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A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Staged: the origins of YA’s greatest tropes

Summary

With a foreword by Becky Albertalli, author of Imogen, Obviously and Love, Simon

‘The course of true love never did run smooth’


Hermia loves Lysander. But she must marry Demetrius or be condemned to life in a convent. Together, Hermia and Lysander plan to elope to escape their fate. But Helena, Hermia’s best friend, secretly loves Demetrius and, hoping to win his heart, tells him about the plan.

Deep in the forest, the four unlucky lovers cross paths with Oberon, the jilted fairy king. When a powerful, love-inducing flower is put to nefarious use, a case of multiple mistaken identities sets in motion a night of magic and mayhem that could change all of their lives forever.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is Shakespeare’s magical romantic comedy of trickery, love triangles and mistaken identities.


Discover STAGED, a limited collection of Shakespeare’s unabridged plays celebrating the genius of the Bard and the tropes that continue to delight YA readers to this day.


Explore the rest of the STAGED collection:

As You Like It – With a foreword by Talia Hibbert

Hamlet – With a foreword by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Macbeth – With a foreword by Kat Delacorte

Much Ado About Nothing – With a foreword by Holly Bourne
Romeo and Juliet – With a foreword by Jennifer Niven

About the author

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glove maker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a well-to-do local land owner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford’s grammar school. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, and the couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585.

Shakespeare’s theatrical life seems to have commenced around 1590. We do know that he was part of the Lord Chamberlain’s Company, which was renamed the King’s Company in 1603 when James I succeeded to the throne. The Company acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.

Shakespeare’s poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare’s sonnets were probably written at this time as well.

Records of Shakespeare’s plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include Henry VI and Titus Andronicus. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Richard II all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s; these include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Antony & Cleopatra. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include The Tempest.

Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as ‘the First Folio’.
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