A Midsummer Night's Dream: Insights from Folger Theatre dramaturg Michele Osherow
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Shakespeare & Beyond
"Nowhere does Shakespeare attend more to theatrical enterprise and potential than in A Midsummer Night's Dream," writes Michele Osherow, Folger Theatre's resident dramaturg. "It makes the play irresistible to those who practice theatre and to those who crave its incomparable pleasures." Read more in this playbill excerpt from Folger Theatre's new production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," onstage through August 28 as part of "The Playhouse" at the National Building Museum.
Stepping into the forest of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream': An immersive installation based on 'A Knavish Lad'
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Author
Esther French
This summer, visitors to The Playhouse at the National Building Museum can enjoy an immersive installation based on a beautiful book in the Folger collection, Joanna Robson’s "A Knavish Lad." The book visually (and wordlessly) narrates "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" in 16 vignettes, four of which are reproduced on a human scale for the installation.
Love-in-idleness, Part Two: Intoxicating botanicals in 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream'
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Marissa Nicosia
Love-in-idleness, a flower also called pansy or heartsease, plays an important role in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," as Marissa Nicosia explores.
Q&A: Jacob Ming-Trent on Falstaff, Bottom, and Shakespeare’s comedy
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Shakespeare & Beyond
Jacob Ming-Trent shares a favorite moment from his Shakespeare in the Park performance as Falstaff in "Merry Wives," which premieres on PBS's Great Performances May 20.
John, Paul, Pyramus, and Thisbe: The Beatles performing Shakespeare
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Daniel Blank
Did you know that the Beatles once performed the “Pyramus and Thisbe” scene from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night’s Dream"? Although they mainly stick to Shakespeare’s script, the moments when they play with the text stand out.
Bottom's dream - Excerpt: 'Reading Shakespeare Reading Me' by Leonard Barkan
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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond
This excerpt from Leonard Barkan's new book "Reading Shakespeare Reading Me" explores Bottom's awakening and recollection of his enchantment as a donkey in "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, much of the comedic conflict derives from the application of the nectar of a magic flower. Under its influence, the queen of the fairies (Titania) becomes enamored of a donkey, and, through a bit…
Introducing Shakespeare and Greek Myths: Theseus and Hippolyta
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emma poltrack
Welcome to our new Shakespeare and Greek Myths series. We're starting off with Theseus and Hippolyta--figures who are not only referred to in the plays, but are also fully formed characters in two of them: A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Two Noble Kinsmen. But who are they and what are their backstories?