A Midsummer Night's Dream
“Good Peter Quince:” Shakespeare’s most autobiographical character
Richard Ruiz (Peter Quince) and Holly Twyford (Bottom) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Folger Theatre, 2016. Teresa Wood. A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream is one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays, and for good reason. Frequently a young person’s introduction to…
‘In the spiced Indian air’: Trading coin and cloth in the empire of the Great Mughal
The spiced air of India was the stuff of legend in Shakespeare’s England, and is brought to vivid life in this famous passage from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” These were images which Shakespeare knew his audiences would understand, during a…
ENCORES: A selection from “The Fairy Queen” presented by Folger Consort (2007)
Folger Public Programs is pleased to present ENCORES. Enjoy a selection from Folger Consort’s ‘The Fairy Queen’ (2007) featuring Lynn Redgrave, Sir Derek Jacobi, and Richard Clifford.
“More strange than true”: Finding America among the fairies
“I have had a most rare vision…” Bottom’s words in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” echo the language of Spanish conquistadors describing Aztec Mexico.
And so they play their parts: Double-casting Shakespeare’s plays
Double-casting is a theater technique (as opposed to a literary one) that creates a meta-narrative, transforming a large-cast play into a present-tense adventure. Actors swapping costumes and changing roles (and sometimes genders) becomes part of the thrilling ride, and theater’s…
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' Resource Guide
To get you ready for a summer in the Athenian woods, we wanted to share with you a guide to the variety of ways you can explore A Midsummer Nights Dream online before seeing it at the National Building Museum.
"Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen": Hedgehogs in Shakespeare's plays and the early modern imagination
Edward Topsell. The historie of foure-footed beastes. 1607. FOLGER STC 24123 copy 1 While the global population of European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) is stable, their numbers have been rapidly declining in the UK for decades, especially in rural areas. This…
Peter Brook
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 134 Peter Brook passed away on July 2, 2022. We remember him with fondness and gratitude for his many contributions to the theater.In this episode, we spend 40 minutes with one of the world’s most influential directors.…
Casey Wilder Mott and Fran Kranz on their LA Midsummer
Shakespeare Unlimited Episode 123 Director Casey Wilder Mott’s 2017 film adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream sets Shakespeare’s story in modern Los Angeles, where aspiring filmmakers, eccentric artists, studio execs, and surfers bounce off one another in a riot of…
Drawing Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Artist Paul Glenshaw takes a close look at Titania and Bottom as he draws the scene from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” depicted on a Folger bas-relief.
Still Dreaming: Shakespeare with Seniors
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 102 In 2011, Ben Steinfeld and Noah Brody, co-directors of New York’s Fiasco Theater, were invited to an assisted living facility and nursing home just outside New York City to work with its residents on a production…
Six things to look for when you watch "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
What should you watch for in a production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream?” We asked some friends what they look for in this classic play.