Three musical peaces of the "sleep" of Noymayer
Synopsis
The play
features three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of
Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen, Hippolyta, and set simultaneously
in the woodland, and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.
In the opening scene, Hermia refuses to follow her father Egeus's
instructions to marry Demetrius, whom he has chosen for her. In response, Egeus
quotes before Theseus an ancient Athenian law whereby a daughter must marry the
suitor chosen by her father, or else face death. Theseus offers her another
choice: lifelong chastity worshiping the goddess Diana as a nun.
At that same time, Quince and his fellow players were engaged to produce an
act which is "the most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and
Thisbe", for the Duke and the Duchess. Peter Quince reads the names of
characters and bestows them to the players. Nick Bottom who is playing the main
role of Pyramus, is over-enthusiastic and wants to dominate others by suggesting
himself for the characters of Thisbe, The Lion and Pyramus at the same time.
Also he would rather be a tyrant and recites some lines of Ercles or Hercules.
Quince ends the meeting with "at the Duke's oak we meet".
Meanwhile, Oberon, king of the fairies, and his queen, Titania, have come to
the forest outside Athens. Titania tells Oberon that she plans to stay there
until after she has attended Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Oberon and Titania
are estranged because Titania refuses to give her Indian changeling to Oberon
for use as his "knight" or "henchman," since the child's mother was one of
Titania's worshipers. Oberon seeks to punish Titania's disobedience, so he calls
for his mischievous court jester Puck or "Robin Goodfellow" to help him apply a
magical juice from a flower called "love-in-idleness," which when applied to a
person's eyelids while sleeping makes the victim fall in love with the first
living thing seen upon awakening. He instructs Puck to retrieve the flower so
that he can make Titania fall in love with the first thing she sees when waking
from sleep, which he is sure will be an animal of the forest. Oberon's intent is
to shame Titania into giving up the little Indian boy. He says, "And ere I take
this charm from off her sight, / As I can take it with another herb, / I'll make
her render up her page to me."
Having seen Demetrius act cruelly toward Helena, Oberon orders Puck to spread
some of the magical juice from the flower on the eyelids of the young Athenian
man. Instead, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, not having actually seen
either before. Helena, coming across him, wakes him while attempting to
determine whether he is dead or asleep. Upon this happening, Lysander
immediately falls in love with Helena. Oberon sees Demetrius still following
Hermia and is enraged. When Demetrius decides to go to sleep, Oberon sends Puck
to get Helena while he charms Demetrius' eyes. Upon waking up, he sees Helena.
Now, both men are in pursuit of Helena. However, she is convinced that her two
suitors are mocking her, as neither loved her originally. Hermia is at a loss to
see why her lover has abandoned her, and accuses Helena of stealing Lysander
away from her. The four quarrel with each other until Lysander and Demetrius
become so enraged that they seek a place to duel each other to prove whose love
for Helena is the greatest. Oberon orders Puck to keep Lysander and Demetrius
from catching up with one another and to remove the charm from Lysander, so that
he goes back to being in love with Hermia.
Meanwhile, a band of six labourers ("rude mechanicals",
as they are described by Puck) have arranged to perform a play about Pyramus and
Thisbe for Theseus' wedding and venture into the forest, near Titania's bower,
for their rehearsal. Nick Bottom, a stage-struck weaver, is spotted by Puck, who
(taking his name to be another word for a jackass) transforms his head into that
of a donkey. When Bottom returns for his next lines, the other workmen run
screaming in terror. Determined to wait for his friends, he begins to sing to
himself. Titania is awakened by Bottom's singing and immediately falls in love
with him. She lavishes him with attention, and presumably makes love to him.
While she is in this state of devotion, Oberon takes the changeling. Having
achieved his goals, Oberon releases Titania, orders Puck to remove the donkey's
head from Bottom, and arrange everything so that Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius,
and Helena will believe that they have been dreaming when they awaken. The
magical enchantment is removed from Lysander, leaving Demetrius under the spell
and in love with Helena.
The fairies then disappear, and Theseus and Hippolyta arrive on the scene,
during an early morning hunt. They wake the lovers and, since Demetrius does not
love Hermia any more, Theseus overrules Egeus's demands and arranges a group
wedding. The lovers decide that the night's events must have been a dream. After
they all exit, Bottom awakes, and he too decides that he must have experienced a
dream "past the wit of man". In Athens, Theseus, Hippolyta and the lovers watch
the six workmen perform Pyramus and Thisbe. The play is badly performed to the
point where the guests laugh as if it were meant to be a comedy, and afterward
everyone retires to bed. Afterward, Oberon, Titania, Puck, and other fairies
enter, and bless the house and its occupants with good fortune. After all other
characters leave, Puck "restores amends" and reminds the audience that this
might be nothing but a dream (hence the name of the play).
Schedule for Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Gyorgy Liget "Midsummer Night’s Dream" (Ballet in two acts) 2022