A Newberry Library adult education class. Summer 2026. Tuesdays 2:00-4:00pm (CT), by Zoom, July 21 through August 11. Registration information here.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
– Act 3, scene 2
Learn about Shakespeare’s most magical comedy through lively discussion of film versions and an in-depth, weekly exploration of the play’s text. This class offers an engaging introduction to Shakespeare’s sublime command of poetic styles and the extraordinary legacy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in art, music, global culture, and performance—particularly the magical performance of reading. Four sessions.
Materials List
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare. The Pelican Shakespeare edition. Penguin 2016. ISBN 978-0143128588.
For the first session, watch either of the following two films, streaming online as indicated, or available on dvd (purchase on your own or check out through a local library).
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), directed by Max Reinhardt and starring Olivia de Havilland, Dick Powell, Mickey Rooney, and James Cagney. Streaming on Prime, Apple TV, and Fandango at home. DVD available to borrow from Chicago Public Library.
or
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999), directed by Michael Hoffman and starring Kevin Kline, Calista Flockhart, Stanley Tucci, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Streaming on Prime, Apple TV (for purchase only), and Fandango at home. DVD available to borrow from Chicago Public Library.
Class Description
This class is structured around a film and a text. By seeing either recommended version of the film first, students should arrive at the first session with 1) the overall story of the play in mind, 2) reactions to the play’s characters and themes, 3) questions about plot, and 4) questions about Shakespeare’s life and times.
At the first session, we’ll share opinions about the two film versions and view specific scenes from each film in order to get a sense of how A Midsummer Night’s Dream “works.” I’ll introduce fundamental matters of Shakespeare’s theatrical world and establish some of the biographical and social context for this play. I’ll then introduce basic approaches to reading a Shakespeare text, in preparation for the next session.
The second session will focus on reading and interpreting Act One of the text of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, introducing the class’s emphasis on engaging with poetic form as a reader. Throughout our act-by-act exploration of the play (for all subsequent sessions), we’ll do close readings of key scenes, comparing how those scenes are presented in the two recommended film versions, as well as in another adaptation, the groovy 1968 Royal Shakespeare Company’s version, directed by Michael Hoffman and starring Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren, David Warner, Ian Holm, and Judi Dench.
The third session will cover Acts Two and Three. With the general sense of the play well in hand and with questions arising from the previous sessions, we’ll weave into our close readings an investigation of the performance history of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, from the Elizabethan and Victorian eras to the twentieth-century stage. We will also consider this play’s relation to other works by Shakespeare, such as Romeo and Juliet.
The final session, moving through the text of Acts Four and Five, will extend our discussion of issues from the previous sessions, and we’ll also consider the incredible global proliferation of images and themes from this play. During the class, we will consider Felix Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and we’ll touch on Benjamin Britten’s opera, based on the play.
Each of the four sessions will include a handout with suggestions for points of focus in the upcoming reading, as well as insights from specific, relevant examples of Shakespeare criticism through the years.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream has not only provoked critical discussions of fairy tales, theatricality, romance, and love, but also debates on class, gender, and diverse forms of colonialism. Slides in class will highlight several relevant works held by the Newberry Library Special Collections (there are many, many illustrated volumes to consider), including the fantastic First and Second Folios of Shakespeare’s work.
No AI technology will be used in the development or presentation of lectures and class materials.
Schedule
Session One: Film discussion.
Session Two: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (text), Act I
Session Three: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (text), Acts II and III
Session Four: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (text), Acts IV and V
Image: Oberon, Titania, and Puck with Fairies Dancing, by William Blake (c. 1786). Tate Gallery.
