In Athens, Theseus, the Duke, is set to marry
Hippolyta, the Duchess, in less than a week.
However, a man named Egeus is not happy about
his daughter, Hermia, who refuses to marry
Demetrius, a fellow Athenian.
Instead, Hermia wants to marry another man
named Lysander.
The Duke tells Hermia that she can either
marry Demetrius or be put to death or give
up marriage for the rest of her life.
Because Hermia must decide what to do before
the Duke’s wedding, she and Lysander decide
to run away to the countryside.
The couple tells their plan to Helena, a woman
who is in love with Demetrius, though he doesn’t
love her back.
Helena decides to tell Demetrius of the couple’s
plan to run away, in hopes that Demetrius
will appreciate her devotion.
Meanwhile, a troupe of amateur actors, led
by the outlandish Bottom, prepares to perform
for the Duke’s wedding and decide to practice
in the nearby woods.
Oberon, the king of the fairies, and Titania,
his queen, are not getting along.
After exchanging quips at each other in the
woods, Oberon decides to teach Titania a lesson
by using the juice of a magical flower that
makes a person fall in love with the next
thing the person sees after waking.
In the woods, however, Oberon observes Demetrius
desperately searching for Hermia and Helena
desperately trying to throw herself at Demetrius.
After using the magic juice on Titania’s
eyes, Oberon instructs his servant, Puck,
to use the magic juice on Demetrius so that
he will return Helena’s love.
As part of their plan to run away, Lysander
and Hermia meet in the woods and fall asleep.
Puck mistakenly uses the magic juice on Lysander
and Lysander awakens to see Helena, which,
because of the magic juice, causes him to
fall in love with her and forget Hermia.
Hermia awakes and finds that Lysander is gone,
having chased after Helena.
As the troupe of actors begins to practice
their play in the woods, Puck has some fun
and puts a donkey’s head on Bottom, which
scares all the actors away.
Titania awakes and, because of the magic juice
on her eyes, falls in love with Bottom, still
wearing the donkey’s head.
She also spoils him with her fairy servants.
Puck reports what happened with Titania to
Oberon, but Oberon sees that Puck accidentally
made Lysander, not Demetrius, fall in love
with Helena.
When Demetrius falls asleep, Oberon places
the magic juice on his eyes and when Lysander
and Helena approach, Demetrius falls madly
in love with Helena.
Now that both Lysander and Demetrius are in
love with Helena, she thinks that they are
playing a game with her.
The men decide that the only way to decide
who gets to be with Helena is a duel.
Oberon orders Puck to fix things and so a
deep mist consumes the forest so that Lysander
and Demetrius can't find and hurt each other.
Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia all
fall asleep and the magic juice is placed
on Lysander’s eyes so that he can again
fall in love with Hermia.
To restore his relationship with his queen,
Oberon uses the magic juice on Titania and
she falls in love him.
The Duke, Duchess, and Egeus enter the woods
and find Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and
Hermia sleeping.
When the group awakens, Demetrius explains
to everyone that he would rather marry Helena
and so the Duke invites the two couples to
join them to be married that day: Hermia to
Lysander and Helena to Demetrius.
The actors become discouraged because Bottom
is missing and they cannot perform the play.
However, Bottom returns and they are all happy
to see him.
In the end, the actors perform the play at
the wedding and all is well.
