We meet the 'Mechanicals' - a hapless group of amateur actors rehearsing their play for the forthcoming marriage celebrations.
SCENE 3: QUINCE’S HOUSE, ATHENS
PUCK: Welcome to the other side of Athens, a place where people live in small houses, not big palaces. This is the house of Mistress Quince, who loves to write plays. Tonight she’s gathered together her friends to rehearse her latest effort.
QUINCE: Right then.
SNUG: Woah, it’s cold tonight in’t it?
STARVELING: I know. Call this summer?
QUINCE: Ladies and gentlemen…
SNOUT: Oi! Stop hogging the warm!
FLUTE: I’ll only be a minute… Ow!
FX: Flute, Snug and Starveling crash to the floor
QUINCE: Is everyone here?
BOTTOM: Ahem… You’re best to call our names, one by one, according to the script.
QUINCE: Oh yes. Here’s the list of everyone’s name, who are thought best to act in our play for the Duke and Duchess on their wedding day at night.
BOTTOM: Yes, good Mistress Quince, now tell us what the play is and so get to the point.
QUINCE: Our play is the most lamentable story and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe.
PUCK: Pyramus and Thisbe? That’s a story about a couple of star-crossed lovers that definitely doesn’t end well. It’s meant to be a tragedy, but if this lot do it, I think it’s going to end up a comedy.
BOTTOM: Now, good Mistress Quince, it’s time to give out the parts. Company, spread yourselves.
QUINCE: Answer as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver.
BOTTOM: Ready.
QUINCE: You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.
BOTTOM: Oh ho, yes, Pyramus! And who is Pyramus? A lover or a tyrant?
QUINCE: A lover.
BOTTOM: Ooh…
QUINCE: And the main part in our play. Now, Francis Flute –
BOTTOM: A lover, oh yes. Now that will call for tears. I can do tears… Although I can also play tyrants. Argh! Arrgghh!
FX: Snug, Starveling, Flute and Snout applaud
SNUG: Oh yes!
STARVELING: Bravo!
BOTTOM: Thank you. Now name the rest of the players.
QUINCE: Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.
FLUTE: Here, Mistress Quince.
QUINCE: Flute, you will play Thisbe.
FLUTE: Who is Thisbe? A wandering knight?
QUINCE: It is the lady that Pyramus must love.
FLUTE: What? Nay! Let me not play a woman, I have a beard coming.
QUINCE Don’t worry, you shall act it in a mask and you may speak as small as you will.
BOTTOM: Oh, I can wear a mask too, let me play Thisbe. I’ll speak in a monstrous little voice… “Ah, Pyramus, my dear love. It is I, Thisbe, your sweet lady Thisbe!”
FX: Snug, Starveling, Flute and Snout laugh
QUINCE: No, you must play Pyramus and Flute, you Thisbe.
BOTTOM: Oh fine, proceed.
QUINCE: Robin Starveling, the tailor.
STARVELING: Here, Mistress Quince.
QUINCE: You must play Moonshine.
STARVELING: Mmnh…
QUINCE: Snout the tinker?
SNOUT: Here Mistress Quince.
QUINCE: You the wall.
SNOUT: Got it.
QUINCE: Myself the narrator, Snug the joiner, you the lion’s part.
FX: Snug gulps
QUINCE: And now, I hope, every actor has their part.
SNUG: Erm… Have you got the lion’s part written down? Please give it to me, for I am slow at learning.
QUINCE: Don’t worry, it’s nothing but roaring.
BOTTOM: Roaarrr! Let me play the lion too! I will roar so well that I will make the duke say, “Let him roar again! Again, again, let him roar again!”
QUINCE: No, no, no, Nick Bottom, you can play no part but Pyramus.
BOTTOM: Ah, well. I will undertake it.
QUINCE: Thank you.
BOTTOM: What beard am I best to play it in?
QUINCE: Oh, what you will. Company, here are your lines. I entreat you, request you and desire you to learn them by tomorrow night. And meet me in the palace wood, by moonlight, after work. There we will rehearse away from the city and prying eyes.
BOTTOM: We will meet and there we may rehearse. Take pains, be perfect, adieu!
FX: Snug, Starveling, Flute and Snout applaud
PUCK: Bless my horns! What a funny group of actors. I don’t know what Theseus and Hippolyta will make of them at their wedding. But one thing’s for sure: a lot can happen in the pale moonlight before we make it to that happy night.
FX: Puck flies off
2: The Rehearsal
In the back streets of Athens Puck looks in at the window of a humble cottage. Inside budding playwright Mistress Quince has gathered together a group of amateur actors to put on a play, to be performed at the wedding feast of Duke Theseus and Queen Hippolyta.
The play in question tells the story of the doomed lovers Pyramus and Thisbe. One actor, the weaver Nick Bottom, is keen on taking not just the lead role but all the others as well. After Bottom demonstrates his questionable talents to the group, Quince finally manages to assign roles. She arranges to meet the group to rehearse in the woods outside Athens the following night.
Meet the characters
Image caption, Scroll through the gallery of characters
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Meet more characters
Image caption, Scroll through the gallery of remaining characters
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Episode transcript. document
Download / print transcript of Episode 2
Activities - KS2
There are six different mechanicals assigned to play six different roles in the play-within-the-play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Pupils could watch the episode again and note which part is assigned to which character as it is allocated. They could choose from a list of descriptive words to describe the characters - eg:
- loud and confident for Bottom
- fearful and shy for Snug/Starveling
- nervous, organised, even bossy for Quince
Then pupils can be asked to explain their choices.
You could also use the activity sheet - either asking pupils to find their own words to describe the mechanicals, or providing a cut out list of words that pupils can place on the activity sheet.
As a development of the exercise, pupils could be given lines from the play to read aloud in ways that reflect their chosen adjectives.
A discussion about what makes a comedy and what makes a tragedy could follow an explanation of the Pyramus and Thisbe story, with mind maps constructed as a shared activity and potential writing exercises to follow - eg in a few sentences devise a comic or a tragic storyline.
Activities - KS3
Students could be divided into groups and given a list of all the different types of people who attended the theatre in Elizabethan times. After making initial notes on what they think these groups of people might have done (eg why they would have attended, what sort of clothing they would have worn, how they might have behaved, etc) students would be asked to compare their notes to others’ as well as against known historical profiles.
Students could also be asked to create 'tweets' as different characters in the second episode, explaining how they are feeling using a selection of quotes, either from the adaptation or from the original play text.
More episodes from A Midsummer Night's Dream
1: Welcome to Athens. video
Puck relates recent events in Athens: Duke Theseus is soon to marry Queen Hippolyta.
3: Into the Woods. video
Oberon and Titania argue...and Puck is instructed to find a magic flower.
4: The Wrong Athenian. video
Oberon uses the magic flower on Titania...but Puck uses it on the wrong Athenian.
