A Midsummer Nights Dream - William Shakespeare - So You Haven't Read
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2024
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Ready for some fairy-inspired drama? Then, A Midsummer Nights Dream has got you covered! As Oberon King of the Faeries cooks up a plan to win the love of Titania, the Fairy Queen. This seems pretty simple at first but quickly becomes complicated as Puck is instructed to meddle in the affairs of humans. After all, the course of true love, never runs smooth!
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♪ Intro music: "Coffee Beans" by Mike Wuerth
♪ Outro music: "So You Haven't Read Theme" by Tiffany Roman
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Hello there
Honestly, the best part of the play for me is how Oberon thinks he's managed to resolve everything, only to realize Puck gave the potions to the wrong people and now the whole thing has turned into a complete literal mud-slinging disaster.
And then he just looks at Puck and basically says "Either you're the most incompetent fairy in the world, or you're doing this s@#$ on *purpose!* " and Puck is there going "You said to use the potion on the two athenians in the woods, you didn't specify WHICH ones, how is this MY fault?! :o "
Puck: Malicious compliance personified
I also think it's hilarious that Oberon is even in the play at all considering that Oberon wasn't even born until hundreds of years after Theseus.
Oberon is an illegitamate child of Julius Caesar, what the hell is he doing in ancient Greece?
my theory is that shakespeare originally wanted to put greek gods in this play instead of the fairies. zeus wouldve filled oberons role, hera wouldve been titania, and i guess hermes wouldve been puck. but queen elizabeth probably didnt approve of his using pagan gods, so shakespeare replaced the greek gods with the fairies, and thats why there are fairies from english mythology hanging around in ancient greece in this play.
i dont know if thats what really happened, but its a compelling possibility.
Aegix, that is exactly how a children's theater troupe that I was in one year played it.
I like to imagine that Oberon is just absolutely insane, and Puck knows it, but he's also aware that this means a lot of chaos, so he's down for it anyway.
Either that or Oberon is easily distracted.
Or both :-) Puck is crazy too after all
The hinge of the play is the line "Can you do me greater harm than hate me?" That's the great revelation of the play, everything else is just to entertain you.
Ah yes, Act 5 of Midsummer Night’s Dream, the original MST3K. I got to be Nick Bottom in college and that was SUCH a blast to do, even if I was the butt of several asinine jokes. 😉
I feel like there is a play on words begging to made that I’m blanking on.
lol
I played Egeus in high school, it was awesome.
"Cause you're a fairy.... WEEEEE!!!!!" I'm so using that line.
Midsummer Night's Dream always puts me in the mood for "Oscar" starring Sylvester Stallone. That and Gargoyles, but I suspect there will be a dozen shout outs to that fine show. Not nearly as many for Oscar.
It is surprising to come across someone else that has actually seen "Oscar". I saw it once in college, but since have never been able to find it again nor find someone who as heard of it. It also has some "Clue" vibes.
Doctor Poole alone is worth watching that film.
"Helloooo!"
OSCAR!!!! Love that movie.
The lesson of the story is, fey be weird yo, don't mess with them if you can help it!
Them fay are tricky little things!
I saw a rendition of it done in Dead Poets Society. It was even referenced in shows like Gargoyles (which was really good, in my opinion) and Animaniacs, though that was a parody because Yakko poked fun at it as he translated it.
You watch good shows.
OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN
My class did this play back in 7th grade. As you would expect, it was chaos. XD The play at the end was even better than normal. The person playing the wall had just the WORST memory in the world, so the director had to shorten their speech. All they said was "I am the wall" when they entered and "I was the wall" when they left. Brilliant.😂
The other thing I remember well is the day when we found lightsabers backstage and had a couple intensely hilarious lightsaber duels. Well, until we got caught. XD
Sounds fun
I hope you get around to The Tempest someday. There's so much to dig into there, not to mention the (arguably) deconstructive plot structure.
One thing I find weird about people saying: "Oh you have not read shakespeare?" Or other plays is that they are not meant to be read. They are primarily meant to be watched in a play or else. You can still read them of course, I did so too on occasion. But its not what they are made for. Like who reads the script for Star Wars or else instead of watching the film?
Which is also why I find snobbish people who use these sentence or alternatives like "noone reads shakespeare these days anymore" to show how "cultured" quite irritating.
