By Nancy Linehan Charles. Adapted from Shakespeare.
Product Code: MD1000
Full-length Play
Comedy | Farce | Satire
Cast size: 4m., 6w., 9 either gender, extras as desired.
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We're in study hall where just about everyone is doing everything except studying for tomorrow's test on A Midsummer Night's Dream. That is, until Jessie gets an idea. In this rollicking adaptation of Shakespeare's play (wherein is examined the adolescent urges of just about everybody), teenagers, fairies, workers and royalty collide in a forest on a summer night and are bedazzled by a prankster. The fairy queen falls in love with an ass, the teens fall in and out (and in) love with each other, six well-meaning goofs stumble into their 15 minutes of fame, fairies weave magic to bring it all to a happy end as only Shakespeare can conjure the tapestry, and three streetwise storytellers pull the audience at breakneck speed toward the moon-drenched conclusion.
I really enjoyed this adaptation. My middle schoolers thought it was very funny! It lent itself to creative use of music, costuming, and staging. The audience gave it rave reviews.
It was nice to do Shakespeare without overwhelming my actors!
An absolutely wonderful experience for our 13 year old actors and our audiences.
An adaptable and charming middle school take on the Bard's most endearing comedy. Perfectly suited to the innate silliness that 13-14 year olds embody, the Rude Mechanicals were never so charming as when they are over-done by students on the cusp of adulthood. A perfect theatrical romp for middle school.
This being our first attempt at Shakespeare, it was a great choice. Because of the compact version, the students weren't overwhelmed by the dialogue (or dialect). Also, the storyteller thread helped both them and the audience connect more easily with the plot.
This show was fabulous. My students enjoyed it, the audiences were happy, and I had fun as the director, too. The interpretation of Shakespeare's script was easy to follow and full of action.
You need to plan on adding fairies as invariably you end up with more females. Half of my Mechanicals were females. I added some funny choreographed dances to our fairy cadre (as I had 10 girls who could move well).
Hitting the thrift stores early in the production gave me a lot of time to locate costume pieces. I took the staging idea from the playwright and used rope and green fabric for the woods, but also added dollar-store vines and tossed on some glitter.
Play with sound effectsÑwe used many more than required and it really added. Our set consisted of real, very large plants mounted on furniture dolliesÑsimple and easy to move.
Location | City | State | Opens | Closes |
---|---|---|---|---|
The Virginia | Somerset | KY | 03/28/2025 | 03/30/2025 |
Caitlyn Baldwin, Rollings Middle School of the Arts, Summerville, S.C.