LANGUAGE.

Delve deeper into the language used in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Quotes, synopsis, scene by scene summaries and more – everything you need to enhance your exploration of the play.

KEY QUOTES & SPEECHES

To help with analysis and quote memorisation we have created our top ten chronological quotes from the play.

LISTEN, LOOK AND LEARN
10 KEY QUOTES

The human mortals want their winter cheer: Act II, scene 1

Students join our Playing Shakespeare Company to perform Titania’s speech from Act II, scene 1.

SYNOPSES

VIDEO: ANIMATION

From the Globe Playground, a 45 second animated telling of the plot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

STAGING IT

Direct your own scene with our Staging It interactive

Staging It is an interactive film that allows anyone to ‘direct a scene’ at Shakespeare’s Globe. It fuses specially created footage, filmed on location at the world famous Globe stage, with ground breaking custom made software. It allows a user to compile a scene by choosing from a selection of clips provided.

Try it for yourself using the links below!

STAGING IT: HOW IT WORKS

Two actors are filmed performing a duologue on the Globe stage or in Globe rehearsal spaces. Each section of their speech is shot numerous times, each time performed with a different emotional state e.g. happy, angry, etc.

The user or ‘virtual director’ then views a list of the ways the actor has performed the line, watching each of the variations to help them choose. They then add their choice to a dynamic storyboard, slowly building the scene with their personally selected clips.

At the end of directing a scene, the user is asked for their name, which is seamlessly added to the end credits.

Now the scene is complete, the user can share their version:

  1. Watch it back
  2. Export and email it
  3. Upload it directly to their Facebook page or YouTube

There is no limit on how many times one can direct the scene, email it or upload it to Facebook.

EXTRACTS

The length of these extracts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream vary in order to represent the range of extract lengths used by different exam boards at GCSE.

WHY THESE SCENES?

The scenes themselves have been chosen to ensure coverage of: a range of language techniques; different dramatic conventions (form); significant moments to allow for interrogation of structure. Each of them allows for exploration of the various ways that Shakespeare makes meaning, and therefore will support with Assessment Objective 2.

Alongside each extract, you will find a series of questions that you can use in class or as part of a homework activity. Each set of questions has a symbol, which you will find within the extract. Match up the two to gain more insight into the text and answer the questions.

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