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Study
Guide Prepared by Michael J. Cummings...©
2003
This page has been revised,
enlarged, and moved to
http://shakespearestudyguide.com/Midsummer.html
Type
of Work
.......A
Midsummer Night's Dream is a stage play in the form for a comedy.
Composition
and Publication
.
.......Shakespeare
probably wrote the play between 1594 and 1596. It was published in 1600
and 1619 quarto editions and then in 1623 as part of the First Folio, the
first authorized collection of Shakespeare's plays.
Sources
.......Shakespeare
based parts of the play on The Knight's Tale, by Geoffrey Chaucer
(1340?-1400). Chaucer's story has an entirely different plot, but the setting
and two of the main characters—Theseus and
Hyppolyta—are the same. Other sources Shakespeare
used include The Golden Ass, by Apuleius (2nd Century AD); Life
of Theseus, by Plutarch (46?-120?); and possibly
King James the
Fourth, by Robert Greene (1560?-1592). Pyramis and Thisby, the
play within the play, is based on passages in Metamorphoses (Book IV),
by Ovid (43 BC.-AD 17). The character Puck appeared as Robin Goodfellow
in a 1593 play, Terrors of the Night, by Thomas Nashe (1567-1601).
Edmund Spenser referred to a devilish sprite called
Pook in Epithalamium.(1595),
and Shakespeare may have adopted Pook and changed his name to Puck.
Settings
.
.......The
action takes place in Athens and nearby woods during the age of myth in
ancient Greece. However, the play has the atmosphere and lighthearted mood
of a land of enchantment which could be anywhere. Although the characters
reside in the environs of Athens, many of them speak and act like Elizabethan
Englishmen. The time of the action is June 24. In Elizabethan England,
Midsummer Day—the feast of Saint John the Baptist—fell on that date. It
was a time of feasting and merriment. On Midsummer Night, fairies, hobgoblins
and witches held their festival. To dream about Midsummer Night, therefore,
was to dream about strange creatures and strange happenings—like those
in the play.
Characters
Protagonists: The
Various Lovers; Puck, the Main Trickster Who Invigorates the Plot and Informs
the Audience That the Story Is Not to be Taken Seriously
Antagonists: Egeus
and the Tricks and Pitfalls Facing the Lovers
.
Theseus:
Duke
of Athens. He orders lavish festivities and merriment for his marriage
to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, telling her "I will wed thee . . .
with pomp, with triumph and with revelling." Theseus
and Hippolyta represent ideal, mature love against which the immature love
of the other couples—including Oberon and
Titania—is to be measured.
Hippolyta:
Queen
of the Amazons, a race of women warriors, and a former battlefield foe
of Theseus. She is his wife-to-be. According to one tale in Greek mythology,
Theseus first made war on the Amazons in their homeland on the Black Sea;
they, in turn, invaded Greece in the region of Athens. In this tale, Theseus
marries an Amazon queen named Antiope, who is the daughter of the war god
Ares (Mars).
Hermia:
Strong-willed young woman in love with Lysander. She refuses to marry Demetrius,
her father's choice for her. Her father asks Theseus to settle the dispute.
Egeus:
Hermia's father.
Lysander,
Demetrius: Young men in love with Hermia.
Helena:
Young woman in love with Demetrius.
Philostrate:
Master of the revels for Duke Theseus.
Bottom:
Weaver who plays Pyramus in the tradesmen's play.
Peter
Quince: Carpenter who plays Thisby's father in the tradesmen's play.
He also recites the prologue.
Snug:
Joiner (Cabinetmaker) who plays a lion in the tradesmen's play.
Francis
Flute: Bellows-mender who plays Thisby in the tradesmen's play..
Tom
Snout: Tinker who plays Pyramis's father.
Robin
Starveling: Tailor who plays Thisby's mother.
Oberon:
King of the fairies.
Titania:
Queen of the fairies.
Puck
(Robin Goodfellow): Mischievous sprite who acts on behalf of Oberon.
He can take the form of any creature or thing—hog,
bear, horse, dog, and even fire.
Peaseblossom,
Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed: Fairies.
Other
Fairies Attending Their King and Queen
Attendants
of Theseus and Hippolyta
....
.
