A 30-Minute Midsummer Night’s Dream

About this cutting

Written by Marta Barnard for University Hill Elementary. Original text by William Shakespeare. 20 characters; no formal stage set, no major props. Audience participation via cue cards — ten cue cards changed and spoken by Players and audience together.

Cue cards: Ta-Daaa!, Wind Noise, Love Sigh, SHHH!, Oppie Whistling, Hee-Haaw, Crowd Roar, Oh No!, Applause, Wild Applause! Cheers and Whistling.

Script

[Cue Card 1 — TA-DAAA!]

[Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, and court]

THESEUS Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour Draws on apace; four happy days bring in Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow This old moon wanes!

HIPPOLYTA Four days will quickly steep themselves in night; Four nights will quickly dream away the time;

THESEUS Hippolyta, I woo’d thee with my sword, And won thy love, by doing thee injuries; But I will wed thee in another key, With pomp, with triumph and with reveling.

[Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and DEMETRIUS]

EGEUS Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!

THESEUS Thanks, good Egeus: what’s the news with thee?

EGEUS Full of vexation come I, with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia. Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord This man hath my consent to marry her. Stand forth, Lysander. And, my gracious Duke, This man hath bewitch’d my daughter’s heart. And hath interchanged love tokens with her. Since she won’t marry with Demetrius, I beg the ancient privilege of Athens.

HERMIA I do beseech you, Lord, that I may know The worst that may befall me in this case, If I refuse to wed Demetrius.

THESEUS Either to die the death or to abjure For ever the society of men.

DEMETRIUS Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield Thy crazéd title to my certain right.

LYSANDER You have her father’s love, Demetrius; Let me have Hermia’s: do you marry him.

THESEUS I am now resolved. Demetrius, come, And come Egeus, you shall go with me, I have some private schooling for you both. For you, fair Hermia, by the next full moon, Either fit your fancies to Lysander, Or else the law of Athens yields you up To death or to a vow of single life.

[Cue Card 2 — TA-DAAA!]

[Exeunt all but LYSANDER and HERMIA]

LYSANDER Hear me, Hermia. If thou lovest me then, Steal forth thy father’s house to-morrow night; And in the wood, a league without the town, Where I did meet thee once with Helena, There will I stay for thee.

HERMIA My good Lysander! I swear to thee, by Cupid’s strongest bow, To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.

LYSANDER Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.

HERMIA [Entering] God speed fair Helena! whither away?

HELENA Call you me fair? that fair again unsay. Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair! Oh, teach me how to look, and with what art, You sway the motion of Demetrius’ heart.

HERMIA I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.

HELENA O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!

HERMIA The more I hate, the more he follows me.

HELENA The more I love, the more he hateth me.

HERMIA Take comfort: he no more shall see my face; Lysander and myself will fly this place, And into the wood. I hold such council sweet. There my Lysander and myself shall meet. Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us;

LYSANDER And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!

[Exit HERMIA and LYSANDER]

HELENA How happy some o’er other some can be! Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. For ere Demetrius look’d on Hermia’s eyne, He hail’d down oaths that he was only mine; I will go tell him of fair Hermia’s flight: Then to the wood will he to-morrow night Pursue her; and for this intelligence If I have thanks, it is a dear expense. [Exit]

[Cue Card 3 — WIND NOISE]

[Enter Puck, and The Four Fairies]

PUCK How now, spirits! whither wander you?

PEAS. Over hill,

MOTH Over dale,

COBWEB Through bush,

MUSTARD. Through brier,

PEAS. Over park,

MOTH Over pale,

COBWEB Through flood,

MUSTARD. Through fire,

PEASE. We do wander everywhere,

+ MOTH Swifter than the moon’s sphere.

+ COBWEB And we serve the fairy queen,

+ MUSTARD To dew her orbs upon the green.

PUCK The king doth keep his revels here to-night: Take heed the queen come not within his sight;

MUSTARD. Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call’d Robin Goodfellow.

