A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare. Ballet by Felix Mendelssohn

1:30 with one intermission
A Midsummer Night's Dream

Preview

The performance is performed with recorded music

Synopsis

Place of action – Athens and a forest near it.

The action begins with an introduction of the main characters and their relationships. Theseus – Duke of Athens and Hippolyta – Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus and their upcoming wedding.

Following are the main four characters of the young lovers – Hermia and Lysander, who are in love with each other. Hermia refuses to obey her father Egeus and marry Demetrius, a man he has assigned to her. Next comes Helena who is in love with Demetrius and Demetrius who is in love with Hermia. Faithful to their love, Hermia and Lysander decide to run away and thus end up in the forest, which is inhabited by magical creatures – fairies and elves. They are followed by Demetrius, who follows Hermia in his struggle for her love, and by Helena, who follows her beloved Demetrius. Alongside are presented and enter the plot the characters of the actors, local artisans who are preparing to present their play to Theseus and Hippolyta in honour of their wedding, and looking for a secluded place to rehearse, find themselves in the forest.

It is a parallel world out there, ethereal and magical, a world of elves and fairies, which is invisible to man. There is Oberon, king of the fairies, and Titania, his queen Oberon and Titania are estranged because Titania does not want to give him her Indian changeling to use as his knight or henchman. Oberon seeks to punish Titania for her disobedience. He calls on Puck, his shrewd and mischievous sprite, to help him through magical flower juice. When the potion is applied to the eyelids of a sleeping person and when that person wakes up, he falls in love with the first living thing he sees. Oberon instructs Puck to find the flower, hoping to make Titania fall in love with a forest animal and thus shame her.

Hermia and Lysander reach the same forest in hopes of escaping. Helena is desperate to win Demetrius' love back. She promises him to love him more than Hermia. However, he repels her with cruel insults. Observing this and outraged by the situation, Oberon orders Puck to put some of the magical juice on the young man's eyelids. Instead, Puck, having never seen either Demetrius or Lysander, makes the mistake of putting the magic juice on Lysander's eyelids instead of on Demetrius’. Helena, passing by, wakes Lysander, trying to figure out if he is dead or asleep. Lysander wakes up and immediately falls in love with Helena. Oberon sees Demetrius still chasing Hermia and is enraged by Puck's mistake and orders him to fix it. When Demetrius goes to sleep, Oberon sends Puck to put some of the magic juice on Demetrius' eyes. When he wakes up, Demetrius sees Helena and immediately falls in love with her. Now they are both aiming for Helena. However, she is convinced that she is being mocked because neither of them loved her. Hermia does not understand why her lover left her and accuses Helena of stealing Lysander from her. The four are arguing with each other. Oberon orders Puck to make no more mistakes and remove the spell. Lysander loves Hermia again, while Demetrius continues to love Helena.

At the same time, the actors are rehearsing their play in the forest near Titania's dwelling. Titania is enchanted and asleep. Puck turns Bottom's head into a donkey's. When Bottom returns, his other colleagues start running and screaming, thus confusing Bottom because he didn't sense the transformation. Determined to wait for them to return, he begins to sing to himself. Singing, he wakes up Titania, she looks at him and immediately falls in love with him. Having achieved what he wanted, Oberon frees Titania and orders Puck to remove Bottom's donkey head, and make it so that when Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena wake up they would believe they were dreaming, and Bottom would as well believe it was a dream.

The ballet ends with the restoration of harmony in the relationship between Oberon and Titania, as well as with a happy resolution to the love affairs of the lovers Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena. Theseus and Hippolyta find the sleeping lovers while participating in a morning hunt. They wake them up and Theseus decides on the day of his wedding the two couples in love to get married too.

It all ends happily with three weddings. Everything in the forest had been a dream.

 

Theseus—Duke of Athens

Hippolyta—Queen of the Amazons, bethrothed to Theseus

Lysander—in love with Hermia

Hermia—daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander

Demetrius— in love with Hermia

Helena—in love with Demetrius

Oberon—King of the Fairies

Titania—Queen of the Fairies

Puck  - малък дух – пакостник

Egeus—father of Hermia

Nick Bottom—a weaver

Peter Quince—a carpenter

Snug—a joiner

Francis Flute—a bellows-mender

Tom Snout—a tinker

Robin Starveling—a tailor

Retinue trio women Attendants on Theseus and Hippolyta

Fairy servants to Titania

Oberon’s elves

See all

Music

16.10.2022 / 16:00

Vyara Ivancheva
Hippolyta

Vyara Ivancheva

Georgi Banchev
Lysander

Georgi Banchev

Vincenzo Caruana
Demetrius

Vincenzo Caruana

Darina Toneva
Helena

Darina Toneva

Lucas Koning
Oberon

Lucas Koning

Ralitsa Ilieva
Titania

Ralitsa Ilieva

Ivan Georgiev
Nick Bottom

Ivan Georgiev

Ivan Shopov
Peter Quince

Ivan Shopov

Matthew Whittle
Francis Flute

Matthew Whittle

Deyan Ivanov
Tom Snout

Deyan Ivanov

Marina Marinova
Robin Starveling

Marina Marinova

Production team:

Anna Doneva
Choreography and direction

Anna Doneva

Nela Stoyanova
Set design and costumes

Nela Stoyanova

Ivanka Kasabova
Ballet-master

Ivanka Kasabova

Trifon Mitev
Ballet-master

Trifon Mitev

Anelia Tsolova
Stage Manager

Anelia Tsolova