True. The script was written for actors, same as sheet music is written for musicians. Scripts are much easier for a layperson to interpret but both are written with the intention that someone physically performs the instructions to complete the experience.
If anything, reading the scripts is the budget option for people who don't have access to the theatre, either geographically or economically. (or culturally. I technically do have access to theatre now in my 30s but the option of going to theatre has not registered as reality in my brain, that's just something other people do in fiction)
Plays should absolutely be consumed by watching. Reading to understand can be helpful though, especially when it's so tough to find good examples of a work. With Shakespeare people usually treat it like a foreign language and either sacrifice the meter for the sake of the meaning (which usually CHANGES the intended meaning of the line, English being a stress timed language) or the meaning for the sake of the meter (which produces poetic gibberish). I had a year where I saw 5 different productions of Midsummer in pretty quick succession; 2 films, 3 stage plays. In 2/3 of the stage plays noone had made sure the actor playing Dimitrius understood "You do impeach your modesty too much..." is a rape threat.
Eh, it depends. There's a whole subgenre called closet dramas, which were plays meant for reading specifically. With Shakespeare, there's a LOT of versions of his plays, and I would assume the 4 hour long ones were mostly versions for reading, as actors would play shorter 1-2 hour ones. Few plays like Macbeth we don't have the long version even, and it's unknown if it ever existed, while for most we have both short and long versions. Movies often go for even shorter scripts too, like the Lawrence Oliver version of Hamlet cutting entire Rozencranz and Guildenstern plotlines and the best monologue with them.
Plays are the best way to experience a Play..🤔
I don't "read up" on magic tricks.. just enjoy them..😁😉😃
Lawd I'm already getting PTSD from my performance in our high school rendition of this play. 😮💨
Same here. I was Francis Flute and I blanked out and forgot my lines during a performance. Since then, I can't be on stage acting.
I played Oberon lol
God, that is an awesome story! I think that's my favorite Shakespeare comedy, that & 12th Night.
In 10th grade, the teacher had the class read through this play with specific students acting specific characters... I can say form experience that Nick Bottom is a joy to narrate.
We did the same thing in Yr 9 English and I wanted to be Lysander because cool dialogue, sword-fighting, and I got to wear a cool fedora at a jaunty angle. Unfortunately, despite having read the whole play as homework during the holidays beforehand, very few of my classmates understood the language enough to be able to make the acting fun... however, one classmate who played Egeus gave his best vindictive sexist father impression, so at least he and I had fun with the play.
I played Puck in a high school production of this play.
About the only thing from high school I look back on fondly.
"You don't care because you're a fairy. Weeeee!"
I actually played him as doing it on purpose because he was an overworked servant to a jerk boss and it amused him to screw up and then play dumb.
I am particularly fond of the rather shortened retelling that's in the Elemental Mages books by Mercedes Lackey.
Though I will admit that the plot of that one season of GARGOYLES is pretty close in second place.
While I'm here:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends
A GIFT FROM SHAKESPEARE BEYOND THE GRAVE: I have a test on this play on Monday
This is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays because we re-enacted this in my theater class when I was small
out of all Shakespeare story, this one is my fav for how chaos the plot line is but still understandable. many story plot that combine into one at the end like an actually movie these day do
Not only did I read it, I actually got to portray Puck during my college minor in Drama and Theatre, where we made our own production of this play. That was the most fun role I have ever played in my life. The thing was that the play could be no longer than 45 minutes, so we had to cut the first act which focused on Athens and gave us exposition on who Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia and Helena were. Thus, we had to write in one short scene in which the couples wander through the forest and Puck (being pretty well-traveled and knowledgeable of the earth because he can traverse it in 45 minutes) has to explain to another elf who these couples are, meaning that his "mix up" later on in the play, actually was all planned (he knew who of the men was who and whom they truly loved). This allowed me to play him as less mischievous and more.... well.... evil, which was so much fun to do
We just started a section on Midsummer Nights Dream at school! This was super useful and such perfect timing. Thank you Extra Credits! ❤❤❤
Perfect timing! I wrote a one act with several characters in This play (Oberon, Titania, Puck) and we’re about to start rehearsing tomorrow!!
As one with the nickname of "Puck" I do appreciate this video and that ending twist on the classic closing.
good on ya.