Settings . .......The
action takes place in Athens and nearby woods during the age of myth in
ancient Greece. However, the play has the atmosphere and lighthearted mood
of a land of enchantment which could be anywhere. Although the characters
reside in the environs of Athens, many of them speak and act like Elizabethan
Englishmen. The time of the action is June 24. .......In
Elizabethan England, Midsummer Day—the feast
of Saint John the Baptist—fell on that date.
It was a time of feasting and merriment. On Midsummer Night, fairies, hobgoblins
and witches held their festival. To dream about Midsummer Night, therefore,
was to dream about strange creatures and strange happenings—like
those in the play.Plot
Summary
By
Michael J. Cummings...©
2003
.
......Only
four days remain until the marriage of Theseus, Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta,
Queen of the Amazons. When eager Theseus bemoans how lazily the hours pass,
Hippolyta observes:
Four
days will quickly steep themselves in night;
Four
nights will quickly dream away the time;
And
then the moon, like to a silver bow1
New-bent
in heaven, shall behold the night
Of
our solemnities. (1. 1. 9-13)
......To
prepare for the wedding, Theseus orders his master of revels, Philostrate,
to “Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments; / Awake the pert and nimble
spirit of mirth" (1. 1. 15-16). After Philostrate leaves to go about his
task, one of the duke’s subjects, Egeus, arrives with a complaint about
his headstrong daughter, Hermia. With him besides Hermia are two Athenian
youths, Lysander and Demetrius. Egeus has commanded his daughter to marry
Demetrius, but she has vowed instead to marry Lysander. Egeus now wants
Hermia to swear before the duke that she will marry Demetrius or suffer
the penalty of an ancient law decreeing that a disobedient daughter shall
either be put to death or banished. After hearing the full complaint, Duke
Theseus reminds Hermia of her duty to obey her father, saying, “To you
your father should be as a god" (1. 1. 51). ......The
duke then warns her that if she does not change her mind on this matter
before the new moon, he will have no choice but to enforce the ancient
law. Hermia and Lysander decide they will steal away to the woods the following
night, and Hermia confides the plan to her friend Helena. Bad move. Helena
is a blabbermouth who loves the man Hermia rejected, Demetrius. To gain
favor with him, she informs him of Hermia’s plan. ......Meanwhile,
tradesmen in Athens plan to put on a play as part of the festivities celebrating
the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Among them are Bottom, a weaver;
Snout; a tinker; Snug, a joiner; Quince, a carpenter; and Flute, a bellows-mender.
Their play is to be called The most lamentable comedy, and most cruel death
of Pyramus and Thisby2.
Although the workmen know nothing of play-making, they fancy themselves
great wits and great actors. When Bottom is told he will play Pyramus,
a young man who kills himself after mistakenly thinking his beloved Thisby
is dead, Bottom predicts he will be a hit who will win the audience’s sympathy:
“That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: if I do it, let
the audience look to their eyes; I will move storms. . ." (1. 2. 14). ......To
avoid the scrutiny of curious eyes, the actors decide to rehearse in the
woods on the morrow. In the woods are fairies who have traveled from India
to pronounce their blessing on the bed of Theseus and Hyppolyta. But all
is not well with fairykind, for the queen of the fairies, Titania, will
not give her husband, King Oberon, a changeling3
boy he wants as a page. Oberon and Titania argue violently over the boy,
so violently that the forest elves take refuge in acorn cups. But Titania
stands fast. In revenge, Oberon orders his fairy mischief-maker, Puck,
to harvest a magical flower whose juice, when squeezed on the eyelids of
Titania while she sleeps, will cause her to fall in love with the first
creature she sees upon awakening, perhaps a monster. Puck says he will
circle the earth and, within forty minutes, produce the flower. After Puck
zooms off, Oberon relishes his dastardly scheme, saying:
Having
once this juice,
I’ll
watch Titania when she is asleep,
And
drop the liquor of it in her eyes.
The
next thing then she waking looks upon,
Be
it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On
meddling monkey, or on busy ape,
She
shall pursue it with the soul of love:
And
ere I take this charm from off her sight,
As
I can take it with another herb,
I’ll
make her render up her page [the changeling] to me. (2. 1. 183-192)
......After
Lysander and Hermia escape, Demetrius wanders into fairy territory in search
of Hermia, ignoring the lovestruck Helena who trails after him like a lapdog.
