A Midsummer Night's Dream Teachers' Notes
These Teachers' Notes are designed to accompany the USQ Shakespeare in the Park Festival’s 2011 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream - directed by Scott Alderdice and designed by Carolyn Taylor-Smith. The aim of the Notes is to complement the performance you will see in the park; exploring its distinctive features and giving further insight into the play itself. They have been especially designed to be accessible to youth, with activities and information aimed to peak the interest of our valued student audience. Please delve in and take from them whatever information appeals and we hope these Notes further enhance your enjoyment of the production.
A Midsummer Night's Dream was written by William Shakespeare between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, who are manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. Shakespeare’s visionary poetic drama appeals to an unusually broad spectrum of spectators. The play may induce fantasies of aristocratic or private pleasure, but it does so with the resources of the public stage. If is mocks the working-class artisans (who are simply called ‘the rabble’ in one stage direction), it also laughs at the young well-born lovers. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.
These notes have been prepared by Laura Schwenke in consultation with Dr Darryl Chalk, Scott Alderdice and Ari Palani.