A Midsummer Night's Dream

I was supposed to watch only one play this weekend but I found an outdoors play by Rice University floating on Youtube and curious of how the do it outdoors, I ended up enjoying this play. I especially love that they used the surrounding trees as part of the forest setting. Since childhood, this is the only Shakespearean work that I have always wanted to see because of its promise of fantasy and magic.  Moreover, the moon is an important yet silent element in the play and Shakespeare borrows much from classical mythology. But then for the longest time I was under the impression that I might not be able to understand The Bard's language. Moreover, how apt that I watched exactly on Midsummer's Eve or the summer solstice, that night given to bacchanals.

Honestly I wasn't expecting much but I must say I am supremely awed at the production. I love the design of the settings and the costumes. I can only imagine being actually there and viewing the piece live. AMND tells multiple stories but over-all lunacy may very well be the dominant theme. In this comedy we meet interestingly crazy characters who act foolishly because of love, whether borne of magic or naturally arising from their bosoms. Like Ariel in The Tempest, the sprite Puck who serves the Fairy King Oberon plays with mortals and even the Fairy Queen Titania's heart. He is easily a lovable character for his mischief which gave us this funny narrative of mistaken identities and foolish love. We see the changing objects of affection of our two teenagers Lysander and Demetrius because of him. This might just be the very inspiration of K-Drama's love polygons. [I'm no fan of K-Drama but have watched some episodes of a few series so I am not altogether clueless.]

Titania: "What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?" [I died laughing.]

Aside from Puck, I find Bottom also of interest because of the funny role he plays which is intended as comic relief. In all of The Bard's plays so far, I find the funny characters the most interesting. Although not in the main spotlight, they wittily critique and/or provide no-nonsense insights on what is happening around them. Like Macbeth's Porter, Bottom's character is a surefire way to elicit laughter from the audience. For one, he is part of the bumbling team of craftsmen in the forest who are preparing to perform Pyramus and Thisbe for Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Secondly, he becomes the object of affection of the Fairy Queen herself after she is victimized by Puck with Oberon's love potion and even though Bottom's head is turned into a donkey by Puck.

[Shakespeare's Globe happens to also have AMND until June 28. The scene I was excited the most is when Titania falls in love with Bottom. Fortunately, this clip is available. Unfortunately, it does not show the next funny moments wherein Bottom couldn't believe Fairy Queen's proposal and he lowers his body in abjectly demure fashion which is both cute and funny. He then proceeds to reject the queen's advances in utter disbelief of what is going on.]

As in other pieces I have watched so far, the women in Shakespeare's plays are either the immoral controller (Macbeth, King John, Coriolanus) or in most cases, the controlled. Here we see the mortal women suffering because of fickle nature of men, although as audience we are privy to the fact that this is only due to supernatural elements intervening in the love polygon. We also see even a powerful fairy queen's feeling being toyed with by her own lover Oberon as punishment for her resistance to his wish of being given the Indian changeling as his page. But we see in Hermia as someone who will defy her father and her country's rules to be with her beloved Lysander. When Lysander is given the love potion meant for Demetrius and falls for Helena, Hermia fights for her love and will literally fight Helena.

As for Helena, well, she seems to be the exact opposite of her friend Hermia. Throughout the play, she wallows in self-pity that even when Lysander and the now-drugged Demetrius fight each other over her, she does not believe them and accuse them of mocking her. She also seems to subscribe to the idea that women are to be passive, although it is curious that she is willing to chase after Demetrius. Helena to her ex-lover Demetrius: "Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field. You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius! Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex. We cannot fight for love as men may do. We should be wooed and were not made to woo." 

In the end, Lysander is given an antidote to render the potion ineffective and he marries Hermia whereas Demetrius remains under the spell of the love potion and marries Helena. I might be too hasty in judging Shakespeare as misogynistic but in this play he seems to favor strong-willed, courageous girls who are not afraid to go after and fight for what she wants; the Bard gives her a good ending she deserves, one that is real and in the absence of external forces.