A Midsummer Night's Dream

Audition Requirements:
Familiarity with the play
Actors should prepare a 1-minute Classical or Shakespearan monologue to be considered for a main role
Readings will be from the script which will be available at the auditions

Performance Dates: November 9th, 10th, 15th, 16th, 22nd, 23rd and 24th at Berwick Cheese Factory.

Synopsis
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The play features three interlocking plots, all of which are connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian Hippolyta. Two young Athenian men, Lysander and Demetrius, are both in love with the same woman, Hermia; Hermia herself loves Lysander, but her friend, Helena, is in love with Demetrius. When the father of Hermia forbids her to marry Lysander, the four pursue each other into the woods around the city, losing themselves in the dark and in the maze of their romantic entanglements. As usual with Shakespeare, the comedy has a bitter-sweet note, when Hermia's two lovers both, temporarily, turn against her in favour of Helena. This happens because of the many mistakes of Puck, Oberon's friend and servant.
Meanwhile, Oberon, king of the fairies, and his estranged wife, Titania, arrive in the same woods to attend the upcoming nuptials. Titania refuses to lend her Indian page-boy to Oberon for use as his 'henchman', and Oberon seeks to punish her for her disobedience.
At the same time, a band of 'mechanicals' (lower-class artisans) have arranged to perform a crude pageant on the theme of Pyramus and Thisbe to stage for the wedding festivities, and venture into the forest for their rehearsal. Most notable among them is Nick Bottom the Weaver, one of Shakespeare's most admired comic creations.
Oberon recruits the mischievous Puck (also called Hobgoblin and Robin Goodfellow) to help him regain Titania's devotion, but his simultaneous attempt to help the young lovers goes wrong, resulting in confusion. Bottom finds his head transformed into that of an ass, and the fairy queen is made to fall in love with him.

Character Descriptions
Puck - Also known as Robin Goodfellow, Puck is OberonÂ’s jester, a mischievous fairy who delights in playing pranks on mortals. Puck is the closest thing the play has to a protagonist. His enchanting, mischievous spirit pervades the atmosphere, and his antics are responsible for many of the complications that propel the other main plots: he mistakes the young Athenians, applying the love potion to Lysander instead of Demetrius, thereby causing chaos within the group of young lovers; he also transforms BottomÂ’s head into that of an ass.
Oberon - The King of the fairies, Oberon is initially at odds with his wife, Titania, because she refuses to relinquish control of a young Indian prince whom he wants for a knight. OberonÂ’s desire for revenge on Titania leads him to send Puck to obtain the love-potion flower that creates so much of the playÂ’s confusion and farce.
Titania - The Queen of the fairies, Titania resists the attempts of her husband, Oberon, to make a knight of the young Indian prince that she has been given. TitaniaÂ’s brief, potion-induced love for Nick Bottom, whose head Puck has transformed into that of an ass, yields the playÂ’s foremost example of the contrast motif.
Lysander - A man of Athens, in love with Hermia. LysanderÂ’s relationship with Hermia invokes the theme of loveÂ’s difficulty: he cannot marry her openly because Egeus, her father, wishes her to wed Demetrius; when Lysander and Hermia run away into the forest, Lysander becomes the victim of misapplied magic and wakes up in love with Helena.
Demetrius - A man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia and ultimately in love with Helena.
Hermia - EgeusÂ’s daughter, a woman of Athens. Hermia is in love with Lysander and is a childhood friend of Helena. As a result of the fairiesÂ’ mischief with OberonÂ’s love potion, both Lysander and Demetrius suddenly fall in love with Helena. By morning, however, Puck has sorted matters out with the love potion, and LysanderÂ’s love for Hermia is restored.
Helena - A woman of Athens, in love with Demetrius. Demetrius and Helena were once betrothed, but when Demetrius met HelenaÂ’s friend Hermia, he fell in love with her and abandoned Helena. Helena thinks that Demetrius and Lysander are mocking her when the fairiesÂ’ mischief causes them to fall in love with her.
Egeus - HermiaÂ’s father, who brings a complaint against his daughter to Theseus: Egeus has given Demetrius permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia, in love with Lysander, refuses to marry Demetrius. EgeusÂ’s severe insistence that Hermia either respect his wishes or be held accountable to Athenian law places him squarely outside the whimsical dream realm of the forest.
Theseus - The Duke of Athens, engaged to Hippolyta. Theseus represents power and order throughout the play. He appears only at the beginning and end of the story, removed from the dreamlike events of the forest.
Hippolyta - The legendary Queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus. Like Theseus, she symbolizes order.
Nick Bottom - The overconfident weaver chosen to play Pyramus in the craftsmenÂ’s play for TheseusÂ’s marriage celebration. Bottom is full of advice and self-confidence but frequently makes silly mistakes and misuses language. His simultaneous nonchalance about the beautiful TitaniaÂ’s sudden love for him and unawareness of the fact that Puck has transformed his head into that of an ass mark the pinnacle of his foolish arrogance.
Peter Quince - A carpenter and the nominal leader of the craftsmenÂ’s attempt to put on a play for TheseusÂ’s marriage celebration. Quince is often shoved aside by the abundantly confident Bottom. During the craftsmenÂ’s play, Quince plays the Prologue.
Francis Flute - The bellows-mender chosen to play Thisbe in the craftsmenÂ’s play for TheseusÂ’s marriage celebration. Forced to play a young girl in love, the bearded craftsman determines to speak his lines in a high, squeaky voice.
Robin Starveling - The tailor chosen to play ThisbeÂ’s mother in the craftsmenÂ’s play for TheseusÂ’s marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Moonshine.
Tom Snout - The tinker chosen to play PyramusÂ’s father in the craftsmenÂ’s play for TheseusÂ’s marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Wall, dividing the two lovers.
Snug - The joiner chosen to play the lion in the craftsmenÂ’s play for TheseusÂ’s marriage celebration. Snug worries that his roaring will frighten the ladies in the audience.
Philostrate - TheseusÂ’s Master of the Revels, responsible for organizing the entertainment for the dukeÂ’s marriage celebration.
The Fairies: Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed - The fairies ordered by Titania to attend to Bottom after she falls in love with him.

Some of the roles may be double-cast, i.e. Titania/Hyppolyta, Quince/Egeus, Flute/Fairy, Snug/Philostrate, Snout/Fairy and Oberon/Theseus. Puck, Quince, Flute, Starveling, Snout, Snug, Philostrate, and the fairies may be played by male or female actors.