Oberon, feeling sorry for Helena, orders Puck to squeeze the juice of the
magic flower on the eyelids of Demetrius to make him fall in love with
Helena. Oberon then ventures forth and squeezes
flower juice on the eyelids of Titania, who is sleeping peacefully in a
bed of violets and thyme. Puck, meanwhile, mistakenly squeezes flower juice
on the eyelids of Lysander while he is sleeping with Hermia at his side.
Upon awakening, Lysander’s gaze falls upon Helena, who is wandering in
search of Demetrius. ......Lysander
woos her. When she flees, he pursues her. After Hermia awakens and notices
Lysander is gone, she wanders forth in search of him. ......As
the tradesmen rehearse their play, they discuss having someone play the
moon in case it is overcast on the night of the play. And, because the
play calls for Pyramus and Thisby to talk through a chink in the wall,
Bottom suggests someone also be recruited to play the wall: "Some man or
other must present Wall: and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or
some rough-cast about him, to signify wall; and let him hold his fingers
thus,4
and through that cranny shall Pyramus. . . and Thisby whisper" (3. 1. 25). ......When
Puck happens by, he makes mischief by placing the head of an ass on Bottom’s
shoulders. Upon seeing Bottom with his new top, the other actors flee in
terror. Bewildered, Bottom thinks they are trying to scare him, so he strolls
about singing a song to demonstrate his fearlessness. The song awakens
Titania, and the flower juice makes her fall deeply in love with Bottom,
whom she escorts away. Demetrius encounters Hermia, who accuses him of
murdering Lysander. When she runs away, he lies down to sleep. ......Oberon,
meanwhile, has discovered that Puck bewitched the eyes of the wrong man,
Lysander rather than Demetrius. So he puts flower juice on the eyes of
Demetrius while Puck fetches Helena. When she arrives, pursued by Lysander,
Demetrius falls in love with her. ......As
both men compete for her attentions, she concludes that they are only ridiculing
her. Hermia, attracted to the scene by the noise, blames Helena for stealing
Lysander. ......The
men go off to fight a duel. Helena, afraid of Hermia, flees; Hermia pursues.
Oberon assigns Puck to restore order. Using magic, he causes the four young
people to fall asleep near one another, then applies the juice of another
flower to Lysander’s eyes to undo the previous spell. Titania sleeps with
Bottom. Oberon, having gained possession of the changeling boy, removes
the enchantment from Titania’s eyes. ......At
daybreak, Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and others enter the woods to hunt.
Sounding horns, they awaken the four lovers. Egeus again demands that Hermia
marry Demetrius. But Demetrius announces that he is interested only in
Helena. Theseus, pleased with the outcome, sanctions the marriage of the
two couples to coincide with his own marriage to Hippolyta. Theseus is
amused by the activities of the lovers during their time in the forest
and says:
Lovers
and madmen have such seething brains,
Such
shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More
than cool reason ever comprehends.
The
lunatic, the lover and the poet.
Are
of imagination all compact. (5. 1. 6-10)
In the
evening, during the wedding celebration, the craftsmen put on their play,
with Snout playing Wall and Bottom enacting his tour de force suicide scene:
Thus
die I, thus, thus, thus. [Stabs himself.]
Now
am I dead,
Now
am I fled;
My
soul is in the sky:
Tongue,
lose thy light;
Moon
take thy flight.
Now
die, die, die, die, die. [Dies.] (5. 1. 277-283)
......Thisby,
discovering Pyramus dead, then kills herself. Bottom gets back up and asks
Theseus whether he would like hear an epilogue or see a dance. Theseus
opts for a dance, then says it is time for bed:
The
iron
tongue of midnight hath told twelve:5
Lovers,
to bed; ’tis almost fairy time.
I
fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn
As
much as we this night have overwatch’d.
This
palpable-gross play hath well beguiled
The
heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed.
A
fortnight hold we this solemnity,
In
nightly revels and new jollity. (5. 1. 322-329)
......At
midnight, the bridal couples retire to their chambers. Oberon and Titania
dance and sing as they bless the blissful sleepers while Puck bids good
night to the audience. ...
. Structure
and Language . .......Shakespeare
layers the story of the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta upon the story
of other lovers pursuing one another in a forest inhabited by mischievous
fairies. To these stories he adds still another: the misadventures of a
group of tradesmen who rehearse and stage a play for the wedding of Theseus
and Hippolyta. Shakespeare skillfully arranges all of the story lines into
a unified whole—a kind of symphony, with a
major theme and many recurring motifs. He even blends ancient and Elizabethan
societies and customs into his mix. .......The
language of the characters likewise occurs in a mix: (1) the verse or poetry
of the love-struck couples and (2) the homespun—and
often humorous—prose of the bumbling tradesmen.
