“And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.”
A classic for a reason, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of the most famous works of William Shakespeare. Famous for its characterization of love, and for being one of Shakespeare’s more humorous plays, it is the most performed of all his plays. The young Hermia is promised to playboy Demetrius, but she has eyes only for her lover Lysander. Meanwhile, her closest friend Helena is head over heels for Demetrius, who still only wants Hermia. Hermia and Lysander run away into the forest, where they are pursued by Demtrius who has been told of their plan by Helena who follows him. Unknown to the young lovers, they have traveled into the realm of fairies.
In my mind, the hype is well deserved for this play. Of Shakespeare’s plays, this one is actually funny, and has an interesting story line, and good characterization. I may be biased as this remains the only Shakespeare play I’ve seen live, but it will forever be my favorite of his. Maybe not great for a casual read, as despite it being marginally easier to understand than his usual works, it is still clearly a Shakespeare work.
4out of 5 Stars