A Midsummer Night's Dream

By Robert Swindells

Robert Swindells's A Midsummer Night's Dream is set in a very modern-day Yorkshire. Theseus, the neighbourhood tycoon is getting married. Bottom and his mates are roped into putting on a play for the wedding because, well, there's nothing much to do when you're on the dole. But, before the wedding, there are young lovers with problems to resolve ... and a drop of magic and mischief in the mix!

The Shakespeare Today series captures the magic of Shakespeare's text and sets it in an accessible and contemporary style.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Nov 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781408153420

Robert Swindells

Robert Swindells was born in Bradford, England. He was a primary school teacher, served in the Royal Air Force, and was involved in the peace movement before becoming a full-time author. Robert is the winner of numerous awards including the prestigious Carnegie Medal for his bestselling novel Stone Cold. He lives in England.

Book preview

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Retold by Robert Swindells

Illustrated by Tomislav Tomic

Contents

Cover

Title Page

List of characters

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four

Act Five

About the Author

Imprint

List of characters

Theseus, the Big Boss

Hippolyta, engaged to Theseus

Philostrate, Master of the Revels

Egeus, father to Hermia

Hermia, daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander

Demetrius, in love with Hermia

Lysander, in love with Hermia

Helena, in love with Demetrius

Quince, drama student

Bottom, drama student

Flute, drama student

Starveling, drama student

Snug, drama student

Oberon, king of the fairies

Titania, queen of the fairies

Puck or Robin Goodfellow, elf

Peaseblossom, fairy

Cobweb, fairy

Moth, fairy

Mustardseed, fairy

Act One

You could tell by his house that Theseus was not without a bob or two. Big, it was. Detached. Garden like a public park.

Some people reckoned Hippolyta was marrying him for his brass. Once, she’d been active in the women’s movement. A braburning Amazon. Now, suddenly, here she was, engaged to the neighbourhood tycoon. It just didn’t sound like her.

Nobody commented openly about any of this. Theseus was a dangerous guy; you didn’t poke your nose into his business unless you wanted it chewed off. Plus Hippolyta had taken a few assertiveness courses in her time. Let her catch you rabbiting on and you’d end up sweeping your teeth off the floor. They were getting married, Theseus was happy about it and that was that.

In fact, Theseus could hardly wait. Now they stood side by side, in the big bay window, gazing down the garden. His arm was round her waist. He gave her a squeeze, and sighed. ‘Not long now, sweetheart. Four days. Dragging a bit, though.’

Hippolyta laughed. ‘Don’t be such a wimp, Theseus, you big girl’s blouse.’ Hippolyta was probably the only person in the world who could call Theseus a big girl’s blouse without waking up in hospital. ‘It’ll pass in no time. Know why?’

Theseus shook his head. ‘You tell me, sweetie pie.’

‘Well, for a start, we’ll spend nearly half the time sleeping. You don’t know time’s passing when you’re asleep.’ She dug him in the ribs. ‘We’ll dream. You can be in my dream if I can be in yours.’

Theseus squeezed her waist again, and turned to Philostrate, who’d been admiring a picture on the wall. Philostrate was the guy that Theseus had hired to arrange the wedding reception, organise the marquee, see to it that there’d be enough

Reviews for A Midsummer Night's Dream

[kennethwdavis_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite Shakespearean comedy, a miracle.

[pilgrimjess · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

" The course of true love never did run smooth."This is one of Shakespeare's most performed comedies and as such probably one of his best known. Consequently I'm not going to going to say anything about the plot. I personally studied this whilst at school as part of an English Literature course and despite my callow years I remember enjoying. However, I haven't read it since.Now, far too many decades later, I read Bernard Cornwell's novel 'Fools and Mortals' which centres around a speculative and fictional première of the play. Having really enjoyed reading that book decided to revisit the original. Once again I found it a highly enjoyable read which made me smile and a piece of true genius.

[jfoster_sf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great romantic comedy.

[haruka3h · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Some decades ago we couldn't marry fleely.Sometimes we forced to marry who didn't want to marry.I think it is very sad.This book has many characters.So it's story is little complicated.But I felt happy to be all the people became happy at the end of the story.

[brianinbuffalo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As hard as I've tried, I could never quite get into this one. I've read it once and seen it performed twice. Both productions were classy. Still, I found the play tedious.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Far too contrived for my reading enjoyment. I'm certain that it is charming when performed on stage, but the premise wore thin upon reading. I really had no feel for the characters and cared little for their fate.