Examples of the verse and poetry appear below under allusions, nature and
animal imagery, and couplets. Examples of the tradesmen’s humorous dialogue
are the following:
That will ask some
tears in the true performing of it: if I do it, let the audience look to
their eyes; I will move storms. (1. 2. 14)
Bottom uses hyperbole to predict
the effect of his acting on the audience.
Nay, faith, let not me play
a woman; I have a beard coming. (1. 2. 20)
Flute speaks this line.
SNUG Have you
the lion’s part written? pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow
of study.
QUINCE You may
do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring. (1. 2. 30-31)
Snug and Quince discuss Snug’s role
as the lion.
Climax.......The
play reaches its climax near the end of Act IV, after all of the lovers
overcome their obstacles and leave for the temple to be united in marriage.
.
.
Themes . Love
ultimately triumphs in the end. Despite all the obstacles they face,
the central characters eventually unite with the ones they love. Love
presents pitfalls. All of the lovers encounter mishaps before they
achieve their heart's desire—marriage to the
one they exalt above all others. As Lysander tells Hermia in Act I, Scene
I, "The course of true love never did run smooth" (Line 134). Appearances
are deceiving. Again and again—thanks
in part to Puckish pranks—reality wears a
deceptive mask. Father
does not always know best. Egeus orders his daughter Hermia to marry
a man she does not love. Hermia protests and runs away. In the end, Egeus
is proven wrong. Dream
the impossible dream. Bottom, Snug, Snout, Quince and Flute—all
bumbling comic characters—fancy themselves
great actors and wits. So they put on a play. The moral: Dare to dream
and your dream will come true—or at least
you will have fun and enjoy life.
.
.
Allusions . .......In
keeping with the ancient Mediterranean setting, the characters allude often
to gods and other personages in Greek and Roman myth and legend. Among
those alluded to are the following:
Diana (1.
1. 94): Roman name of Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt.
Cupid
(1. 1. 175): Roman name for the Greek god of love, Eros, who shot arrows
at humans to wound them with love.
Venus
(1. 1. 177): Roman name for the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. She was
the mother of Cupid.
Dido
(1. 1. 179): Dido is not referred to by name but by the designation Carthage
queen, meaning she was the queen of the North African country of Carthage.
She appears in Virgil’s great epic poem,
The Aeneid. Dido falls
desperately in love with The Aeneid’s main character, Aeneas,
after he stops in Carthage on his way from Troy to Italy. But after he
abandons her, she kills herself by falling on a sword. At sea on his ship,
Aeneas can see Carthage glowing with the flames of Dido’s funeral pyre.
Aeneas
(1. 1. 180): See Dido, above.
Ariadne (2. 1. 84):
Daughter of King Minos of Crete. She gave Theseus a thread that enabled
him to find his way out of the labyrinth, a maze constructed to house the
Minotaur, a creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man.
Neptune (2. 1. 131):
Roman name of Poseidon, god of the sea.
Apollo and Daphne (2. 1.
239): Apollo—god of poetry, music, medicine, and the sun—pursued the nymph
Daphne, daughter of a river god. After she prayed for a way to escape Apollo,
her father changed her into a laurel tree. Apollo later used the leaves
of the laurel in wreaths with which victors of various contests were crowned.
Hercules (4. 1.98):
Greek demigod known for his feats of strength.
Cadmus (4. 1.98):
Son of the king of Phoenicia and founder of the Greek city of Thebes.
Jove (5. 1. 181):
One of two Roman names for Zeus, the king of the Olympian gods. The other
Roman name is Jupiter.
.......Following
is an example of a passage, spoken by Hermia, alluding to personages of
myth and legend. The allusions are to Cupid (second line), Venus (fourth
line), Dido (sixth line, referred to as Carthage queen), and Aeneas (seventh
line, referred to as Troyan).
My good Lysander!
