BOTTOM

THE ACTOR
ENCHANTED ISLAND
SUMMARIES
QUICK FACTS
01 Based on Shakespeare's play Midsummer Night's
Dream
02 Set in Athens (Greece)
03 There are two story lines which overlap:
the mortals (humans) and the fairies
PLOT SUMMARY
Theseus, the Duke of Athens and his fiance Hippolyta (Queen of the
Amazons) are planning their wedding which will take place on the
night of the full moon.

The wedding is going to be a massive event and all the people of

Athens (Athenians) are very excited. A group of Athenian craftsmen
decide to put on a play as a wedding gift for the couple. They decide
to perform a play with the title, The Cruel Death of Pyramus and
Thisbe. The play has a similar story-line to Romeo and Juliet.

The craftsmen are not very good actors. They practice the play in the
woods just outside of the town.
HUMAN CHARACTERS

THESEUS PETER QUINCE

The Duke of Athens Carpenter
Director of the play

HIPPOLYTA NICK BOTTOM

Queen of the Weaver
Amazons Plays the part of
Pyramus
HUMAN CHARACTERS
SNUG
Joiner FLUTE
Plays the part of the
Lion

SNOUT STARVELING
PLOT SUMMARY CONT.
Meanwhile, in the fairy world, Oberon (the King of the fairies) is in a
fight with his Queen, Titania. They are fighting over a slave and
Oberon decides to punish Titania for her selfishness.

He calls for Puck (Robin Goodfellow), a mischevious fairy who

fetches a powerful magic flower for him called Love-in-idleness.
When the juice of this flower is placed in the eyes of someone as they
are sleeping, it works its magic. When they open their eyes, they fall
in love with the first person/thing they see. Oberon places it in
Titania's eyes and leaves her sleeping in the woods.
FAIRY CHARACTERS
OBERON PUCK
Fairy King Mischievous fairy

TITANIA
Fairy Queen
PLOT SUMMARY CONT.
The Athenian craftsmen begin practicing their play in the woods near
to where Titania is sleeping.
Nick Bottom hides behind a bush as he waits for his cue. Puck finds
him here and cruelly places a spell on him, changing his head to a
donkey's head! When Bottom steps out from behind the bushes, his
friends are scared at the sight of him and run away, leaving him alone
in the woods.

Bottom is afraid on his own in the woods and starts to sing to

comfort himself. He is a terrible singer and the noise wakes Titania.
She sees Bottom and since she is under the spell of Love-in-idleness,
she falls deeply in love with him.
PLOT SUMMARY CONT.
Oberon sees his queen in love with the hideous Bottom and feels sorry
for her. He has Puck remove the spells from both Titania and Nick
Bottom.

When Bottom wakes up, he thinks that it has all been a dream and
rushes off to find his friends and to perform the play.

He arrives back in Athens just in time for the play. His friends are
relieved to see him back to normal. They perform the play and it is a
bit of a mess, but it is humerous and they do their best. Theseus enjoys
it and thanks them for their gift.