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In his 2012 Viola , Argentine director Matías Piñeiro played games with Twelfth Night . In his new film, Hermia and Helena , he riffs on A Midsummer Night's Dream . Here's a review from Variety  and a clip that gives some sense of the film. Camila/Helena (Agustina Muñoz) drives a truck while Carmen/Hermia (Maria Villa) makes out with her boyfriend Leo/Lysander (Julian Larquier).  

Like Benedict Cumberbatch, Doctor Strange, the character he plays in the upcoming Marvel movie, also admires Shakespeare, as this panel from "A Midsummer's Nightmare!" shows. Doctor Strange Vol. 2, #34 (April 1979). Image from booksincomics .

In his "Letter to B——," Edgar Allan Poe, who was born 207 years ago today, imagines "immortal Shakespeare" scowling at Dr. Johnson's definition of poetry: What is Poetry? — Poetry! that Proteus-like idea, with as many appellations as the nine-titled Corcyra! [Corfu] “Give me,” I demanded of a scholar some time ago, “give me a definition of poetry?” “Très-volontiers;” and he proceeded to his library, brought me a Dr. Johnson, and overwhelmed me with a definition. Shade of the immortal Shakespeare! I imagined to myself the scowl of your spiritual eye upon the profanity of that scurrilous Ursa Major. Think of poetry, dear B——, think of poetry, and then think of Dr. Samuel Johnson! Think of all that is airy and fairy-like, and then of all that is hideous and unwieldy; think of his huge bulk, the Elephant! and then—and then think of the Tempest—the Midsummer Night’s Dream— Prospero —Oberon—and Titania!

1.1 In battle, Theseus, duke of Athens, has won Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. Theseus is impatient for the wedding, and Hippolyta assures him that the four days until then will pass quickly. Egeus enters with his daughter Hermia and two young men: Demetrius, who has Egeus's permission to marry Hermia, and Lysander, who has won her heart. The law dictates that Hermia must marry her father's choice or be executed. Theseus provides a third option—she may enter a nunnery—and says she must make her decision by his wedding day.

In 1909 the Vitagraph  Company shot the first Midsummer Night's Dream movie in the wilds of Brooklyn, using a forest and the architecture at a waterworks and park entrance ( Halio  85). The actor Charles Kent may have directed the film alone or with Vitagraph's cofounder, J. Stuart Blackton. Like many of Blackton's films, the Vitagraph Midsummer is filled with stop-action effects, but Kent, who didn't use ordinarily use these effects, may have adopted them to make the film's fairy scenes more magical.

The filmmakers who gave us the extraordinary Shakespeare Behind Bars describe their  new movie :  "STILL DREAMING" is a documentary about a group of elderly entertainers as they bravely mount Shakespeare's romp through a moonlit forest, "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Set at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey, this troupe has decided to take a huge leap of faith into what was once known, but is now so seemingly treacherous.   Stretching their physical, emotional and mental limits, the elders take the six week journey together to mount a production. The stakes are high for these actors, as this just might be their last work. Some are thrilled at the prospect of one last chance to perform. Some are petrified or even embarrassed by re-entering a process with fewer faculties than they had in their prime. And some have never even acted before, but are game for something interesting to do rather than playing bingo.   The Lillian Booth Ac...

Branislava Nijinska never attained the fame of her older brother Vaslav Nijinsky, whose dancing with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes made him an international sensation. Branislava's career began the same way, dancing for the Russian Imperial Ballet and then the Ballets Russes. In 1921 she became Diaghilev's choreographer and for four years worked with him and other luminaries of the Parisian avant-garde—Cocteau, Stravinsky, Picasso—creating performances that helped make ballet central to modernism. Portrait of Nijinska by Man Ray After leaving the Ballet Russes, she worked for various directors, including Max Reinhardt, whose 1920s and early '30s Berlin productions represented modern theater's sharpest edge. For his 1931 production of Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman , Nijinska designed dances that were performed on a revolving stage in front of three thousand people ( Nijinksa 521, " Stupendous Production "). The following year she settled in...

Richard Rapp and Suzanne Farrell in the 1967 New York City Ballet’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream ShakespeareFlix  is moving.      READ THIS POST ON SUBSTACK!

I recommend turning off the sound when you watch these. The music often doesn't match. Herbert Beerbohm Tree performs the death scene from King John in the earliest Shakespeare movie (1899). Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton's 1909 film o f A Midsummer Night's Dream . Scenes from Gerolamo Lo Savio's 1910 film of The Merchant of Venice . Frederick Warde as Richard seduces Anne in M. B. Dudley's 1912 feature film of Richard III (the best of the two surviving silent Richard s). Johnston Forbes Robertson meets the Ghost in a 1913 version of Hamlet .

I surveyed the students in my upper-division college Shakespeare course to find out which plays they had read in high school. Most had read Romeo and Juliet (70%) and Hamlet (68%); fewer than half had read Macbeth (39%) or Julius Caesar (36%) . Three plays brought up the rear: Othello (31%), A Midsummer Night's Dream (24%), and—surprisingly— The Taming of the Shrew (21%). The other thirty canonical plays were untouched or had been read by one or two students.

Stephen Colbert compares Beverly Hills Chihuahua to Troilus and Cressida , John McCain to Macbeth and Prospero, and Barack Obama to Hamlet and Puck. Stephen Greenblatt answers a question in iambic pentameter, talks about McCain and Shakespeare's view of military heroism and leadership, and compares Sarah Palin to Bottom. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Shakespearean Candidates - Stephen Greenblatt Colbert Report Full Episodes Funny Political News Christian Bale Parody Joke of the Day

Liane Bonin reports on the mudfight in Michael Hoffman's film of A Midsummer Night's Dream: [T]he greatest misery was left to [Calista] Flockhart and costar Anna Friel. The two were set to engage in an elaborate mud fight, but no one had checked to see if the grittiness of the mud was costume-friendly. ''It got inside their corsets, so every time they moved, it was like sandpaper taking their skin off,'' says Hoffman. Worst of all, the women had to repeat the scene, which meant a four-hour process of cleaning up before getting tossed into the skin-searing mud pool for a second time. ''They had to be dragged to the mud pit, it was so miserable,'' says Hoffman. ''The last 45 minutes of those four hours was spent just coaxing them into it.''

Act 1 Casting Pyramus and Thisbe with Jimmy Cagney as Bottom in Max Reinhardt's 1935 film (posted by jjjjoshjjj). From Peter Hall's 1968 film, with Derek Godfrey as Theseus, Michael Jayston as Demetrius, David Warner as Lysander, Helen Mirren as Hermia, and Diana Rigg as Helena (posted by zone003). From Michael Hoffman's 1999 film with Bernard Hill as Egeus, David Strathairn as Theseus, Anna Friel as Hermia, Sophie Marceau as Hippolyta, Calista Flockhart as Helena, Rupert Everett as Oberon, Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania, and Kevin Kline as Bottom (posted by pfeifferfan1): part one , part two . Act 2 Puck gets the love potion in Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton's 1909 silent film. From Hall's film with Judi Dench as Titania and Ian Richardson as Oberon: the initial confrontation between Titania and Oberon segueing into the end of act 5, Titania's fairy attendants sing her a lullaby . From Hoffman's film: 1.2-2.1 , 2.2 . Act 3 Oberon, fairy attendants, ...