I swear to thee, by Cupid’s
strongest bow [see Cupid, above],
By his best arrow with the
golden head,
By the simplicity of Venus’
[see Venus, above] doves,
By that which knitteth souls
and prospers loves,
And by that fire which burn’d
the Carthage queen [see Dido, above],
When the false Troyan [false
Trojan, Aeneas] under sail was seen,
By all the vows that ever
men have broke,
In number more than ever
women spoke,
In that same place thou
hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet
with thee. (1. 1. 174-184)
Nature
and Animal ImageryNature
and animal imagery also abounds in the play, helping to maintain the “enchanted
forest" atmosphere. Oberon’s description of the place where Titania sleeps
is an example of this imagery:
I
know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where
oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite
over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With
sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There
sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd
in these flowers with dances and delight;
And
there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
Weed
wide enough to wrap a fairy in. (2. 1. 259-266)
The song
of the fairies in Act II, Scene II, is another example. It emphasizes the
spooky creatures that inhabit the forest.
You
spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny
hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts
and blind-worms, do no wrong,
Come
not near our fairy queen.
Philomel,6
with melody
Sing
in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla,
lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never
harm,
Nor
spell nor charm,
Come
our lovely lady nigh;
So,
good night, with lullaby.
Weaving
spiders, come not here;
Hence,
you long-legg'd spinners, hence!
Beetles
black, approach not near;
Worm
nor snail, do no offence. (2. 2. 12)
Use
of CoupletsSometimes
characters speak in couplets. (A couplet consists of two successive lines
with end rhyme). Here are two examples:
Captain
of our fairy band,
Helena
is here at hand;
And
the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading
for a lover's fee.
Shall
we their fond pageant see?
Lord,
what fools these mortals be! (Puck: 3. 2. 116-121)
Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each
fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will
we,
Which by us shall blessed
be;
And the issue there create
Ever shall be fortunate.
(Oberon: 5. 2. 33-38)
The lovers
also sometimes speak in couplets, but their imagery is frequently overwrought
as Shakespeare mocks their quixotic wooing. An example of intentionally
sugared rhymes is the following passage spoken by Demetrius upon awakening:
O
Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To
what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal
is muddy. O, how ripe in show
Thy
lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
That
pure congealed white, high Taurus snow,
Fann'd
with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
When
thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss
This
princess of pure white, this seal of bliss! (3. 2. 144-151)
.Character
HabitatsShakespeare's
plays frequently present characters in settings far removed from urban
centers. However, they generally are creatures of the city, the court,
the vibrant life where people throng. Consider the following observation:
Shakespeare's
characters are . . . dubious of rusticity. Valentine [in The Two Gentlemen
of Verona] does not rejoice in his woodland life as head of an outlaw
band; the lovers of A [Midsummer Night's] Dream find their woodland
adventure unnerving, and mountain life seems rude to the characters in
Cymbeline
who are forced to endure it. Although Florizel [in The Winter's Tale]
dreams of spending his life with Perdita in a cottage, she knows that pastoral
bliss is only a dream; true content lies in Leontes' court, to which all
the characters . . . return. Even Prospero [in The Tempest], who
has no great desire to see Milan again, knows that he and Miranda must
leave their island, which is as much prison as refuge to them. Although
critics can idealize the pastoral experiences of Shakespeare's characters
as renewing contacts with nature, that experience is often somewhat harrowing.—Shakespeare's
Comedies From Roman Farce to Romantic Mystery. Newark: U of Delaware,
1986 (Page 144).
Study
Questions and Essay Topics
-
When Hermia’s father opposes
her choice of husbands, Duke Theseus tells her not to go against her father’s
wishes, saying, “To you ....your father should
be as a god." Is Theseus right?
-
The play ends with a triple
wedding. Do you believe those getting married will stay married?
-
Write an informative essay focusing
on what a typical wedding was like in Shakespeare’s day.
-
Puck’s magic spells cause several
characters to fall in love with the wrong persons. Are there “magic spells"
in real life that affect people this way?
-
Hippolyta, bethrothed to Theseus,
is the queen of the Amazons, who play prominent roles in various stories
in Greek mythology. Who were the Amazons?
-
German composer Felix Mendelssohn
(1809-1847) wrote music based on the themes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
One of these compositions inspired by Shakespeare’s play accompanies a
ceremony performed tens of thousands of times in churches throughout the
world every year. What is this ceremony? What is the composition?
-
Write an essay focusing on one
of the themes of the play.
Notes 1.
