A Midsummer Night’s Dream: ‘Man Is but An Ass If He Go About to Expound This Dream’

Episode 151Having finished with Ben Jonson’s biography we can now go back in time just a little to work through Shakespeare’s and Jonson’s plays in more detail.  By the early 1590s was then the man of the theatrical moment, no longer the young upstart, but the proven playmaker and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ surely did nothing but enhance that reputation and it has been popular ever since.A brief synopsis of the playThe dating of the playSuggested settings for the play as a wedding celebrationThe sources for the playBiblical influencesPublication of the playThe central themes of the playThe darker elements of the playTheseus and Hippolyta and the setting of the playThe blindness of desire and passionThe question of the nature of attractionThe four lovers as exemplars of romantic loveThe significance of the play within the playThe role of the rude mechanicalsHow the play within the play tells us something about theatre practice at the timeBarriers to love – including a wallA brief performance history of the playLinks to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream: An Illustrated Handbook and Encyclopaedia' by Rachel Aanstad:UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Midsummer-Nights-Illustrated-Handbook-Encyclopedia/dp/B09PKSTL1S/ref=sr_1_2US link : https://www.amazon.com/Midsummer-Nights-Illustrated-Handbook-Encyclopedia/dp/B09PKSTL1S/ref=sr_1_2Support the podcast at:www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.comwww.patreon.com/thoetpwww.ko-fi.com/thoetp Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.