William Shakespare

a cura di J. Pignet
 
 Elves, fairies, fairytale woods, supernatural kings and queens are some of the characters of Shakespeare's most magical comedy. It presents three stories connected by the celebration of the wedding of Theseus, Duke of Athens, and Hyppolita, Queen of the Amazons. Four young people have to deal with the mysteries of love and passion and their changing moods, unaware of the actions that supernatural entities perform against them, while a group of "rude mechanicals" stage a rough comedy, a play within a play…
 A comic-strip version accompanied by inserts on the sources of the play, its fortune, symbols and themes as well as its film and musical versions. 
 
 Teacher's Resources available online: Answer Key - Audioscripts - Key to Summing-up Activities.
 
 Versione a fumetti dell'opera teatrale in cui Shakespeare libera maggiormente la sua fantasia: folletti, elfi, fate, foreste intricate costituiscono alcuni degli elementi della commedia più misteriosa e magica del drammaturgo inglese. Essa presenta tre storie intrecciate, collegate tra loro dalla celebrazione del matrimonio tra Theseus, duca di Atene, e Hippolyta, Regina delle Amazzoni. Quattro giovani sono alle prese con i misteri del sentimento e della passione, con la loro assoluta mutevolezza, mentre entità soprannaturali agiscono a loro insaputa e un gruppo di manovali inscena una rozza commedia, teatro nel teatro...

William Shakespeare

Chapter 1 - The price of disobedience

Extension: Sources and dates

Chapter 2 - A plan for revenge

Extension: The Globe

Chapter 3 - The charm begins to work

Extension: The fortune of the play

Chapter 4 - A great confusion

Extension: Film versions

Chapter 5 - Is that all a trick?

Extension: A Midsummer Night’s Dream in music

Chapter 6 - A new dream begins

Extension: Symbols and themes

Summing-up activities

A passage for acting

Glossary

E X T E N S I O N THE FORTUNE OF THE PLAY A Midsummer Night s Dream has always been very popular with audiences. Over the centuries there have been many different adaptations of the play. During the Puritan Republic (1642-1660) when the theatres were closed down, the comic subplot1 of Nick Bottom and his companions was performed as a  droll , or little comical play. Acrobats and clowns used  drolls  to entertain the spectators during their performances and in this way circumvented2 the law against drama. After 1660, the theatres re-opened and companies acted A Midsummer Night s Dream in adapted form, excluding some episodes. In the Victorian Age (1832-1903), the tendency was to insert musical sequences (the most famous was Felix Mendelssohn s Ouverture) and balletdances. At the close of the century special effects were constructed for the play. The tradition of women playing the roles of Oberon and Puck started in 1840 and continued for another twenty years. In the early twentieth century, director H. Granville-Barker introduced a modern way of staging A Midsummer Night s Dream (1914). He abolished large casts3, complex sets4 and Mendelssohn s music, and instead used Elizabethan folk music and a system of curtains5 with drawings6. Later, stage directors introduced revolving7 sets or organized outdoor8 performances; in short, they used all their imagination. Peter Brook s production of The Dream (1970) 1. subplot: minor part of the story in a film or book. 2. circumvented: eluded. 3. cast: group of actors in a play. 4. set: stage scenery. 5. curtains: 6. drawing: picture. 7. revolving: moring in a circle around a central point. 8. outdoor: outside. 46 

4  A great confusion Chapter BEFORE READING 1 Complete the following summary with the words below. quarrels   refuses   friend   reveals   lovers   juice   fairies   servant   unfortunately   magic It is night. Two young ....................................., Hermia and Lysander, are in the ........................................... wood near Athens. They are running away because Hermia ...................................... to marry Demetrius and obey her father. Only Helena, Hermia s .............................................., knows their secret. She has a strong passion for Demetrius and .............................................. Hermia s plan to him. Elves and ............................................ with their Queen Titania and King Oberon live in the wood. There are frequent ...................................... over a boy between Titania and Oberon, so he decides to punish his wife. He orders Puck, his ..................................................., to go and find a magic flower and pour its ................................................. on Titania s eyes. Then he orders Puck to use the juice on Demetrius. ..................................................... Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, so when Lysander wakes up, he falls in love with Helena. 2 Can you put the words in the correct category? fairy   spaniel   citizen   flower   owl   elf   gentleman   bush   puck   ivy   lady VEGETABLE 3 ANIMAL HUMAN What sound does each animal make? a. b. c. d. e. f. g. dog owl lion donkey/ass bird cat horse c c c c c c c 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. neigh chirp miaow bark roar hoot bray 47 SUPERNATURAL 

Una commedia misteriosa e magica di Shakespeare. Fumetti con folletti, elfi e fate, intrecciano storie d'amore e teatro nel teatro.

A Midsummer Night's Dream Collana RAINBOWS

Level A2 • Elementary - Collana RAINBOWS

A Midsummer Night's Dream

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