Moon . . . bow: New moon, crescent-shaped.
2.
Thisby: Thisbe, the lover of Pyramus. Both were Babylonians were the subject
of a story by the Roman poet Ovid (AD 43 BC-17) in his Metamorphoses.
When Pyramus thinks a lion has killed Thisbe, he kills himself. Thisbe
is still alive, however. But when she discovers the body of Pyramus, she
also kills herself.
3.
Changeling: Child whom fairies substitute for another.
4.
Fingers thus: Held apart, in a V shape, to represent the chink.
5.
The iron tongue . . . twelve: Clapper of the bell strikes midnight.
6.
Philomel: nightingale.
Plays
on DVD (or VHS) ..
Play |
Director |
Actors |
|
Antony
and Cleopatra (1974) |
Trevor
Nunn, John Schoffield |
Richard
Johnson, Janet Suzman |
|
Antony
and Cleopatra |
BBC
Production |
Jane
Lapotaire |
|
As
You Like It (2010) |
Thea
Sharrock |
Jack
Laskey, Naomi Frederick |
|
As
You Like It (1937) |
Paul
Czinner |
Henry
Ainley, Felix Aylmer |
|
The
Comedy of Errors |
BBC
Production |
Not
Listed |
|
Coriolanus |
BBC
Production |
Alan
Howard, Irene Worth |
|
Cymbeline |
Elijah
Moshinsky |
Claire
Bloom, Richard Johnson, Helen Mirren |
|
Gift
Box: The Comedies |
BBC
Production |
Various |
|
Gift
Box: The Histories |
BBC
Production |
Various |
|
Gift
Box: The Tragedies |
BBC
Production |
Various |
|
Hamlet
(1948) |
Laurence
Olivier |
Laurence
Olivier, Jean Simmons |
|
Hamlet
(1990) |
Kevin
Kline |
Kevin
Kline |
|
Hamlet(1991) |
Franco
Zeffirelli |
Mel
Gibson, Glenn Close |
|
Hamlet
(1996) |
Kenneth
Branagh |
Kenneth
Branagh, |
|
Hamlet
(2009) |
Gregory Doran |
David Tennant, Patrick Stewart,
Penny Downie |
|
Hamlet
(1964) |
John
Gielgud, Bill Colleran |
Richard
Burton, Hume Cronyn |
|
Hamlet
(1964) |
Grigori
Kozintsev |
Innokenti
Smoktunovsky |
|
Hamlet
(2000) |
Cambpell
Scott, Eric Simonson |
Campbell
Scott, Blair Brown |
|
Henry
V (1989) |
Kenneth
Branagh |
Kenneth
Branaugh, Derek Jacobi |
|
Henry
V( 1946) |
Laurence
Olivier |
Leslie
Banks, Felix Aylmer |
|
Henry
VI Part I |
BBC
Production |
Peter
Benson, Trevor Peacock |
|
Henry
VI Part II |
BBC
Production |
Not
Listed |
|
Henry
VI Part III |
BBC
Production |
Not
Listed |
|
Henry
VIII |
BBC
Production |
John
Stride, Claire Bloom, Julian Glover |
|
Julius
Caesar |
BBC
Production |
Richard
Pasco, Keith Michell |
|
Julius
Caesar (1950) |
David
Bradley |
Charlton
Heston |
|
Julius
Caesar (1953) |
Joseph
L. Mankiewicz |
Marlon
Brando, James Mason |
|
Julius
Caesar (1970) |
Stuart
Burge |
Charlton
Heston, Jason Robards |
|
King
John |
BBC
Production |
Not
Listed |
|
King
Lear (1970) |
Grigori
Kozintsev |
Yuri
Yarvet |
|
King
Lear (1971) |
Peter
Brook |
Cyril
Cusack, Susan Engel |
|
King
Lear (1974) |
Edwin
Sherin |
James
Earl Jones |
|
King
Lear (1976) |
Tony
Davenall |
Patrick
Mower, Ann Lynn |
|
King
Lear (1984) |
Michael
Elliott |
Laurence
Olivier, Colin Blakely |
|
King
Lear (1997) |
Richard
Eyre |
Ian
Holm |
|
Love's
Labour's Lost (2000) |
Kenneth
Branagh |
Kenneth
Branagh, Alicia Silverstone |
|
Love's
Labour's Lost |
BBC
Production) |
| |