Synopsis
Dr Roy Strong gives his personal view of A Midsummer Night's Dream. He visits Hatfield House to introduce the play which he believes was written to celebrate an aristocratic marriage and to flatter a Virgin Queen.
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales | S1E1: A Midsummer Night's Dream
A night of madness in a haunted wood - four young victims of unrequited love stumble about while six workmen are trying to rehearse a play.
Throwing Out The Cobwebs
When Peter Brook's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream opened on Broadway, the New York theatre critic, Clive Barnes, described it as ' ... without any equivocation the greatest production of Shakespeare I have seen in my life.' In Brook's ' Dream 'there are no cobwebs and shimmering wings. Instead the lovers - pursue each other in a white walled gymnasium, Puck and Oberon juggle plates and swing on trapezes; virtually all the established conventions are challenged. This film shows extracts from The Dream, scenes from some of Brook's previous productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company and a long interview first shown on Review in which Brook talked to James Mossman about his work and aspirations in the theatre.