A Midsummer Night's Dream cover art

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A BBC Radio Shakespeare production

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

By: William Shakespeare
Narrated by: Becky Simpson, David Threlfall, Full Cast, Samuel West, Sylvestra Le Touzel
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About this listen

In this BBC full-cast production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena run to the woods and stumble into a life separate from time itself.

Fairy magic wreaks havoc and midsummer madness takes over as lovers tread the delicate line between fantasy and reality.

Sylvestra le Touzel stars as Titania in this delightful comic fantasy, with Samuel West as Lysander, David Threlfall as Theseus, Richard Griffiths as Bottom and Becky Simpson as Puck.

BBC radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly-formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard.

In this acclaimed BBC Radio Shakespeare series, each play is introduced by Richard Eyre, former Director of the Royal National Theatre. Revitalised, original and comprehensive, this is Shakespeare for the modern day.

© and (P)1999 BBC Worldwide Ltd Audio Performances & Dramatisations Classics Drama & Plays Dramatisations European Fantasy Literature & Fiction Shakespeare World Literature

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All stars
Most relevant
We’ll done and very well performed. Convincing with excellent sound effects. Would listen to similar productions.

Classic

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I loved Helen so much. The girls were just perfect. so was the band of actors in the wood. i agree the music could have been better but lovely overall.

The best Helen ever

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This is a decent version but is let down by the use of child actors in the fairy roles, particularly Puck. I would give it three and a half stars. The adult scenes are good enough and the actors, particularly Sam West, are really fine but I found Puck to be distracting and irritatingly nasal instead of the powerful presence he has in the text. In the absence of a better version I would recommend this if you are studying Shakespeare but be aware of it's limitations.

Good but could be so much better

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If you could sum up BBC Radio Shakespeare in three words, what would they be?

Brought to life

What did you like best about this story?

It is a classic

Any additional comments?

The volume of narration went down a couple of times when a particular character spoke and even with the car stereo and Kindle volumes both at maximum it was hard to hear. Apart from that it was an excellent narration which brought the characters to life.

Brought it to life very well

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I'm sorry to say I was very dissapointed with this production. The music is really very poor and not in any sort of context. The actors, especially the fairy children, are often speaking so fast as to be incomprehensible and the overall standard is not at all good. I would avoid this version if I were you.

A Midsummernight's Dream

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