A Midsummer Night's Dream (Springboard Shakespeare) by Ben Crystal

by Ben Crystal

A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies. This accessible introduction offers a springboard into the play, taking a hands-on, performance-based approach, exploring the challenges and the rewards it presents to actors, audiences and students.
Springboard Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream has a three-part structure: whether you're watching or reading, Ben Crystal takes you through exactly what you need to know Before, During and After the play. He combines a genuine passion and understanding of Shakespeare with his experience as an actor, giving the reader a clear route to thinking about, understanding and enjoying A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Shakespeare, Theatre

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2012

Reviews

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a masterpiece. This is a book that provides insights for theatre goers, students, and actors alike. It introduces the importance and relevance of meter and various forms of poetry, of switching between the formal you and inform thou, as well as historical tidbits, vocabulary clarification, and what production choices to look for. I only wish it had a little more of everything.

[Helen Mears · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are great little books to lead you into Shakespeare's plays.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the Hamlet in this series, but I found Crystal's take on Midsummer Night's Dream pretty sloppy. For example, he claims Hermia is named for "Hermes, the Greek goddess of dreams." Some of the ways he defines terms in the margins are similarly off. A lot of material in the "Before" section is recycled from other books in the series. So my overall impression was that the book was put together in a bit of a rush. However, I'm willing to admit that finding less insightful analysis here might also be because Midsummer has much less meat than Hamlet.

However, Crystal does still do nice things with rhyme and meter, dutifully taking note of when characters use blank verse, rhyming couplets, pentameter, tetrameter or trimeter. He notes when characters switch between you and thou. He also pays close attention to the different possibilities for acting and staging key moments, which is something that holds him apart from a lot of the other writing on the play.

Don't turn to this book for solid literary analysis or a good background on Shakespeare or his time. Rather, look at this as a book that models a process of meaning making that you should develop with further study and research.