A Midsummer Night's Dream

A BBC Radio Shakespeare production

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Becky Simpson, David Threlfall, Full Cast, Samuel West, Sylvestra Le Touzel

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

Brought to life

Even without the visual, this play still comes alive in this audio version. Who would have thought it... the voices of Mr Dursley and Wallace in the same play!? The actors are brilliant and gave me an introduction to A Midsummer's that will lead to further study. Thanks

Love it

Absolutely love this BBC version. Love hearing the fellow British accents.
I very much enjoyed, and I recommend it to whoever wants to listen to this book.

A Perfect Drama for Shakespeare Lovers

I decided to buy this title for one of my children who would be experiencing Shakespeare for the first time; so she could listen while she read the text. The dramatizations were perfect and she loved it so much that she wanted to read way beyond her assigned reading each week. I had all I could do to keep her from listening to/reading the rest. The actors and actresses did a lovely job interpreting the nuances of the text and really brought the story alive for her. As a Shakespeare lover myself it was such a gift to see her giggling and emotionally connecting with this beautiful play.

At least it's Shakespeare

I didn't like this performance very much. Scenes are punctuated with terrible synthesizer music and the actors, while polished, aren't very engaged.

On the other hand, it is Shakespeare. That alone makes this worth listening to while at work or on a commute. But you'd be better off trying your luck on a different, hopefully livelier, version of this play; Audible offers several others.