ABSTRACT

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the young lovers defy their parents, get lost, and undergo trials in love on their arboreal rite of passage. The Orlando–Angelica connection in English literature and Italian plays and novelle strengthen the bond between commedia dell'arte and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck, nicknamed Robin Goodfellow, could wear Arlecchino's patches. Bottom infused Pantalone's lust for an inappropriate match into zanni's physical comedy and Capitano's braggadocio. Shakespeare might have conjured Oberon from the Fairy King of the Arthurian legends. When Oberon demanded custody of the son of Titania's deceased Indian maid, Titania threatened to invoke a famine like the Elizabethan famine from 1594 to 1598. Linda Lehr, Resident Director of Regina Opera Company, directed this commedia dell'arte production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in New York. To better understand how modern companies play commedia onstage, consider three productions of The Dream by Synetic Theater, American Shakespeare Festival, and Troubadour Theater Company.