On Stage
A Midsummer Night’s Dream centres around the three very different worlds that Shakespeare sets up – the worlds of the Lovers, the Mechanicals and the Fairies.
1) For each of the three worlds answer the following:
- Which characters are part of this world?
- What is the setting for the world?
- What kind of people live in this world?
- What is important in this world?
- What are the rules in this world?
- What is possible in this world?
2) Once students have detailed each world, answer the following:
- What are the similarities between the three worlds?
- What are the differences between the three worlds?
- Which worlds are most similar?
3) At several points in the story, the worlds and their characters collide with disastrous results.
- List the key plot points where one world and its characters collide with another.
- Choose one of these key points and replace one of the characters involved with one from another world (ie. Instead of Titania falling in love with Bottom, she spots Lysander with the love potion on her eyes).
- Write a scene in contemporary language of what might happen in this imagined situation.
- If time allows, perform each scene for the class.