[norabelle414 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's no Twelfth Night (my favorite comedy), but it's still one of Shakespeare's better plays. I especially laughed at the 4 lovers' tendencies to follow each other around like puppydogs. I was interested to notice a difference in the speech between the mechanicals and everyone else (fairies, noblemen/women). In their everyday speech, the mechanicals did not use pentameter, while everyone else did.

[grytajme · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was a stagehand for this. Incredibly fun.

[bexaplex · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Midsummer Night's Deam is the story of four couples. Theseus and Hippolyta are about to get married, after Theseus captures the Queen of the Amazons (and presumably some sort of courtship, since she seems to be amenable to getting married). Hermia wants to marry Lysander, despite her father's objections. Helena wants to marry Demetrius, if only he weren't in love with Hermia. And Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, are having a tiff about household help. After an evening wandering around the woods, with a little enchantment, humor and chaos, they get it all sorted out.The only happy ending I dislike is Oberon and Titania. Oberon gets his way by making his wife ridiculous, about which she doesn't seem the slightest bit upset. I doubt Queen Elizabeth would have put up with that kind of treatment.

[glenline · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A hilarious masterpiece. A great romp in the woods. Having the characters stage a play seems unique to me.

[amaraduende · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

*gasp* Can I put Shakespeare in my fantasy shelf? :)

This is just such a delicious treat to read. Do yourself a favor and read it outloud - at least parts of it. It's just so fun.

[laphenix · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fast and fun. I liked the characters and comedy alike.

[leslie398 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While I liked the overall plot, I found this to be one of the plays in which Shakespeare's language is hard for me. I have seen some of the film versions (most notably the 1935 movie with Olivia de Havilland & Jimmy Cagney and the BBC Production with Helen Mirren as Titania) & seeing the action does help (especially in the 'humorous' parts!).One thing that I noticed in reading this was how unpleasant I found Oberon to be.

[writercity · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite Shakespeare tales that give me a new laugh every time. I've re-read it and love the characters of Helena and Hermia more every time.

[ncgraham_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I honestly feel as though I’ve ruined this play for myself. When I first read it during my last year of middle school, I was immediately taken with nearly everything about it—the quarrelling lovers, the comedy, the supernatural element—so taken that I tried to film a shortened version of it with some of my friends. Obviously, what with reading my own bowdlerized imaginings of the lines over and over again, not to mention listening to all of us trying to recite the Bard, my estimation of it was sullied somewhat.Reading it again, I find that I still enjoy it, and can respect it as a finely-crafted piece of comedy, but I don’t think it will ever again number among my very favorites from Shakespeare. And that is my fault, not his.As for the play itself, what is there to say? The language is wonderful, of course. Every word, every phrase, every sentence is perfectly judged. No one has ever equaled Shakespeare when it comes to using literary devices to bring about specific dramatic effects. The same features that make Oberon’s speeches so lyrically beautiful—alliteration, rhyme, assonance—Shakespeare uses to highlight the ridiculousness of the mechanical’s entertainment. Has there ever been alliteration as funny as this?Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade,He bravely broached his broiling blood breastThe whole of the Pyramus and Thisbe play-within-a-play is inspired; I don’t know whether Midsummer came before or after Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare’s oeuvre, but it’s wonderful to see him touch on the same themes in a comic context. I had to stage that scene with zombies and werewolves for a class this past semester (you see? … this play just won’t let me alone!), and let me tell you, anything that can survive that treatment is pure gold.Some things surprised me while I was rereading this. One was the maturity of the content; Demetrius basically tells Helena that, if she does not stop following him, he will rape her! Shakespeare ain’t for the kiddies, folks.Helena is, I think, my favorite character, after Bottom and Puck. The latter’s closing speech is one of my favorites from Shakespeare, and probably the best of his epilogues, with the possible exception of Prospero’s from The Tempest.In spite of my erratic history with the play, I would recommend it. You can’t go wrong with the Bard.

[dfitzgerald_50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I know as an educator and librarian, it is assumed by most that I am a lover of Shakespeare. However, I must come clean. I am not. I actually truly dislike reading the 16th century language and I have trouble getting past that to try and enjoy the story. That being said however, I chose to read this because the majority of English teachers at my school teach this classic and I wanted to be able to have conversations with the students about it. I will say, A Midsummer Night's Dream is my favorite Shakespeare play so far and I feel like I accomplished something by reading it.

[aarondesk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A comedy by Shakespeare on love and marriage. The way he mixes English culture with ancient mythology is brilliant.

