A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
Duke Theseus of Athens and Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons were to be married, and the people of Athens are overjoyed at the news. One day before the wedding, Hermia and Helena, two friends, meet coincidentally in the market square. Hermia is sad because tomorrow, she will be marrying Demetrius, the man that Helena loves. Hermia tells her friend that she does not love Demetrius, and to Helena's amazement, Hermia tells her about the man that she loves. The man's name is Lysander, and Hermia is upset because she had told her father she did not wish to marry Demetrius, who became angry and told her that their marriage was arranged.
Hermia tells Helena that she and Lysander will be eloping that night, and she will be meeting Lysander in the forest at midnight, to travel to a temple to be married. Helena is happy for her friend and decides to tell Demetrius of her love for him that night.
The king of the fairies, Oberon, is darkness while his wife is silver. They love one another but argue a lot. Titania, the wife, took a boy into her care as a page, and Oberon is jealous.
Titania is with the page when Oberon appears, telling her to give the child to him if he indeed has no reason to envy her. Titania refuses and throws fire at him. Oberon turns the fire to water and swears vengeance before summoning his servant, an elf by the name of Puck. Oberon orders Puck to fetch a flower called love in idleness, and Puck obeys.
Oberon plans to drip the juice from the flower into Titania's eyes, which when she awakes, will cause her to fall in love with the first living thing she sees.
Demetrius is out looking for Lysander and Hermia, and Helena catches up to him to tell him she loves him--only to be rejected. Demetrius runs away from her, leaving a grieving Helena behind.
Oberon is watching Helena with Demetrius, and he plans to help Helena win Demetrius's affection. Just then, Puck arrives with the magic flowers. Oberon tells Puck to find a human couple and drip the juices from the flowers into the young man's eyes, but only if it's certain that the maiden will be the first thing the young man sees.
Puck agrees and runs off, and Oberon puts the juices from the flowers on Titania's eyes so that she will fall in love with the first living thing she sees. Meanwhile, Puck is doing the same with Lysander, so that he will fall madly in love with Hermia when he awakens. He quickly disappears again.
But just that moment, Helena stumbles by and wakes up Lysander, who falls in love with her instantly and advances on her. Helena runs, and Hermia awakens to go after Lysander.
A group of actors gathers secretly to rehearse a play that they would show Theseus, and one of the actors who went by Bottom is behind a tree waiting for his cue. Puck gets a mischievous idea, and he turns Bottom's head into a donkey's head.
When Bottom steps from behind the tree, the other actors run away screaming and shouting. Bottom is confused, and he thinks that they are trying to scare him by leaving him in the woods.
When Bottom is singing, Titania wakes up and instantaneously falls in love with him, inviting him to eat something. Oberon is greatly amused by this, and asks Puck about the humans.
At that moment, Demetrius appears, dragging Hermia along with him. Puck and Oberon disappear so that Demetrius and Hermia don't see them.
Hermia is upset with Demetrius, who was in a foul mood, and she sneaks off when he falls asleep. Oberon and Puck reappear, and Oberon confirms that Demetrius is the man he's talking about. He tells Puck to find a black-haired maiden and bring her to Demetrius, who will be influenced by the magical juice and will fall in love with her the moment he wakes.
In a different part of the forest, Helena is running from Lysander. She sees an orange light (Puck) and doesn't hesitate to follow it. Lysander asks to marry her, and Helena refuses, saying that she wants Demetrius--cueing Demetrius's arrival, who announces his love for her. Helena immediately goes straight to him, but Lysander comes between them.
Hermia comes out of the bushes, and she is joyful when she sees Lysander, asking him why he left. He responds that he wants to marry Helena, not Hermia.
Demetrius declares that he wants to marry Helena as well, and the two men fight each other. Hermia is furious with Helena, who accuses her of plotting with Lysander and Demetrius against her.
Oberon casts a sleeping spell on all of them, and Puck smears the juice over the four humans' eyes so that Demetrius and Helena will fall in love, as will Hermia and Lysander (again). Puck hears the queen coming, and is alarmed.
But Titania does not notice anyone else save for Bottom, who she is still in love with. Titania sends the fairies away, and dozes with Bottom.
Oberon and Puck neared Titania and Bottom, and the king of the fairies is sorrowful. He commands Puck to release the spell on the human, and removes the spell on Titania.
Titania awakens, and they both reunite, happy with each other once more. The dawn nears, and Puck, Titania, all fade away into the light.
Demetrius, Helena, Lysander, and Hermia all awake, and they fall in love with each other--Hermia with Lysander, and Helena with Demetrius. They hurry back to Athens after agreeing to all be married in the same ceremony.
Bottom awakes, and he believes himself to have had a dream. He anxiously touches his face, then in the end, he realizes he's still human and comes up with the idea to make a poem about it--his midsummer night's dream--to read to Duke Theseus.
7.5/10. It was comical, and the age rating is aimed for high-school age and older, although it's possible for a mature 13-14-year-old student to enjoy the play.
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