A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Four Athenians run away into the forest after Hermia’s father, Duke Theseus, rejects marriage prospects between his daughter and her love, Lysander. And in the forest, Oberon, King of the Fairies, tries to fix the four broken hearts - accidentally resulting in disaster. In one of the most beloved stories about a love triangle, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a magical play about the power of love and magic.

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Play On Shakespeare > Comedy > A Midsummer Night’s Dream

At a Glance

Love • Magic • Supernatural

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Playwright

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Jeff Whitty

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Dramaturg

Heidi Schreck

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Productions, Readings & Workshops

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

August 6 – 7, 13 – 14, 2022 | Chagrin Arts | Production | Solon, OH, USA
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

August 6 – 7, 2022 | Prague Shakespeare Company | Production | Malá Strana, CZ
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

March 10 – 19, 2022 | Portland Shakes & the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics | Production | Vancouver, WA, USA
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

November 10, 2021 | Prague Shakespeare Company | Production | Prague, CZ
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

August 26 – 29, 2021 | Theatre Space North East | Production | London, UK
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

July 29-30, 2021 | Prague Shakespeare Company | Production | Prague, CZ
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A Midsummer Night's Dream, cover art for Play On Podcast Production with a fairy's silhouette reflecting in an eye

Play On Podcasts

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Translation by Jeffrey Whitty
Directed by Catherine Eaton

Tony Award–winning and Oscar-nominated storyteller Jeffrey Whitty offers his adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, mindfully adapted into modern language. Matching the Bard line for line, rhyme for rhyme, Whitty illuminates Shakespeare’s meaning for modern audiences while maintaining the play’s storytelling architecture, emotional texture, and freewheeling humor. Designed to supplement, not supplant, the original, Whitty’s Midsummer cuts through the centuries to bring audiences a fresh, moment-by-moment take, designed to flow as effortlessly for modern audiences as Shakespeare’s beloved classic played to the Elizabethans.

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Paperback & eBooks

A Midsummer Night's Dream

By William Shakespeare
Translation by Jeffrey Whitty

Shakespeare’s most spirited play, adapted for new audiences by Jeffrey Whitty.​

This translation was written as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Play On! project, which commissioned new translations of thirty-nine Shakespeare plays. These translations present the work of "The Bard" in language accessible to modern audiences while never losing the beauty of Shakespeare’s verse. These volumes make these works available for the first time in print—a new First Folio for a new era.

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Production History

May 8, 2020

FIRST READS: An Online Educational Series

A livestreamed exploration of Midsummer featuring actors from across the country under the direction of Sara Bruner with dramaturgy by Philippa Kelly.

June 4, 2019

Play On! Festival NYC

Rehearsal and Staged Reading directed by Jeff Whitty with full cast as part of the Play On! Translation Festival in NYC.

Produced by:
Play On! / Classic Stage / Oregon Shakespeare Festival

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The Winter’s Tale

Artists Productions Podcast Publication Timeline Related Posts At a Glance Artists Playwright Dramaturg Productions, Readings & Workshops Paperback & eBooks The Winter’s Tale By William Shakespeare Translation by Tracy Young Tracy Young offers a new version of Shakespeare’s difficult tale…