[clq_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've been meaning to catch up on various Shakespeare plays that "everyone" has read, and after finishing a book and having no immediate plans for what to read next, A Midsummer Night's Dream was conveniently waiting for me on my Kindle.In short, I didn't really like reading it much. I can see how it would probably work much better on stage, but read as a book it didn't really do much for me.If I ever get the opportunity to see it on stage I probably will, and I'll be prepared to be pleasantly surprised at how well it can work as a play.That said, I do enjoy poems, and I found the lyrical nature of the dialogue, the rhythm and the rhyme, to be quite fun. But as a story I just didn't really appreciate it as much as I had expected.

[elmyra_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Was promted to re-read this by reading Neil Gaiman's eponymous Sandman short story. Learned:That my English has gotten a hell of a lot better in the last 11 years. This was the first Shakespeare play I tried to read, and I read it by myself at the time, so I didn't really get it.That I still don't really get the "brilliance" of this particular Sandman story.That I should probably read more Shakespeare.That some of the notes to this edition are utterly useless, and that Reclam can't quite decide what level of audience they're aiming their notes and translations at.

[rbeene-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's Shakespeare. Wonderful story but I prefer his tragedies.

[librarylou · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of my favourite Shakespeare plays, very witty and funny.

[fredacochran · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read it in high school. Loved it, it was funny

[therebelprince · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A reasonably mild edition of a great play, but one that will be eminently suitable for highschool students and actors.

[jennaelf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nothing is funnier than the reversal of social degrees, is it?

C'mon, the mighty Titania falls in love with a working class sod who has the head of an ass! AND his name is Bottom!

Shakespeare, you cheeky bastard.

[cathywoolbright · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Every read of this classic reveals another tongue in cheek pun. This humorous comedy of errors deals with love, romance, fairies in an enchanted forest, a traveling actors' troupe that passes itself as professional, but offers comic relief, mistaken identity, and of course parents at the crux who will not let true love have its way. Just a simple, straightforward Shakespearean tale. Enjoy!

[dmtcer-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was on a Shkespeare kick!

[paradox98_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite comedies. Significant to me because I've actually been in a love rhombus, as it were; therefore, I can relate some of the characters.

[soulflower1981 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I am not a huge Shakespeare fan I did find this particular play to be pretty darn good. I enjoyed the fact that there was this mix of fantasy with ideas that we can all relate to with unrequited love. It was fascinating to see how Shakespeare made fun of his own play "Romeo and Juliet" within the story as well. There is such a great woven story here that anyone that enjoys reading plays should read this. This was another book that I had to read for my Theatre course.

[jljaina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lyrical and mesmerizing! I got a dramatized audio copy of this book. It really brings this story to life!

A very different love story for the ages. Couplings, love triangles, love quads, and love chases. It is all here. Thank you fantasy forest for all this wonderful chaos. Some parts a whimsical, others near tragic, some comedy. You never know what the next scene will hold.

When just listening to this, it can take a bit to follow the story at first. I had no idea who anyone was and names are not mentioned enough to quickly catch on. The only indication to the setting is the sounds you here. It really is just like listening to a play. They even have a full cast for the audio so each character is voiced by someone new. While it makes it far more enjoyable it just made things take a little longer.

I finally got to learn where several famous quotes and expressions came from. Hearing certain lines brought a smile to my face. Now I just need to read the print version of this book so I can be sure I didn't miss anything. I now have a mental soundtrack to go with it.

[mrsdanaalbasha · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have read this book twice and I really like it, it even might be my favorite among Shakespear books, for some reason the song "Strange And Beautiful (I'll Put A Spell On You)" Lyrics by Aqualung always reminds me of this book:

I've been watching your world from afar
I've been trying to be where you are
And I've been secretly falling apart... Unseen
To me, you're strange and you're beautiful
You'd be so perfect with me
But you just can't see
You turn every head but you don't see me

I'll put a spell on you
You'll fall asleep
When I put a spell on you
And when I wake you I'll be the first thing you see
And you'll realize that you love me

Sometimes the last thing you want comes in first
Sometimes the first thing you want never comes
But I know that waiting is all you can do
Sometimes

I'll put a spell on you
You'll fall asleep
When I put a spell on you
And when I wake you I'll be the first thing you see
And you'll realise that you love me

I'll put a spell on you
You'll fall asleep
Cause I put a spell on you
And when I wake you I'll be the first thing you see
And you'll realize that you love me