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A Midsummer Night's Dream - Blog Posts
i love ballet i love midsummer's night dream this is so beautiful
New York City ballet production of Midsummer Nights Dream
Hear me out-
A Muppet’s Midsummer Night’s Dream
Theseus, Hippolyta, Lysander, Hermia, Helena and Demetrius are all esteemed Shakespearean actors who keep to the original script, whilst all the fairies and some of the mechanicals are muppets muppeting about with the occasional soliloquy.
I present to you my vision:
Gonzo as Oberon
Believe me when I tell you Gonzo has RANGE. I think his background as an alien will help him embody the more mystical elements of Oberon and we know from his performance as the narrator in a Muppets Christmas Carol he’s a natural leading man.
Rizzo as Puck
Name a more iconic duo than Gonzo and Rizzo the rat? You can’t- of course you fucking can’t. Their chemistry is off the charts, celestial dare I say, platonic soulmates the like of which us mere mortals cannot comprehend. On top of the incredible back and forth they’ll bring to Oberon and Puck, Rizzo has a sense of mischief and is just the right amount of a whimsy can’t do nothing right boy to bring a really endearing vision of Puck to the stage.
Miss Piggy as Titania
Is it controversial to pair up Miss Piggy with someone who’s not her usual leading man? Sure, but bear with me I have a vision. Oberon and Titania are at odds for most of the play and I can definitely see a world in which Miss Piggy beats his ass in front of all the other fairies. Also the role of a glamorous ethereal queen? Are you kidding? Miss Piggy is going to body this role heart and soul.
Kermit as Bottom
Remember when I told you to bear with me? I would never break up a duo like Kermit and his beloved Miss Piggy, are you mad? Bottom and Titania spend the whole play smooching and mucking about with the fairies, not only do these two have the chemistry but it also gives Miss Piggy a chance to serenade her beloved Kermie. The casting also works on a meta level with Kermit playing an over ambitious actor somewhat hemmed in by an eccentric troupe. The only question is with the iconic transformation scene, do we cast a human actor who turns into Kermit, or do we just have regular ole Kermit with some donkey ears? I need the thoughts of the public desperately.
The Mechanicals:
Fozzie Bear as Snug
Waka, waka
Beaker as Francis Flute
Literally his worst nightmare is playing Thisbe.
Pepe the Prawn as Robin Starveling
Just a weird lil guy pretending to be moonlight
Bunsen as Tom Snout
Tom Snouts a tinker- plus he can do Pyramus and Thisbe’s special effects
Scooter as Peter Quince
Typical theatre manager energy.
The Fairies:
The Chickens as Titania’s Attendants
To be honest I can see the Henson company making a lot of cool original puppets for the fairies but you can’t have the muppets without some dancing chickens.
Janice and Animal should also get special cameos as Peaseblossom and Mustardseed respectively and naturally Waldorf and Statler show up to heckle Pyramus and Thisbe at the end.
Disney- make it happen
New York City ballet production of Midsummer Nights Dream
My favourite Shakespeare quotes:
"We know what we are, but know not what we may be" - Hamlet
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts" - As You Like It
"Good company, good wine, good welcome can make good people" -Henry VIII
"This above all: to thine own self be true" -Hamlet
"There is nothing either good or bad, but things making it so" -Hamlet
"I do love nothing in this world so well as you; is not that strange?" -Much ado about nothing
"O happy dagger, This is thy sheath: there rust, and let me die" -Romeo and Juliet
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool" -As You Like It
"Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me" -Antony and Cleopatra
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves." -Julius Caesar
"Et tu, Brute?" -Julius Caesar
"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" - A Midsummer night's dream
"For she had eyes and chose me" -Othello
"But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve. For daws to peck at: I am not what I am" -Othello
"If she lives till doomsday, she'll burn a week longer than the whole world" -The comedy of errors
"Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble!" -Macbeth
"Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it" -Macbeth
"Life ... is a tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing" -Macbeth
A doodle a day 2025- February
already 2 months in and haven't missed a day yet! Athough the post is a day late as I forgot It was already March (so catch a sneak peak of that doodle!)
