A Midsummer Night's Dream Read online

  The collaborations with Fletcher suggest that Shakespeare's career ended with a slow fade rather than the sudden retirement supposed by the nineteenth-century Romantic critics who read Prospero's epilogue to The Tempest as Shakespeare's personal farewell to his art. In the last few years of his life Shakespeare certainly spent more of his time in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he became further involved in property dealing and litigation. But his London life also continued. In 1613 he made his first major London property purchase: a freehold house in the Blackfriars district, close to his company's indoor theater. The Two Noble Kinsmen may have been written as late as 1614, and Shakespeare was in London on business a little over a year before he died of an unknown cause at home in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616, probably on his fifty-second birthday.

  About half the sum of his works were published in his lifetime, in texts of variable quality. A few years after his death, his fellow actors began putting together an authorized edition of his complete Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. It appeared in 1623, in large "Folio" format. This collection of thirty-six plays gave Shakespeare his immortality. In the words of his fellow dramatist Ben Jonson, who contributed two poems of praise at the start of the Folio, the body of his work made him "a monument without a tomb":

  And art alive still while thy book doth live

  And we have wits to read and praise to give ...

  He was not of an age, but for all time!

  SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS:

  A CHRONOLOGY

  1589-91 ? Arden of Faversham (possible part authorship)

  1589-92 The Taming of the Shrew

  1589-92 ? Edward the Third (possible part authorship)

  1591 The Second Part of Henry the Sixth, originally called Theprobable)

  1591-92 TheTwo Gentlemen of Verona

  1591-92;

  perhaps revised 1594 The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus (probably cowritten with, or revising an earlier version by,

  George Peele)

  1592 The First Part of Henry the Sixth, probably with Thomas Nashe and others

  1592 / 1594 King Richard the Third

  1593 Venus and Adonis (poem)

  1593-94 The Rape of Lucrece (poem)

  1593-1608 Sonnets (154 poems, published 1609 with A Lover's Complaint, a poem of disputed authorship)

  1592-94 or 1600-03 Sir Thomas More (a single scene for a play originally by Anthony Munday, with other revisions by Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker, and Thomas Heywood)

  1594 The Comedy of Errors

  1595 Love's Labour's Lost

  1595-97 Love's Labour's Won (a lost play, unless the original title for another comedy)

  1595-96 A Midsummer Night's Dream

  1595-96 The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

  1595-96 King Richard the Second

  1595-97 The Life and Death of King John (possibly earlier)

  1596-97 The Merchant of Venice

  1596-97 The First Part of Henry the Fourth

  1597-98 The Second Part of Henry the Fourth

  1598 Much Ado About Nothing

  1598-99 The Passionate Pilgrim (20 poems, some not by Shakespeare)

  1599 The Life of Henry the Fifth

  1599 "To the Queen" (epilogue for a court performance)

  1599 As You Like It

  1599 The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

  1600-01 The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (perhaps revising an earlier version)

  1600-01 The Merry Wives of Windsor (perhaps revising version of 1597-99)

  1601 "Let the Bird of Loudest Lay" (poem, known since 1807 as "The Phoenix and Turtle"[turtledove])

  1601 Twelfth Night, or What You Will

  1601-02 The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida

  1604 The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice

  1604 Measure for Measure

  1605 All's Well That Ends Well

  1605 The Life of Timon of Athens, with Thomas Middleton

  1605-06 The Tragedy of King Lear

  1605-08 ? contribution to The Four Plays in One (lost, except for A Yorkshire Tragedy, mostly by Thomas Middleton)

  1606 The Tragedy of Macbeth (surviving text has additional scenes by Thomas Middleton)

  1606-07 The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra

  1608 The Tragedy of Coriolanus

  1608 Pericles, Prince of Tyre, with George Wilkins

  1610 The Tragedy of Cymbeline

  1611 The Winter's Tale

  1611 The Tempest

  1612-13 Cardenio, with John Fletcher (survives only in later adaptation called Double Falsehood by Lewis Theobald)

  1613 Henry VIII (All Is True), with John Fletcher

  1613-14 The Two Noble Kinsmen, with John Fletcher

  FURTHER READING AND VIEWING

  CRITICAL APPROACHES

  Barber, C. L., Shakespeare's Festive Comedy: A Study of Dramatic Form and Its Relation to Social Custom (1959). Half a century after publication, still the best book on Shakespearean comedy.

  Calderwood, James L., A Midsummer Night's Dream (1992). Good on "metadrama," theatrical self-awareness.

  Frye, Northrop, A Natural Perspective: The Development of Shakespearean Comedy and Romance (1967). Luminous study of Shakespearean comedy that develops "The Argument of Comedy" (discussed in "Introduction," p. xi).

  Kehler, Dorothea, ed., A Midsummer Night's Dream: Critical Essays (2001). Wide selection of approaches.