My first exposure to this story was in Animaniacs; Yakko was was quoting a scene from the story, while Dot "translated". The part that always cracked me up the most was when Yakko said "and as I am an honest Puck" , and Dot responded "I'm not touching that one".
lol
I've read this play a couple hundred times, and I've even seen it performed. This play just never gets old.
Are we going to address the fact that Demetrius was still under the effects of a love potion when everyone got their "happy ending?"
I first experienced Shakespeare via Disney's Gargoyles...
And while it was disappointing that there were less karate and laser fights than I had been primed for, I was still glad to know the 'real' stories behind some of my favorite cartoon characters.
Also, Puck always sounds like Brent Spiner when I read him... And MacBeth sounds like Gimli doing a James Bond impersonation, so there's that.
Nice adaptation of the ending verses of the play.
My favorite Shakespearean play. My first time seeing was in 7th grade, when our eng teacher would show the 1982 Papp's production of the play. The wall is still my favorite character.
I 💝 this story!
"The completely hilarious play within a play."
For an example of how hilarious it is, there is a line in that play in play translated into current modern English basically sort of means, "Oh no, it's dark because it's night and the night is not the day!"
And I remember the king's response to this play being deadpan, though the exact words escape me.
The flower used as a love potion was also the favorite flower of Queen Elizabeth I.
I always love Puck's speech at the end...
One take I really liked was a version I saw where the merchants play starts out ridiculous as expected, but then in the last bit, the one merchant actually starts doing a real good job on their final speech, turns the thing into serious tragedy, and ends up having shaming the nobles for having mocked them. Best part was there weren't any line changes, they were just reading them differently that most versions
Not my favourite Shakespeare story, but still one I have a fondness for 😊
And one version of Puck would later go onto be the greatest ambassador to the Gods, the Giants and all the creatures of the nine realms, who knows every corner of the world, every language spoken, every war waged, every deal struck. He became…Mímir! Smartest man alive.
Happy Valentine's Day, Extra Credits.
Also, please do these other Shakespearean plays next:
Macbeth
Cymbeline
King Lear
Anthony and Cleopatra
The Tempest
Hamlet
Othello
The Merchant of Venice
Twelfth Night
Much Ado About Nothing
The Taming of the Shrew
A Midsummer Nights Dream will always be my favorite Shakespeare Play, since it was the first once I ever read back in elementary school when we performed it
I definitely need to show this to my friends who I was in this with.
Thanks to translation notes in Fairy Tail, I found out Titania, Erza's nickname, came from this comedy. Main reason I clicked on this, besides it being Extra Credits, was to learn the story behind Titania. Also, based on recent developments in Jerza, I assume that Jellal could be the Oberon of Fairy Tail, still have more research to do.
my adhd brain loves the way this is explained
I was first introduced to this play when I was cast as Starveling in a community theatre troupe. I couldn't attend my class field-trip that year 'cause I was IN the play we were supposed to go see. :P
3:15-3:29 “What we’ve got here, is a failure to communicate.”
I get to direct this next year! So excited!
I actually *have* read A Midsummer Nights Dream; and being the voice of Puck was a lot of fun. =)P
The revenge of the amazon is a better way to explain all the chaos
I saw a play at college which had a very nifty version with Titania being mermaid themed and Oberon looking like more of a Norse antlered god. Puck had a Native American masked medicine man vibe and other faeries were traditional Victorian butterfly style or had all sorts of monster gargoyle vibes. It was very beautiful and interesting but the actors were all diverse bodies and races too and that really gave added depth of beauty to it.
‘Midsummer’ in the park was also my first experience with The Bard ^_^
Something about most of this play being set in the forest makes it so well suited for such renditions
This narrator really came into his own. Better then the original by now.
Love this play. It is so entertaining.
can't think of a more fitting tale for valentine's day
Omg , I had do research this play for my English project last year and make a speech. It is such a great play!
My son played Puck in Elementary. The teacher picked my son because, naturally, my son is a smart ass and mischievous like me. 😂😂😂😂😂
"...use your fairy magic to replace his head with that of an actual ass."
I can't hear this sentence without imagining him being turned into a Ferengi.
"You don't care because you're a fairy!" should be on a t-shirt.
First Shakespeare play I ever read. Clue has less crazy people with there own agendas running around.
I wonder what Wonder Woman would think of this play, seeing her mother being portrayed the way she is here.