PUCK Thou speak’st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night. I jest to Oberon and make him smile; And all the citizens I do beguile. But, room, fairies! here comes Oberon.

COBWEB And here my mistress.

PEAS. Would that we were gone!

[Enter OBERON, TITANIA, and CHANGELING CHILD]

OBERON Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.

TITANIA What, jealous Oberon! King of fairy land; I have forsworn your bed and company.

OBERON Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord?

TITANIA [Taunts him] Then I must be thy lady.

OBERON Why should Titania cross her Oberon? I do but beg a little changeling boy, To be my henchman.

TITANIA Set your heart at rest: The fairy land buys not the child of me.

OBERON Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.

TITANIA Not for thy fairy kingdom. Come, away! We shall chide downright, if I longer stay. [Exit]

OBERON Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove, Till I torment thee for this injury. My gentle Puck, come hither. [SOUND] Thou rememberest Since once I sat upon a promontory,…

PUCK I remember.

OBERON That very time I saw, but thou couldst not, Cupid all arm’d. A certain aim he took, And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow.

PUCK But, he missed.

OBERON Yet mark’d I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower. Fetch me that flower! The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid Will make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees. Fetch me that herb!

PUCK I’ll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes. [Exit to sound]

OBERON Having once this juice, I’ll watch Titania when she is asleep, And drop the liquor of it in her eyes. The next thing then she waking looks upon, Be it on lion, or monkey, or on busy ape, She shall pursue it with the soul of love:

[Cue Card 4 — LOVE SIGH]

OBERON But who comes here? I am invisible; And I will overhear their conference.

[Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA, following him]

DEMETRIUS I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?… Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.

HELENA You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant…

DEMETRIUS I am sick when I do look on thee.

HELENA And I am sick when I look not on you.

DEMETRIUS I’ll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. Or, if thou follow me, do not believe But I shall do thee mischief in the wood. [Exit]

HELENA I’ll follow thee and make a heaven of hell, To die upon the hand I love so well. [Exit]

OBERON Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove, Thou shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love. [Re-enter PUCK] Hast thou the flower there, Welcome wanderer?

PUCK Ay, there it is.

OBERON Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove: A sweet Athenian lady is in love With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes; But do it when the next thing he espies May be the lady….

PUCK Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so. [Exit]

TITANIA Come, now a roundel and a fairy song; Sing me now asleep; Then to your offices and let me rest.

[The Fairies sing]

You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen. Philomel, with melody Sing in our sweet lullaby; Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby: Never harm, Nor spell nor charm, Come our lovely lady nigh; So, good night, with lullaby. Weaving spiders, come not here; Hence, you long-legg’d spinners, hence! Beetles black, approach not near; Worm nor snail, do no offense. Philomel, with melody, &c.

Fairy Hence, away! now all is well: One aloof stand sentinel.

[Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps]

[Cue Card 5 — SHHH!]

OBERON What thou seest when thou dost wake, Do it for thy true-love take. [Sound] When thou wakest, it is thy dear. Wake when some vile thing is near. [Exit]

[Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA]

LYSANDER Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood; And to speak troth, I have forgot our way: We’ll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good.

HERMIA My dear Lysander: find you out a bed; For I upon this bank will rest my head.

LYSANDER Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest. [They sleep]

[Cue Card 6 — SHHH!]

PUCK [Entering] This is he, my master said, Despiséd the Athenian maid; And here the maiden, sleeping sound, On the dank and dirty ground. [Anoints his eyes to sound] So awake when I am gone; For I must now to Oberon. [Exit]

[Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running]

HELENA Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.

DEMETRIUS Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go. [Exit]

HELENA But who is here? Lysander! on the ground! Dead? or asleep?…Lysander if you live, good sir, awake.

LYSANDER [Awaking] And run through fire I will For thy sweet sake. Transparent Helena!

HELENA Do not say so, Lysander; say not so. Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.

LYSANDER …Content with Hermia! No! Not Hermia but Helena I love.

