A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1597. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus (the Duke of Athens) and Hippolyta (the Amazon queen). These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals),
who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the
forest in which most of the play is set. The play consists of four interconnecting plots which are set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon. Major characters include Oberon (King of the Faeries), Titania (Queen of the Faeries) and Puck (also known as Robin Goodfellow). The play is one of
Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed
across the world.
