A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Arden Shakespeare is the established edition of Shakespeare's work. Justly celebrated for its authoritative scholarship and invaluable commentary, Arden editions guide you to a richer understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare's plays. This edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream provides a clear and authoritative text, detailed notes and commentary on the same page as the text and a full introduction discussing the critical and historical background to the play. The editor brings fresh perspectives on global productions and adaptations of this most-loved of Shakespeare's comedies.

List of Illustrations
General editors' Preface
Preface
INTRODUCTION
STAGE, SCREEN, ART
The play in its time: staging and casting
British productions: Restoration to nineteenth century
British productions: the twentieth century and after
Europe
Beyond Europe
Other media: cinema, music, art

SOURCES AND ANALOGUES: FAIRIES AND MORTALS
Fairies and fairy lore
Ovid: the classics and the fairies
Pyramus and Thisbe
Theseus and Hippolyta: Plutarch, Chaucer and Shakespeare

THEMES AND DESIGNS
Pastoral: the forest
Dreamers and Lovers
Patriarchy
Carnival, class, court
Theatre, art and illusion
The comedy of compromise

LANGUAGE AND VERSE

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Appendix 1: Casting Chart
Appendix 2:Date and Occasion
Appendix 3: The Text
Abbreviations and References
Index