HELENA Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born? When at your hands did I deserve this scorn? O, that a lady, of one man refused. Should of another therefore be abused! [Exit]

LYSANDER She sees not Hermia. Hermia, sleep thou there: And never mayst thou come Lysander near! [Exit]

HERMIA [Awaking] Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord! No? then I well perceive you are not nigh. Either death or you I’ll find immediately. [Exit]

[Cue Card 7 — OPPIE WHISTLING]

(Oppie is whistling the “hi ho, off to work we go” song from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

[Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING]

QUINCE Here’s a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn-brake our tiring-house; and we will do it in action as we will do it before the duke. Is all our company here?

BOTTOM First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on.

QUINCE Marry, our play is, The most lamentable comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.

BOTTOM A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry.

QUINCE Now, answer as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver, you are set down for Pyramus.

BOTTOM What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant?

QUINCE A lover, that kills himself most gallant for love.

BOTTOM That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: if I do it, let the audience look to their eyes. Yet my chief humour is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles (Hercules) rarely. The raging rocks And shivering shocks Shall break the locks Of prison gates; And Phibbus’ car Shall shine from far And make and mar The foolish Fates. This was lofty! Now name the rest of the players. This is Ercles’ vein, a tyrant’s vein; a lover is more condoling.

QUINCE Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.

FLUTE Here, Peter Quince.

QUINCE Flute, you must take Thisby on you.

FLUTE What is Thisby? a wandering knight?

QUINCE It is the lady that Pyramus must love.

FLUTE Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.

QUINCE That’s all one: you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as small as you will.

BOTTOM An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I’ll speak in a monstrous little voice. ‘Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear! thy Thisby dear, and lady dear!’

QUINCE No, no; you must play Pyramus: and, Flute, you Thisby.

BOTTOM Well, proceed.

QUINCE Robin Starveling, the tailor.

STARVELING Here, Peter Quince.

QUINCE Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby’s mother. Tom Snout, the tinker.

SNOUT Here, Peter Quince.

QUINCE You, Pyramus’ father: myself, Thisby’s father: Snug, the joiner; you, the lion’s part: and, I hope, here is a play fitted.

SNUG Have you the lion’s part written? pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study.

QUINCE You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.

BOTTOM Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will do anyone’s heart good to hear me. [Roars]

QUINCE An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek; and that were enough to hang us all.

ALL That would hang us, every mother’s son.

BOTTOM I grant you, friends, but I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you an ‘twere any nightingale. [Sweet roaring]

QUINCE You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a sweet-faced man, a proper man. You must needs play Pyramus!

BOTTOM Well, I will undertake it.

QUINCE So, masters, take your parts. Come, Pyramus, you enter into that hawthorn-brake; and so every one according to his cue.

PUCK [Enters and speaks aside] What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here, So near the cradle of Titania? What donkeys they are, and with asses ears. An ass withall! What if Titania wakes And straightway sees a donkey? [Asses ears put on Bottom]

FLUTE “I’ll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny’s tomb. For thou art true as horse that never tires.”

[Cue Card 8 — HEE-HAAW]

[Enter Puck (invisible) and Bottom with an asses head]

BOTTOM “If I were fair, Thysby, I were only thine.”

QUINCE O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted! Pray masters, fly, masters! Help!

SNOUT O Bottom, thou art changed! What do I see on thee?

[Exeunt all but Bottom]

BOTTOM Why do they run away? I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir from this place, do what they can: I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid. [Sings] The ousel cock so black of hue, With orange-tawny bill, The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill,—

TITANIA What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?

BOTTOM The finch, the sparrow and the lark, The plain-song cuckoo gray, Whose note full many a man doth mark, And dares not answer nay;—

TITANIA [Waking] I pray thee gentle mortal, sing again, For on the first view I say, I swear, I love thee.

BOTTOM Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love seep little company together now-a-days.

TITANIA Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful, And I do love thee; therefore go with me. I’ll give thee fairies to attend on thee. Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed!

[Enter the four fairies]

PEASE. Ready.

COBWEB And I.

MOTH And I.

MUSTARD. And I.

