Troupe De Wolfe Presents: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“The course of true love never did run smooth.”

These are arguably the most famous words from William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and it perfectly sums up the roller coaster of a plot that proceeds throughout the story. Lake City High School’s Drama Department has had the privilege to put on this show, and it’s showing right now.

The story takes place in Athens, Greece during ancient times. The duke of Athens, Theseus arranges his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius, a man that does not love her. Instead, she wants to marry Lysander, the man she truly loves. Unfortunately for Hermia, a father can issue the death penalty if his daughter does not wish to follow her arranged marriage. This puts Hermia in a bit of a pickle, so she runs off with Lysander to the forest, which happens to be full of fairies that have the ability of casting spells. It is interesting to see how this plot ends.

William Shakespeare wrote three main types of plays, which are tragedy, history, and comedy. Tragedies are when the story ends as a result of the main characters’ flaws. They almost always end fatally. Histories are an adaptation of an event in history. They can have a happy ending or a sad ending, but usually they have a sad ending. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the final type of play, a comedy.

Shakespeare wrote comedies in a style in which the plot sets itself up for a tragedy and in the final act, it all ravels back up into a happy ending. Typically there is only one plot event that stops the play from ending in tragedy. Since most of Shakespeare’s comedies are a story of love, they usually end in a wedding.

Another famous plot device utilized in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the play within a play. During the play, five working class men try to put on a tragic play for the royalty of Athens. They take the play very seriously. However, the play, in reality, is very comical. Shakespeare actually uses this as a chance to make fun of himself, because his tragedies are in a similar sort of style, just less ridiculous. This device is now a staple in modern film and you can see it in many movies.

Some may be deterred from attending this play because they can’t understand the language of Shakespeare. Those people can rest easy, because this adaptation is filled with physical humor that will keep you laughing throughout the whole show. “Even if you can’t really understand Shakespeare, It’s still really funny,” says Brandon Miller, who is in the play as Francis Flute.  By the way, since the play within a play needs a woman and the show is put on by all men, Flute must play a woman, and that means he must wear a dress. This is a prime example of the physical humor in this adaptation.

Tickets are $5 with ASB, $6 dollars for students, and general admission is $7. The play is shown, as always, here at LCHS at 7:00 PM. There are still two showings left, one tonight and one tomorrow. Don’t miss out!