Sonho de uma noite de verão

O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd!
She was a vixen when she went to school;
And though she be little,.she is fierce.

Utterly fantastic, in both senses of the word. ( )

i’ve seen an abbreviated performance of this before and loved it, and luckily this version did not disappoint! i love that the audiobook included musical interludes. ( )

Rackham turns his pen and paintbrush to Shakespeare's most whimsical and fantastic play to wonderful results. Instead of focusing on the humans in the story, Rackaham's paintings and illustrations are filled with the forest dwellers and fairy court of Titania and Oberon. This subject matter is well within Rackham's oeuvre, and each illustration can stand on its own outside of the context of Midsummer Night's Dream since his fairies and mystical creatures are timeless. He also captures the idea that this story takes place at night in a forest with dark colour pallettes and tangles of foliage that force viewers to look harder for the details and personages, which is a rare choice for illustrators.

2019 review:

I've read quite a few different version of a Midsummer Night's Dream, and even though many are wonderfully illustrated I think that Arthur Rackham's version has to be awarded the top spot. Charles Vess' version is a close second place, but in comparison Rackham's illustrations contain a depth and darkness that Vess' more pastelle palette seems to be missing to fully convey the setting and characters. The woods and the beings who dwell in them may ake on a lighter tone at times, but Rackham's dark colour scheme accurately portrays the twilight setting and hints at the potential danger that these mortals may be in. The Puck may be honest in his words, but the trickery plied on the couples and Bottom could have gone very much awry and the trauma of self-discovery that they wach inadvertantly face is not a theme to be taken lightly. The fairies themselves are often portrayed with gossamer wings and airy garments, but the smaller fey creatures betray their otherworldly origins by looking slightly imp-like and taking on the attributes of the natural world - a realm with no sympathy for human kind due to its wild and untamed nature. Yet this dark beauty portrayed by Rackham is subtly glamorous in that we can't help but be curious about what is in the woods, and we are drawn to examine the fairy world even though it presents a potential danger to us. Into the woods we are all drawn, to see how our heroes will fare, but we all emerge with the dawn safely having returned from an undoubtedly wonderous experience and journey. ( )

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is my favourite Shakespearean Comedy, so seeing it paired with Charles Vess’ wonderful illustrations is a dream come true. Vess’ style is well-suited to the subject matter, since he draws on traditional fairytale illustrators like Arthur Rackham for style-lines but softens his touch with a muted coloured palette that fits the midnight forests of the Athenian-era setting. His characters are, of course, exceedingly well-imagined, from the otherworldly Titania, Oberon, and Puck to the ever-amusing Nick Bottom the Weaver. He seems to shy away from many depictions of the tangle of human lovers, but in my opinion they are far less visually interesting characters than the faeries so I didn’t miss them too much. My only complaint is that I want more illustrations! ( )