Something that always bugged me about this play: why are Celtic fairies up to shenanigans in a Greek-myth based setting?
Mediterranean vacation but they can't help but be absolute goobers
Animaniacs also did a summary which was pretty awesome
also that theme song is a banger
No way! I just watched multiple film adaptations for Shakespeare class!
I read this book in 7th grads English class and I for sure agree with this recommendation!
I watched a movie version of A Midsummer Night's Dream back in the 90s, but that version took place in the late Victorian times.
Pretty solid version. Good cast, with Kevin Kline as Bottom and Stanley Tucci as Puck. Too many bikes, but good production values overall. Probably the most accessible version, though if you can track down the 1960s RSC version with Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, David Warner, Judy Dench, and Diana Rigg (royalty all), that could be fun, as they capture more of the anarchic spirit of the play.
Love the work of the great bard and your take on it and exspecially your version of Pucks good bye.
Reading Shakespeare is fun, if you have a translation alongside or in the footnotes.
I played one of the leads in A Midsummer Night's Dream... Demetrius, while I was in College.
I see Midsummer Night's Dream as a horror story. A play about how little control we have over where our emotions take us. When Titania wakes up and understands the jest, of course she submits to Oberon. He proved that she is a slave for love, and that love is her tyrannical master. There's a reason why puck needs to apologize in the end. If you think on it too hard, this play's conclusion is terrifying. Which is why the characters resort to not thinking about it, and believing it was a dream. And it's why puck suggests that we do it too.
Really loved the new video and the new 'So you haven't read' series with literature and stuff like that ☺️ Would love a series of the Fall of Rome like before the beggining of the fall during and after the fall with like Romulus and the Invasion of the German Barbarians and Odoacer or a series about like the German Barbarians with the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Huns and etc or make separate series I really love the Rome videos you have keep up the good work because this is one of the best animation history channels heck even one of the best history channels keep making good videos I love it :).
Aah, so this is where the inspiration came from for certain event in Shin Megami Tensei 2. Thanks for sharing! :)
I would love to see a video on much Ado about nothing since there's so much that goes on in that play and it has such an amazingly silly Love
The play was presented here out of order; Oberon anointing Titania's eyes was before Puck finds Lysander (who he mistook).
Read this in college and so happy to know that even with a high grade, I was just as confused following along with the story 😅
Beautiful shakeperean out ro to this video!
♥️ you all!
Me when I saw the author:Great! You’re immediately going to lose me no matter what. Intro: *nothing but donkey heads* me:now I’m EVEN MORE lost
I’m actually reading this next year for English, although I did read The Crucible this year
Why would Obi want my changeling?
😢
And why would he want to embarrass me
Love your videos. Had to watch it twice. I thought you said I was Pucked . Lol …… You guys are awesome
I love this series always interesting takes.
I would love an episode on Sweeney Todd
i have read this! can’t wait to hear your take!
weather update: i like you take. love you guys
I honestly think it would be cool to do some cryptid related things like mothman, Im sure alot of people would enjoy it!
I wish I could see this in person. It sounds like fun.
You probably can. It's pretty regularly performed.
Thanks, this bouta help me pass a test
I love this play so much. In high school, I was in an acting/creative design/writing troupe that performed it in a national competition. We were instructed to turn famous pieces of theater into a new modern message (we used this, and turned it into an anti-drug campaign). I was Puck because I was short and androgynous (and it just plain fit my personality). So much fun.
the best intro cutscene is still hellgate london
PANR has tuned in.
What a video this is what i love about extra credits stuff like this
the best adaptation of this was in SANDMAN
Hello notification squad 👋
Oh Hai!
We have played this story in school play
Love quadrangles are much more interesting than love triangles as all participants have some level of agency
My Brain is increasing and is the Largest
I read this in 8th grade. It’s a very good one
I am reading this in my ela class
I saw a play of that in San Francisco back in 2007 before I even knew what the play was. I was like 14 at the time. It was WEIRD, I didn't get it.
we read and acted this out in Middlschool
I actually had a bit of fun playing the part of Demitrius
Oberon? *SAO flashbacks*
This video reminds me of a video Overly Sarcastic Productions did on Eros and Psyche
Puck is based on the pookha in celtic myth and the puca/punkinje in norse. Shapeshifter troublemakers ie goblins.