Tab Article

ratings: (4.8/5)
Genre: Classic Literature, Drama, Comedy, Fantasy, Shakespearean Play

Book Review:
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is perhaps the most purely magical of all Shakespeare's plays. It is a work of intoxicating imagination, where the boundaries between reality and dream dissolve, and love's folly is celebrated with wit, tenderness, and irrepressible humor. The play is a dazzling tapestry of interwoven stories: the quarreling fairy royalty, Oberon and Titania; the four young lovers lost in the enchanted forest; and the hilarious amateur dramatics of Bottom and his fellow ''mechanicals.'' Puck, the mischievous sprite, is one of Shakespeare's most delightful creations, and his meddling with the love potion creates a chain of comic misunderstandings that are both absurd and strangely profound. The play asks: Is love a kind of madness? Are we all, like the lovers, at the mercy of forces we cannot control? Yet it answers these questions with a light touch, ending in harmony, forgiveness, and joy. This Penguin Shakespeare edition, edited by the legendary Stanley Wells, is superb. The introduction by Helen Hackett is insightful and accessible, and the notes are helpful without being intrusive. The edition also includes invaluable material on Shakespeare's life, the Elizabethan theatre, and the play's performance history. Endorsed by the National Theatre, this is the definitive edition for students, theatre-goers, and anyone who wants to lose themselves in one of the most enchanting comedies ever written. As Helena says, ''Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind''—and this play makes us believe it.