate enough about. This is mostly due to her fiery and strong minded personality and her refusal to conform to social and gender stereotypes, such as complying with her fathers wishes and being the perfect wife. She is a rebel in this sense, which is why I can picture her as an activist or campaign leader. I think it would also be fun to explore her disobedient attitude towards her father, imitating the behaviour of a cliched “moody teenager” and believing that she is knowledgable about everything. I think that this overbearing and bold outlook on Hermia would not only emphasise the comedic element of the play, such as by using sarcasm much like many young adults use when arguing with their parents, but would also have a greater juxtaposition with Hermia’s more child like manor when she is ‘head over heels’ in love with Lysander. Both of these emotions would have a great contrast with Hermia’s later emotional state when Lysander claims that he no longer loves her and she is left with nothing. I would find it interesting to explore Hermia’s reaction to when she is humiliated and is left powerless and vulnerable, which she attempts to hide.

# data[].attributes.body
“And men have broken more promises than women have ever made” - Hermia

# data[].attributes.body
“I’ll follow you and make a heaven out of hell and I’ll die by the hands I love so well” - Helena

# data[].attributes.body
A young woman of Athens in love with Demetrius. Helena has been rejected and abandoned by Demetrius who had claimed to love her before he met her best friend, Hermia. Consequently, Helena tends to speak in a self-pitying tone. Moreover, she puts herself in dangerous and humiliating situations running through the forest at night after Demetrius, even though Demetrius wants nothing to do with her.

# data[].attributes.body
“The more I hate him the more he follows me round” - Hermia

# data[].attributes.body
Egeu’s daughter. Hermia is a beautiful young woman of Athens and both Demetrius and Lysander are in love with her. Hermia defies her father's wish that she marry Demetrius because she is in love with Lysander. She is usually strong-willed and independent, refusing to comply even when Theseus orders her to obey her father and resolved to elope with Lysander. Hermia is also the Childhood friend of Helena.

# data[].attributes.body
A young nobleman of Athens. In the past Demetrius acted as if he loved Helena, but after Helena fell deeply in love with him, he changed his mind and pursued Hermia instead. Encouraged by Egeu’s approval for him to marry his daughter, Hermia refusing to marry him does not sway his feelings towards her.

# data[].attributes.body
A young nobleman of Athens in love with Hermia. Although Hermia’s father refuses to let her marry Lysander, Lysander believes that love must conquer all obstacles, so he persuades Hermia to run away from her home and family with him, into the forest.

# data[].attributes.body
Shakespeare is also interested in the actual workings of dreams, in how events occur without explanation, time loses its normal sense of flow, and the impossible occurs as a matter of course; he seeks to recreate this environment in the play through the intervention of the fairies in the magical forest.

# data[].attributes.body
“It seems to me that yet we sleep, we dream” - Demetrius

# data[].attributes.body
As the title suggests, dreams are an important theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They are linked to the bizarre, magical mishaps in the forest.
The theme of dreaming, or feeling as if one has been in a dream, is noticeable when characters attempt to explain bizarre events in which these characters are involved in. For example when Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia and Helena awake after the spell from the love potion has been reversed, they question whether they were all living in reality or in a dream.

# data[].attributes.body
The fairies’ magic, which brings about many of the most bizarre and hilarious situations in the play, is another element central in the atmosphere of the play. Shakespeare uses magic both to embody the almost supernatural power of love (symbolized by the love potion) and to create a magical and surreal world.

# data[].attributes.body
“The course of true love never did run smooth” - Lysander

# data[].attributes.body
Though most of the conflict in the play stems from the troubles of romance, and though the play involves a number of romantic elements, it is not truly a love story. The lighthearted tone of the play distances the audience from the emotions of the characters in order to poke fun at the torments and afflictions that those in love suffer.

# data[].attributes.body
The dominant theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is love, a subject to which Shakespeare returns constantly in his comedies. Shakespeare explores how people tend to fall in love with those who appear beautiful to them.
This contrasts with the love difficulty throughout the play.

# data[].attributes.body
"Is it no man's land after the Battle of the Somme? Is it Bangladesh after a tidal wave? Could it be - the scuttling, crablike figure with legs where arms should be, and vice versa, would seem to suggest so - a pond prepared for David Attenborough? No, it is Athens as it has been re-imagined by Robert Lepage and his designer, Michael Levine, for the most original Dream since Peter Brook's version two decades ago, and the most strange and disturbing since - but there I have no memory to match it." Benedict Nightingale, Times 11.7.92

# data[].attributes.body
Robert Lepage conjured up what has been described as “an astonishing world” in his 1992 production at the Royal National Theatre. Theseus first appeared punting an iron bed-frame into the centre of the muddy pool of a stage, around which the other characters gathered for their dispute. Puck was played by the acrobat/contortionist Angela Laurier whose heavy French accent made her words sometimes difficult to follow but whose incredible agility created a truly non-human creature.

# data[].attributes.body
The Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer described the show as "infectiously funny and genuinely magical".

“French is fine and the production is even better, unashamedly crowd-pleasing but also true to the spirit of Shakespeare's great comedy."

And Benedict Nightingale wrote in The Times that French's performance was: "funnier and jollier than many of the male actors I've seen in the role."

# data[].attributes.body
In 2001 at the Albery Theatre, Dawn French played a female Bottom as a member of the Women's Institute helping the war effort in 1940s England.
The production, which locates the action in a 1940s English manor house, received many good reviews mostly for its comedic element and was described as “whimsically odd”.

# data[].attributes.body
A modern re-telling of the classic fantasy drama by William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream holds a star-studded cast with euphoric effects and melodramatic storytelling. Some of this star cast includes Bernard Cribbins as Snout, Matt Lucas as Bottom, Richard Wilson as Starveling and Elaine Paige as Mistress Quince.

# data[].attributes.body
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1999 romantic comedy fantasy film based on the play A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. It was directed by Michael Hoffman. The ensemble cast features Kevin Kline as Bottom, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Everett as Titania and Oberon, Stanley Tucci as Puck, and Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel, Christian Bale, and Dominic West as the four lovers.