The lunatic, the lover, and the poet

“The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.”
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

I think I'm a dozen plays into my First Folio frolic. April means spring, and in my sequential reading of Shakespeare it also means lyricism out the yin yang. Reading a Bloom analysis of either Richard II (#10) or Romeo & Juliet (#11), Bloom (and I'm paraphrasing here) described these three plays as a lyrical triad. Romeo and Juliet = lyrical tragedy; Richard II = lyrical history; Midsummer Night's Dream = lyrical high comedy.

It was a dream and a trip watching Shakespeare weave together the 2x2 love story with the amateur actors with Puck and the fairies. Again, like Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, etc., Midsummer Night's Dream is hard to objectively read because it is so familiar. There are certain plays that have almost become a part of our cultural subconscious. I don't remember ever first learning, reading, knowing this play. It seems to have just always been there -- tickling my memory and my dreams. I have friends with quotes tattooed on their arms: “Though she be but little, she is fierce!” and others that seem more Puck than real. That is the genius of some of Shakespeare's more fanciful plays. Despite them containing magic, etc., they all seem so VERY HUMAN. There is something about Puck and Oberon that seem -- despite their other worldliness -- very grounded in this world.

One aspect of this play I loved, and it is a common Shakespeare conceit is the play within the play, the players, the development of the narrative through a parallel sub-narrative. It is both simple, sublime, and surreal. More important, it works. Obviously, Hamlet is the most well-known example of this, but Shakespeare uses this idea again and again (The Tempest, Love's Labour's Lost) and I LOVE it.

There were also several nice lines, specifically:

- “My soul is in the sky.”
- “I’ll follow thee and make a heaven of hell,
To die upon the hand I love so well.”
- “Take pains. Be perfect.”
- “Ay me! for aught that ever I could read,
could ever hear by tale or history,
the course of true love never did run smooth.”
- “And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.”

14 people found this helpful

A great performance of a Shakespeare favorite

A Midsummer's Night Dream has more physical comedy than most of Shakespeare's plays, and you're missing out if you don't see Oberon and Titania and the rest of the fairy court, so I wasn't sure how enjoyable this purely audio presentation would be. But it's a delight. Oberon and Titania are otherworldly, and sound effects make it clear what's going on to make up for the lack of visual cues.

This is a comedy about two pairs of youths, one in love and the other couple both in unrequited love. Their flight into the fairy woods, a well-intentioned fairy king (and a not so well-intentioned Puck), a troop of actors, and a quarreling fairy royal couple, all collide in a funny, magical fantasy that gets untangled with a happy ending, unlike Shakespeare's other famous play about star-crossed lovers.

Definitely a great way to experience this play, although still better on stage.

5 people found this helpful

Shakespeare is rolling in his grave.

Would you try another book from William Shakespeare and/or the narrators?

I love Shakespeare, but these are the worst narrator I have EVER heard.

What did you like best about this story?

That it was a play by William Shakespeare.

What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?

The completely faux Jamaican accents of Oberon and his queen completely ruined the tale. They were almost offensive.

Was A Midsummer Night's Dream worth the listening time?

I cannot recommended this audio book. Offensive is putting it mildly.

Any additional comments?

In all the years that I have been a member of Audible, this is the very first time I can say a book was simply awful. Save your money save your time.

59 people found this helpful

Terrible

This is the only book I’ve ever returned to Audible, and I been a member for at least a decade. The accents of the fairies were intolerable. This was noted by previous reviewers but I didn’t pay heed. They were right.

2 people found this helpful

Funny!

I have to admit this has never been one of my favorite plays: I don't care much for fairies, even in the gentle guise they take here. The lovers are interchangeable. And it's hard to get excited about the conflict between Titania and Oberon.

The play stands or falls, for me, by the quality of the "rude mechanicals." Fortunstley no worries here: they're an outstanding bunch, totally believable in their earnest incompetence, and the production of "Pyramus and Thisbe" recorded here is one of the funniest I've heard.

I'm not familiar with the cast members in this production, apart from Amanda Root. It's a spirited cast, though, and Bottom indeed has no bottom.

The music by Dominique le Gendre is as always excellent.

2 people found this helpful

Great, refreshing take.

A well-acted, well-produced version of one of Shakespeare's absolutely finest works. My only real problem with it, is the same as with all Arkangel Shakespeare productions I've listened to: The scene/act-ending music is typically a bit too loud. It's always good music, but can come as a bit of a shock if you're not prepared. That's the only reason why the Overall rating can't be a 5. It's a production problem, and in no way reflects poorly on the story or performance.

In contrast to a few reviews that almost made me not purchase this version, I think the accents used by Titania (Jamaican), Oberon (sub-Sahara west-African (not Jamaican, as the aforementioned reviewers wrote)) and Robin Goodfellow (switches at will, as the trickster he is) are a breath of fresh air. These are meant to be ancient beings who transcend human borders - calling themselves our parents. The play itself takes place in present day Greece, and has an Amazon woman (by all accounts, the Amazons would be from present day Turkey/Iran), Titania has just returned from India... Why would the fairies necessarily speak in a British accent?

Take it for what it is; a great classic take on A Midsummer Night's Dream, with a few artistic liberties taken. Great stuff as always, from Arkangel.

1 person found this helpful

Amazing

Who can review any master piece by the only William Shakespeare. He is gifted whom never can be replaced. The best of the best.

1 person found this helpful

GET THE GONE, YOU DWARF

MY EYE, YOUR EYE
For a person like me who has problems visioning the printed word in my head, reading Shakespeare first, maybe trice and then listening makes a big difference. The language is so beautiful and comes out clearly in this recording, yet at times I was lost in the story. I am not sure I ever figured out the conclusion of what happened to the couples who were in love and then out of love, thinks to the incompetent fairies. This is a short story or stories and would be a good place for the novice to start. First, you should have one of the many copies of the complete works of Shakespeare, read the story, get to know it and then listen. I am going to go back and reread this story which I have not read in years. I did understand most of it and even laughed out loud a few times. The lyrical words themselves makes this worth listening to.

12 people found this helpful

Torturous at times

I found this performance torturous at times and I'm sure everyone thought that heavy Jamaican accents were a great idea for the fairy characters but I found it very distracting and at times hard to follow. It's a very complicated story. The thing that tortured me the most was the animal sound which I assumed was supposed to be from a pig or boar character or it might have been a mule... There was no variation, just the same sound over and over. Eventually, I just wanted it to be over...

2 people found this helpful

I adore it!

Such a fun and well-performed audiobook. Also, it’s obvious these actors are trained in delivering Shakespeare.