By William Shakespeare
Directed By Sean Ryan Kelley
Summer, 1994
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Magazine Article (jpg) published in Fairbanks Arts
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Midsummer Nights Dream By William Shakespeare Directed By Sean Ryan Kelley Summer, 1994 On this page: |
From the Dramaturg, Janis Lull:
Shakespeare probably wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream in the 1590's, when he was in his early thirties. The Dream thus comes from the same period as Romeo and Juliet, and although one is a comedy and the other a tragedy, the two plays have much in common. Both focus on young lovers and their problems, especially the problems caused by the older generation. Romeo and Juliet kill themselves for love, but the Dream lovers-Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander-find a happy ending instead; as Puck predicts, "Jack shall have Jill,/Naught shall go ill." Yet Shakespeare probably expected his audience to notice that the hilarious playlet performed by Bottom and the other "hempen homespuns" in the last act is actually a love tragedy with almost the same plot as Romeo and Juliet. Like the fight between Oberon, the fairy king, and his queen, Titania, the homespuns' play suggests that happy endings are partly a matter of timing or luck, and that the spirit of tragedy can lurk just below the surface, even when-or maybe especially when-life seems genuinely funny.
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Theseus – Eric S. Larson
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