  Kermode, Frank, "The Mature Comedies," in Early Shakespeare, ed. John Russell Brown and Bernard Harris (1961), pp. 214-20. Characteristically sensitive reading by a great critic.

  Kott, Jan, "Titania and the Ass's Head," in his Shakespeare Our Contemporary (1964). Highly influential "dark" and sexual reading.

  Laroque, Francois, Shakespeare's Festive World: Elizabethan Seasonal Entertainment and the Professional Stage (1991). Useful extension of Barber's work.

  Levine, Laura, "Rape, Repetition, and the Politics of Closure in A Midsummer Night's Dream," in Feminist Readings of Early Modern Culture: Emerging Subjects, ed. Valerie Traub, M. Lindsay Kaplan, and Dympna Callaghan (1996), pp. 210-28. An example of a feminist approach.

  Montrose, Louis Adrian, The Purpose of Playing: Shakespeare and the Cultural Politics of the Elizabethan Theatre (1996), pp. 109-205. Influential "new historicist" reading.

  Patterson, Annabel, "Bottom's Up: Festive Theory," in Shakespeare and the Popular Voice (1989), pp. 52-70. Politically engaged.

  Young, David P., Something of Great Constancy: The Art of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1966). Thoughtful and detailed.

  THE PLAY IN PERFORMANCE

  Brooke, Michael, "A Midsummer Night's Dream on Screen," www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/564758/index.html. Pithy overview. Registered schools, colleges, universities, and libraries have access to video clips, including the complete twelve minutes of the silent 1908 version.

  Griffiths, Trevor R., ed., A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare in Production (1996). Much helpful detail.

  Halio, Jay L., A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare in Performance (1994). Good survey.

  Jacobs, Sally, "Designing the Dream," in Peter Brook's Production of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for the Royal Shakespeare Company: The Complete and Authorised Acting Edition, ed. Glen Loney (1974). Insider's voice.

  McArdle, Aidan, "Puck (and Philostrate)," in Players of Shakespeare 5, ed. Robert Smallwood (2003). Perceptive actor's view.

  RSC "Exploring Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream," www.rsc.org.uk/explore/plays/dream.htm. Particular focus on the multilingual Dash Arts production directed by Tim Supple.

  Selbourne, David, The Making of A Midsummer Night's Dream: An Eye-Witness Account of Peter Brook's Production from First Rehearsal to First Night (1982). Invaluable record of the seminal production.

  Styan, J. L., The Shakespeare Revolution: Criticism and Performance in the Twentieth Century (1977). Good on changing production styles and relationship between criticism and theater.

  Warren, Roger, A Midsummer
Night's Dream, Text and Performance (1983). Useful.

  Williams, Gary Jay, Our Moonlight Revels: A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Theatre (1997). Overview of stage history.

  For a more detailed Shakespeare bibliography and selections from a wide range of critical accounts of the play, with linking commentary, visit the edition website, www.therscshakespeare.com.

  AVAILABLE ON DVD

  A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton (1909, on DVD Silent Shakespeare, 2004). Short silent version, nicely exploiting the technological "magic" of the new medium of film.

  A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt (1935, DVD 2007). One of the all-time classic Shakespeare films, with James Cagney as Bottom and Mickey Rooney as Puck.

  A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Peter Hall (1968, DVD 2005). Television broadcast of an exemplary RSC production, with Ian Richardson (Oberon), Judi Dench (Titania), David Warner (Lysander), Diana Rigg (Helena), Helen Mirren (Hermia), and Ian Holm (Puck).

  A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Elijah Moshinsky (1981, DVD 2004). Despite Helen Mirren's presence as Titania, a weak made-for-television production in the BBC complete Shakespeare series.

  A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Adrian Noble (1996, DVD 2001). Film adaptation of RSC stage production.

  A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Michael Hoffman (1999, DVD 2002). Patchy, despite (or because of) strong Hollywood cast, including Kevin Kline as Bottom and Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania.

  The Children's Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Christine Edzard (2001, DVD 2006). Is what it says it is: acted (with varying degrees of success) by children.

  REFERENCES

  1. E. K. Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage (4 vols., 1924), vol. 3, p. 279.

  2. William A. Ringler, Jr., "The Number of Actors in Shakespeare's Early Plays," in The Seventeenth-Century Stage, ed. G. E. Bentley (1968), p. 134.

  3. Bottom the Weaver (1661, facsimile repr. 1970), sig. a2v.

  4. The Diary of Samuel Pepys, ed. Robert Latham and William Matthews (11 vols., 1970-82), vol. 3, p. 208 (29 September 1662).