ALL What shall we do?

TITANIA Be kind and courteous to this gentleman. Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies. The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye.

(BOTTOM brays like a donkey)

TITANIA Tie up my love’s tongue bring him silently. [Exeunt]

PUCK [Entering w/Ob.] My mistress with a monster is in love. A hempen-homespun I discoveréd; An ass’s knowl I fixéd on his head. Then in that moment, so it came to pass, Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.

OBERON This falls out better than I could devise. But hast thou yet latch’d the Athenian’s eyes With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?

PUCK I took him sleeping,—that is finish’d too,— And the Athenian woman by his side: That, when he waked, of force she must be eyed.

[Enter HERMIA and DEMETRIUS]

OBERON Stand close: this is the same Athenian.

PUCK This is the woman, but not this the man.

DEMETRIUS O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?

HERMIA If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, Then kill me too…Where is my Lysander? I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.

DEMETRIUS An if I could, what should I get therefore?

HERMIA A privilege never to see me more. [Exit]

DEMETRIUS There is no following her in this fierce vein: Here therefore for a while I will remain. [Sleeps]

OBERON What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite And laid the love-juice on some true-love’s sight: By some illusion see thou bring Helena here: I’ll charm Demetrius’ eyes against she do appear.

[OBERON juices DEMETRIUS’ eyes. Re-enter Puck]

PUCK Captain of our fairy band, Helena is here at hand; And the youth, mistook by me, Pleading for a lover’s fee. Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be!

[Enter LYSANDER and HELENA]

LYSANDER Why should you think that I should woo in scorn? Look, when I vow, I weep;

HELENA These vows are Hermia’s: will you give her o’er?

LYSANDER I had no judgment when to her I swore. Demetrius loves Hermia, and he loves not you.

[Cue Card 9 — LOVE SIGH]

DEMETRIUS [Awaking] O Helena, goddess, nymph, perféct, divine! To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne? …O, let me kiss This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!

HELENA O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent To set against me for your merriment: You both are rivals, and love Hermia; And now both rivals, to mock Helena:

LYSANDER You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so.

DEMETRIUS Look, where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.

HERMIA [Enter] Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found; Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?

LYSANDER Why should he stay, whom love doth press to go?

HERMIA What love could press Lysander from my side?

LYSANDER Lysander’s love, that would not let him bide.

HERMIA You speak not as you think: it cannot be.

HELENA Lo, she is one of this confederacy! Now I perceive they have conjoin’d all three To fashion this false sport, in spite of me.

HERMIA I am amazéd at your passionate words. I scorn you not: it seems that you scorn me.

HELENA Have you not set Lysander, and Demetrius To mock at me?

HERMIA I understand not what you mean by this.

HELENA Fine, i’faith! Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you!

HERMIA Puppet? why so? ay, that way goes the game. Low and little? I am not yet so low But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.

HELENA Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. I evermore did love you, Hermia, You see how simple and how fond I am.

LYSANDER Be not afraid; she shall not harm thee, Helena.

DEMETRIUS No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part.

LYSANDER Now follow, if thou darest, to try whose right, Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.

DEMETRIUS Follow! nay, I’ll go with thee, cheek by jowl.

[Exeunt LYSANDER and DEMETRIUS]

HELENA Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray, My legs are longer though, to run away. [Exit]

HERMIA I am amaz’d, and know not what to say. [Exit]

OBERON This is thy negligence: still thou mistakest, Or else committ’st thy knaveries willfully.

PUCK Believe me, Oberon, I mistook.

OBERON Thou see’st these lovers seek a place to fight: Hie therefore, my Puck, and overcast the night; And from each other look thou lead them thus, Till o’er their brows, a heavy sleep doth creep: Then crush this herb into Lysander’s eye; When they next wake, all this derision Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision. [Exit]

[Cue Card 10 — CROWD ROAR]

LYSAND [Enter] Where art thou, proud Demetrius? Speak thou now.

PUCK Here, villain; drawn and ready. Where art thou? [Ly. Sleeps]

DEMETRIUS [Re-enter] Lysander! speak again: Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?

