A Midsummer Night's Dream

- Information about William Shakespeare’s life - A section focusing on background and context - A glossary of difficult words - Comprehension and grammar activities including A2 Key style exercises and 21st century skills activities - Final test

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Stage 2 A2

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Young Adult

STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3 STAGE 4 STAGE 5 STAGE 6

William Shakespeare

Young Adult

Love

Downloadable

Classic

Stage 2 A2

In this reader you will find:

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

In this funny play, four young lovers run away to the woods where the fairies live. Oberon, the King of the Fairies uses magic to teach his wife a lesson. Then strange things start to happen to the young lovers and some workmen too. It’s a very unusual Midsummer Night: perhaps it’s all a dream.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Readers

ELT A2

Audio Files

Book brief 1

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy written

by William Shakespeare about 1595 or 1596.

2

It is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays even today.

3

Set in Athens and in the woods where the fairies live, the play tells the story of four young lovers.

4

The play is also about the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus to Hippolyta and a group of workmen who decide to prepare a play for the wedding couple.

5

One of the main themes of the play is love and how the fairies ‘play’ with humans.

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In this reader: 21st Century Skills

To encourage students to connect the story to the world they live in.

A2 KEY

A2 level activities.

Culture Notes

Brief cultural information.

Glossary

An explanation of difficult words.

Picture Caption

A brief explanation of the picture.

Audio

These icons indicate the parts of the story that are recorded: start stop

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The books are carefully edited and beautifully illustrated to capture the essence of the stories and plots. The readers are supplemented with ‘Focus on’ texts packed with background cultural information about the writers and their lives and times.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare Retold and Activities Ruth Swan and Janet Borsbey Language Level Consultant Silvana Sardi Illustrations Daniela Tieni ELI Readers Founder and Series Editors Paola Accattoli, Grazia Ancillani, Daniele Garbuglia (Art Director) Graphic Design Emilia Coari Production Manager Francesco Capitano

Photo credits Getty Images, Shutterstock © New edition: 2022 First edition: 2013 ELi, Gruppo editoriale ELi P.O. Box 6 62019 Recanati (MC) Italy T +39 071750701 F +39 071977851 info@elionline.com www.elionline.com Typeset in 10,5 / 15 pt Monotype Fulmar Printed in Italy by Tecnostampa – Pigini Group Printing Division Loreto – Trevi (Italia) – ERA 209.10 ISBN 978-88-536-3228-9

Contents

6

Main Characters

8

Before you Read

10 18

Act One Activities

20 28

Act Two Activities

30 38

Act Three Activities

40 48

Act Four Activities

50 56

Act Five Activities

58 60

Focus on…

Focus on…

62

Test Yourself

63

Syllabus

William Shakespeare The Elizabethan Theatre

Main Characters

THE COURTIERS

HIPPOLYTA Queen of the Amazons and Theseus’ future wife.

HERMIA Egeus’ daughter, she loves Lysander.

LYSANDER Lysander loves Hermia.

THESEUS Duke of Athens.

DEMETRIUS Egeus chooses Demetrius as the man to marry Hermia and Demetrius is happy about this.

HELENA Helena is Hermia’s best friend and she loves Demetrius.

THE FAIRIES

TITANIA Queen of the Fairies and Oberon’s wife.

OBERON King of the Fairies and Titania's husband.

PUCK Oberon's servant.

BOTTOM

THE WORKMEN These men prepare a play about a tragic love story for the Duke, Theseus, on his wedding day.

FLUTE

QUINCE

SNUG

SNOUT

STARVELING

Before you Read • Act One

Reading

A2 KEY

1 Complete the text about the play with one word for each space.

wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1) ..................

William Shakespeare .................. the 1590s. Some people think he wrote the play for a wedding party.

(2) .................. people think he wrote it for Queen Elizabeth I, (3) .................. was Queen of England and Ireland at that time. The story happens in Athens, Greece.

Love is a (4) .................. important theme in the play. (5) .................. the start of the play, the Duke of Athens is planning his wedding. There are four other Athenian lovers in the play, as (6) .................. as the King and Queen of the Fairies.

Speaking

21st Century Skills

2 Discuss the following questions with a partner.

1 Is there a theatre or a cinema where you live?

2 How often do you go to the theatre?

3 What’s different about watching people on stage and people on TV? 4 Do you prefer watching TV series or films? Why? 5 Do you watch them on TV or on your PC? Why? 6 Who’s your favourite actor / actress? Why?

Vocabulary 3 Match the dictionary definitions to the pictures.

1 2 3 4 5 6

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

play /pleɪ/ part /paːt/ lines /laɪnz/ stage /steɪdʒ/ audience /ˈɔːdiəns/ cast /kaːst/

a where actors stand when they’re acting b the people who watch something in a theatre c A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an example of one d all the actors in a play e the character an actor plays f the words an actor has to learn 8

Writing 4 Stage Directions. Use the words from the box to complete the stage directions.

steps - Exit - Enter - wakes up - Re-enter steps THESEUS. Come here, Lysander! [Lysander ........................ forward.]