  5. William Hazlitt, Characters of Shakespear's Plays (1817), pp. 126-34.

  6. Playbills, Theatre Museum, London.

  7. Jay Halio, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare in Performance (1994), pp. 30-1.

  8. Ellen Terry, Memoirs (1933), p. 149.

  9. The Times, review of A Midsummer Night's Dream, 11 January 1900.

  10. Harley Granville-Barker, Prefaces to Shakespeare (2 vols., 1946-47), vol. 2, p. 346.

  11. Francois Laroque, Shakespeare's Festive World (1991), p. 122.

  12. Peter Brook, interview with Peter Ansorge, Plays and Players, October 1970.

  13. Brook, interview with Ansorge.

  14. Halio, A Midsummer Night's Dream, p. 31.

  15. Trevor R. Griffiths, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare in Production (1996), p. 72.

  16. Halio, A Midsummer Night's Dream, p. 59.

  17. Edgar Allan Poe, "A Dream Within a Dream" (1827).

  18. J. C. Trewin, Illustrated London News, 12 September 1970.

  19. Sally Jacobs, "Designing the Dream," in Peter Brook's Production of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for the Royal Shakespeare Company: The Complete and Authorised Acting Edition (1974).

  20. J. L. Styan, The Shakespeare Revolution: Criticism and Performance in the Twentieth Century (1977), p. 167.

  21. Peter Brook, interview with Ronald Hayman, The Times, 29 August 1970.

  22. Irving Wardle, The Times, 28 August 1970.

  23. Styan, The Shakespeare Revolution, p. 169.

  24. Adrian Noble, A Midsummer Night's Dream, RSC Education Pack (1994).

  25. Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 5 August 1994.

  26. Anthony Ward, A Midsummer Night's Dream, RSC Education Pack (1994).

  27. Michael Billington, Guardian, 5 August 1994.

  28. Benedict Nightingale, The Times, 5 August 1994.

  29. Chris Parry, A Midsummer Night's Dream, RSC Education Pack (1994).

  30. D. H. Lawrence, Autumn Sunshine (1916).

  31. Gavin Millar, Listener, 3 September 1970.

  32. Michael Billington, Guardian, 21 February 2002.

  33. Patrick Carnegy, Spectator, 2 March 2002.

  34. Benedict Nightingale, The Times, 21 February 2002.

  35. Michael Billington, Guardian, 21 February 2002.

  36. Susannah Clapp, Observer, 24 February 2002.

  37. Halio, A Midsummer Night's Dream, p. 66.

  38. Gary Jay Williams, Theatre, Summer-Fall, 1982.

  39. Benedict Nightingale, New Statesman, 24 July 1981.

  40. Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 16 April 2005.

  41. Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard, 18 April 2005.

  42. Patrick Carnegy, Spectator, 23 April 2005.

  43. Stanley Wells, note for A Midsummer Night's Dream, RSC program, 1970.

  44. Peter Brook, interview with Peter Ansorge, Plays and Players, October 1970.

  45. Eric Shorter, Daily Telegraph, 9 July 1986.

  46. Michael Coveney, Financial Times, 9 July 1986.

  47. Lyn Gardner, City Limits, 17 July 1986.

  48. Jim Hiley, Listener, 17 July 1986.

  49. Halio, A Midsummer Night's Dream, p. 97.

  50. Benedict Nightingale, The Times, 29 March 1999.

  51. Aidan McArdle, "Puck (and Philostrate)," in Players of Shakespeare 5, ed. Robert Smallwood (2003), p. 49.

  52. McArdle, "Puck (and Philostrate)," p. 51.

  53. McArdle, "Puck (and Philostrate)," p. 52.

  54. Stubbes, quoted in C. L. Barber's brilliant account of Shakespeare's Festive Comedy (1959), pp. 21-22.

  55. James Sully, note for A Midsummer Night's Dream, RSC program, 1984.

  56. Helen Dawson, Observer, 30 August 1970.

  57. Mary Z. Maher, "A Midsummer Night's Dream: Nightmare or Gentle Snooze?," in A Midsummer Night's Dream: Critical Essays, ed. Dorothea Kehler (1998), p. 364.

  58. Michael Boyd, interview with Rex Gibson, Times Education Supplement, 22 March 1999.

  59. Benedict Nightingale, The Times, 29 March 1999.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  AND PICTURE CREDITS

  Preparation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream in Performance" was assisted by two generous grants: from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick, for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust; and from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for a term's research leave that enabled Jonathan Bate to work on "The Director's Cut."

  Picture research by Helen Robson and Jan Sewell. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest) and reproduction fees.

  Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company's official archives. It is open to the public free of charge.

  For more information see www.shakespeare.org.uk.

  1. Princess Theatre (1856) Reproduced by permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 2. Mary Ure and Robert Hardy (1959) Angus McBean (c) Royal Shakespeare Company

  3. Directed by Peter Brook (1970) Joe Cocks Studio Collection (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 4. Directed by Tim Supple (2006) Suzanne Worthington (c) Royal Shakespeare Company 5. Directed by Michael Boyd (1999) Donald Cooper (c) Royal Shakespeare Company

  6. Directed by Tim Supple (2006) Suzanne Worthington (c) Royal Shakespeare Company 7. Directed by Gregory Doran (2006) Malcolm Davies (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 8. Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse (c) Charcoalblue

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