Midsummer Nights Dream ending monologue
By Shakespeare
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends
can someone please explain to me the trend in the 90s of doing films of Shakespeare but setting them with a vaguely Victorian/Edwardian aesthetic? Like, Midsummer '99, Hamlet '96, and Twelfth Night '96.
i just really want one of Shakespeare's comedies directed by Wes Anderson
“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows”
Puck, After casting a spell on the Wrong Person: Heartbreak Is One thing, my ego's another
Oberon: I beg you don't embarass me (motherfucker)
RIP Helena, you would have loved Tumblr 😔
If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading
New York City ballet production of Midsummer Nights Dream
i’m writing a paper on a midsummer nights dream, so i thought i’d draw my fav
Puck and Oberon / Titania and Bottom
Pastoralism in Modern Fiction
Okay. First things first:
Pastoralism refers to a narrative construct popular in the Elizabethan era in which people (usually young people) go into the woods, wander around, and return to their normal life, now substantially changed by their time in The Woods.
One of the most iconic examples of this is A Midsummer Night's Dream. A whole bunch of young people (Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander) leave their boring lives and the problems that come with them (Hermia and Lysander want to get married, but Hermia's dad says "nah" and wants her to marry Demetrius instead). They wander around the forest (which happens to be populated with scheming faeries) and eventually return to their home (Athens) with new perspectives on life (Hermia and Lysander can get married, and so can Helena and Demetrius).
Of course, this is drastically oversimplifying the plot, but this same basic formula can also be applied to many other plays of the era, including As You Like It and The Faithful Shepherdess (John Fletcher's absolute trash fire of a play, which you should totally research for a good laugh).
But the thing about pastoralism? It never went away. Like any good, enduring trope, it grew and changed with the public consciousness.
Let's talk about Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Yes, that's right. The 2017 action film starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, national treasure Jack Black, Karen Gillan (always Amy Pond in my heart), and Kevin Hart (yes, I stalked the IMDB for this).
Obviously, there is some disconnect between the structure of a pastoralist play and what we envision when we think of a pastoral setting. For now, let's separate a pastoral setting from a pastoralist premise, and focus just on the pre-established equation for what makes a pastoral play.
A bunch of young people (Spencer, Martha, Fridge, and Bethany) exist in their boring everyday life with their boring everyday problems (I.E. detention).
They escape this ordinary world into a land of foliage and fantasy. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the faeries end up influencing the development of the story. In Welcome to the Jungle, the element of fantasy is the video game setting. While pastoralist media does not explicitly require an element of fantasy in order to work (as shown in As You Like It) it's usually needed as a way to lower the characters' inhibitions. By putting them in a situation so far-removed from the ordinary world, they can truly figure out who they are.
By going through this wild, crazy, and dangerous situation, the characters are able to return to their normal lives, significantly changed by what's happened (as shown by their newfound friendship).
If we're going by the previously established definition of pastoralism, then Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle fits the bill of a pastoral play.
Modern-Day Pastoralism
As mentioned before, there is going to be a bit of disconnect between Elizabethan pastoralism and modern-day pastoralism, but similar elements manifest themselves (purposefully or otherwise) in all sorts of movies, books, and TV shows.
Pastoralist plots are alive and well in modern media if you know where to find them, though most of the plots skew to the "action/adventure" side of things rather than the "romance" side that was popular back in Shakespeare's day.
This probably speaks to how people have begun to view the outdoors. Rather than being something strange, wonderful, and freeing, it is now seen as something that, while still freeing, is also very dangerous. This is expected, as people have increasingly gravitated towards urban life.
However, with the increased romanticization of pastoral aesthetics (I.E. Cottagecore, Gremlincore, etc.) I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing media reflective of an earlier, more joyful interpretation of pastoralism.
With this in mind, I would like to propose a means of identifying such forms of media.
The main characters must begin their stories with baggage from their ordinary lives.
They somehow end up in a natural environment.
Said natural environment must lower their inhibitions and/or upset the status quo established in their "ordinary world".
They are significantly changed by the time they spent in said natural environment.
One of the shows that immediately comes to mind is Lost, which more or less follows the guidelines.
Each episode features flashbacks (or, as the case may be, flash-forwards or flash-sideways) to the characters' lives before the plane crash (the normal world).
They crash on an island (the natural setting), presenting them with the challenge of surviving not only the natural world, but the strange and supernatural influences on the island.
This disrupts the status quo they adhered to, causing them to grow and change as people.
But that's just a theory... a literature theory! (Nah, it doesn't have as much of a ring to it.)