1 FAIRY. Oh no, Oberon and Titania are coming! [........................ Oberon with Servants and Titania with Fairies.]

2 OBERON. Go now, Puck! Immediately! [........................ Puck.]

3 PUCK. Come back here! [........................ Lysander.]

4 HERMIA [........................]. Lysander! Where are you? I had a terrible dream.

Warming up 5a Before you act, it’s very important for you to warm up. This activity helps you to warm up your voice. Say this tonguetwister slowly.

- Red leather. Yellow leather.

Now repeat it. Keep repeating it, faster and faster! When you’re ready, try the next two.

- She sells sea shells on the sea shore.

- I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream.

5B You also need to relax your body, before you act. Follow these instructions with your group.

1 Stand in a circle.

2 Don’t laugh.

3 Choose a person to go into the centre.

4 That person must act the part of a cat.

5 The first person to laugh has to go into the centre and act like a cat, too.

6 If no-one laughs, congratulations, you’re ready to act!

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Act One

2 Scene One

Athens. Theseus’s palace*.

[Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate and Servants.] t h e se us . Well, Hippolyta. Four days! We’re getting married in four days! h ipp oly ta . I know. It’s very near. t h e se us . The days seem* very long. h ipp oly ta . Yes, but the days and nights will pass. t h e se us . You’re right. Philostrate, come here. Servants, come here! ph ilo s tr ate . Yes, my Lord? se rvan ts [together]. Yes, my Lord? t h e se us . Go out into the streets. Tell everyone to prepare. They must prepare for our wedding. Everyone must be happy! ph ilo s tr ate and s e rva n ts . Yes, my Lord!

[Exeunt* Philostrate and Servants.] t h e se us . Oh, Hippolyta. I love you so much. This wedding day must be very special.

[Enter Egeus, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius.] e g e us . I’m happy to see you, Theseus. You’re a great man and a great duke*. palace where a king or queen lives seem give the idea that

exeunt theatre instruction: more than one person leaves duke (here) the ‘king’ of Athens

10

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

t h e se us. Thank you, good Egeus. How are you? e g e us. Terrible! It’s my daughter, Hermia. t h e se us. Hermia? Come here, Hermia. [Hermia stands in front of Theseus.] But she’s such a good girl. e g e us. No, she isn’t. She’s the opposite. She wants to marry Lysander! [Lysander steps forward.] t h e se us. What’s the problem? Lysander isn’t married. He comes from a good family. e g e us. Yes, but Hermia must marry Demetrius. [Demetrius steps forward.] t h e se us. Ah, I understand the problem. Hermia, your father wants you to marry Demetrius. h e r m ia . I don’t want to marry Demetrius! I don’t love him. I want to marry Lysander! e g e us. NO! NO! NO! You’re MY daughter. You’ll marry Demetrius! t h e se us. Now, Hermia. What do you say? Demetrius is a good man. h e r m ia . But I love Lysander! t h e se us. But your father must decide. You have three choices*.

Number one, marry Demetrius. Number two, never get married.

Number three, die. Think about these choices. Give me your answer on my wedding day. de m e t r ius . I’ll always love you, Hermia. lysa n de r . You were in love with Helena last year. No, you love Hermia’s father. And her father loves you! e g e us. Yes, I love him like a son. Hermia is MINE. She’ll marry Demetrius.

choice things to choose from

11

William Shakespeare

t h e se us . I’ve given Hermia time to think. Demetrius and Egeus,

Shakespeare sets the first part of the play in the ancient city of Athens as it gives an idea of law and order, very different from the woods used later in the play.

come with me. Hippolyta, come with me, too. I want to talk to you all. I want to talk about our wedding.

[Exeunt Theseus, Hippolyta, Demetrius and Egeus.] lysa n de r . Oh, Hermia. Don’t be sad. It’s always the same. The course of true love never did run smooth*. h e r m i a . But, we love each other; there must be something we can do. lysa n de r . There is something we can do. I have an aunt. She’s very rich and she doesn’t have any children. I’m her favourite nephew*.

She’ll help us, I’m sure. There’s only one problem. h e r m i a . What? lysa n de r . We must leave Athens. She lives far away from here.

You must leave your father. Then we can get married. Meet me tomorrow, in the woods. h e r m i a . I’ll meet you there, in the woods. I love you.

[Enter Helena.] h e r m i a . Helena. You seem sad. h e le na . Of course I’m sad! Demetrius loves you. He doesn’t love me. What can I do? I love him, he doesn’t love me. h e r m i a . Well, I don’t love him. Don’t worry, Lysander and I are leaving Athens. h e le na . Leaving? lysa n de r . Yes, we’re going. We’re going tomorrow night. We’re going to get married. No-one can stop us. h e r m i a . We’re meeting in the woods tomorrow night. So, Helena, good luck. Demetrius is yours. Lysander, I must go. I’ll see you tomorrow.

The course … smooth (quotation) people in love meet many problems nephew your brother’s or sister’s son

Theseus gives Hermia three choices to think about.

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