PUCK Follow my voice: we’ll try no manhood here. [Dem. Sleeps]

HELENA [Enter] Oh, sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow’s eye, Steal me awhile from mine own company. [Sleeps]

HERMIA [Enter] Never so weary, never so in woe, Here will I rest me till the break of day. [Sleeps]

PUCK On the ground Sleep sound: I’ll apply To your eye, Gentle lover, remedy. [Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER’S eyes to sound] When thou wakest, Thou takest True delight In the sight Of thy former lady’s eye: And all shall be well. [Exit]

[Cue Card 11 — HEE HAW!]

[Enter TITANIA and BOTTOM and Fairies]

TITANIA Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed, While I thy amiable cheeks do coy, And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head, And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.

BOTTOM Where’s Peaseblossom?

PEASEBLOSSOM Ready.

BOTTOM Scratch my head Peaseblossom. Where’s Mounsieur Cobweb?

COBWEB Ready.

BOTTOM Good mounsieur, get you your weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped humble-bee. Where’s Mounsieur Mustardseed?

MUSTARDSEED Ready.

BOTTOM Give me your neaf (hand), Mounsieur Mustardseed.

MUSTARDSEED What’s your will?

BOTTOM Nothing, good mounsieur, but to help Cavalery Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber’s, monsieur; for methinks I am marvellous hairy about the face; and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me, I must scratch.

TITANIA Say, sweet love, what thou desirest to eat.

BOTTOM Truly, methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow. But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me: I have an exposition of sleep come upon me.

TITANIA Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms. Fairies, begone, and be all ways away.

[Exeunt fairies]

TITANIA O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee! [They sleep]

[As OBERON squeezes love juice in TITANIA’S eyes to sound]

OBERON Be as thou wast wont to be; See as thou wast wont to see: Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.

TITANIA [Waking] My Oberon! what visions have I seen! Methought I was enamour’d of an ass.

OBERON There lies your love.

TITANIA Come, my lord, and in our flight Tell me how it came this night That I sleeping here was found With these mortals on the ground. [Exeunt]

[Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train]

EGEUS [Entering] My lord, This is my daughter here asleep; And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is; this Helena: I wonder of their being here together.

THESEUS Go Bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.

[Cue Card 12 — TA-DAAA!]

LYSANDER Pardon, my lord.

THESEUS I pray you all, stand up. [They do]

HERMIA Father!

EGEUS Daughter, Hermia!

HERMIA Lysander?

LYSANDER Hermia?

HELENA Demetrius?

DEMETRIUS Helena!

EGEUS I beg the law upon Lysander’s head!

DEMETRIUS My good lord, I wot not by what power, My love to Hermia melted as the snow, And now my love is only Helena.

THESEUS Fair lovers, you are fortunately met: Egeus, I will overbear your will; Away with us to Athens; three and three, We’ll hold a feast in great solemnity. [Exeunt]

[Cue Card 13 — OPPIE WHISTLING!]

BOTTOM I have had a dream, a most rare vision. Methought I was,—and methought I had,—but man is but an ass if he will offer to say what methought I had. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be called Bottom’s Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the duke. [Exit]

[Cue Card 14 — TA-DAAA!]

[Enter Theseus & Hippolyta]

HIPPOLYTA ‘Tis strange my Theseus, that these lovers speak of.

THESEUS More strange than true: I never may believe These antique fables, nor these fairy toys. The lunatic, the lover and the poet Are of imagination all compact….

HIPPOLYTA Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.

[Enter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, and HELENA]

THESEUS Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love Accompany your hearts!

LYSANDER More than to us Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!

THESEUS Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have, To wear away this long age of three hours Between our after-supper and bed-time? Where is our usual manager of mirth?

EGEUS [ENTER] There is a brief how many sports are ripe.

THESEUS [Reads] ‘The battle with the Centaurs.’ No! ‘The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals.’ No! ‘The thrice three Muses mourning for the death Of Learning.’ No! ‘A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus And his love Thisby; very tragical mirth.’ Merry and tragical! tedious and brief! This is hot ice and wonderous strange snow. What are they that do play it?

EGEUS Hard-handed men that work in Athens here, Which never labour’d in their minds till now.

THESEUS And we will hear it.

EGEUS No, my noble lord; It is not for you:

THESEUS I will hear that play; Go, bring them in: and take your places, ladies.

[Exit and re-enter Egeus]

EGEUS So please your grace, the Prologue is address’d.

THESEUS Let him approach.

[Cue Card 14 — OH NO!]

[Enter QUINCE for the Prologue]

QUINCE Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show; But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. This man is Pyramus, if you would know; This beauteous lady Thisby is certain. This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder; And through Wall’s chink, poor souls, they are content To whisper. At the which let no man wonder.

[Enter Pyramus]

PYRAMUS O grim-look’d night! O night with hue so black! I fear my Thisby’s promise is forgot! And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall, Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne! [Wall holds up fingers] Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this! But what see I? No Thisby do I see. O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss! Cursed be thy stones for thus deceiving me!

[Enter THISBY]

THISBY O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans, For parting my fair Pyramus and me! My cherry lips have often kiss’d thy stones, Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.

PYRAMUS I see a voice: now will I to the chink, To spy an I can hear my Thisby’s face. Thisby!

THISBY My love thou art, my love I think.

PYRAMUS Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover’s grace;

PYRAMUS O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall!

THISBY I kiss the wall’s hole, not your lips at all.

PYRAMUS Wilt thou at Ninny’s tomb meet me straightway?

THISBY ‘Tide life, ‘tide death, I come without delay.

[Exeunt Pyramus and THISBY]

QUINCE This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn, Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know, By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn To meet at Ninus’ tomb, there, there to woo.

MOONSHINE All that I have to say, is, to tell you that the lanthorn is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.

QUINCE This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name, The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,…

THISBY This is old Ninny’s tomb. Where is my love?

LION [Roaring] Oh—

QUINCE Did scare away, or rather did affright; And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall, Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain. Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall.

PYRAMUS Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams; I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright; For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams, I trust to take of truest Thisby sight.

QUINCE Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, He bravely broach’d is boiling bloody breast;…

PYRAMUS Tongue, lose thy light; Moon take thy flight: [Exit Moonshine] Now die, die, die, die, die. [Dies]

QUINCE And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,…

THISBY Asleep, my love? What, dead, my dove? O Pyramus, arise! Speak, speak. Quite dumb? Dead, dead? A tomb Must cover thy sweet eyes. Tongue, not a word: Come, trusty sword; Come, blade, my breast imbrue: [Stabs herself] And, farewell, friends; Thus Thisby ends: Adieu, adieu, adieu. [Dies]

[Cue Card 15 — APPLAUSE]

THESEUS Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead.

DEMETRIUS Ay, and Wall too.

BOTTOM [Starting up] No, I assure you; the wall is down. Will it please you to see the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance between of our company?

THESEUS No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no excuse. But come, your Bergomask.

[Dance]

THESEUS The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve: Lovers, to bed; ‘tis almost fairy time. This palpable-gross play hath well beguiled The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed. A fortnight hold we this solemnity, In nightly revels and new jollity.

[Exeunt]

PUCK [Entering] If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And gentle Puck shall make amends.

[Cue Card 16 — WILD APPLAUSE! CHEERS AND WHISTLES!]

THE END!

Facilitator Notes

Practice cue cards with the audience before the show begins. Barnard’s introduction, adapted:

Everyone, some of you get to be the cast, and some of you get to be the chorus. When I hold up this card, [CUE CARD], you all say the words on it together, as loud as you can. Let’s practice.

Then run through all cue cards with the audience before curtain. The cue cards function as scene-break titles — each card signals the mood of the scene to follow and gets the audience invested in co-creating the atmosphere.

See the Audience Cue Cards explainer on the Cuttings landing for how to prepare and use the cards.