The Setting Of A Midsummer Night's Dream

• The Court is ruled by Duke Theseus and Athens is getting ready for his wedding.
• Athens is an urban place where workers live as well as the nobles of the court.
• Oberon and Titania have argued over a little ‘changeling boy’ and are angry with each other.
• The woods are wild. Magic exists in the forest and can be wielded by fairies.
• There are strict rules in Athens that allow fathers to decide who their daughters will marry.
• There is a hierarchy in the forest. Oberon and Titania rule and have fairies as servants and subjects.

On this page students can explore some of the key things that we know about the setting of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by clicking on the pictures.

You can use these pictures, or other images, as a starting point to discuss what they know about the setting of the play and to think about where they would set the play if they were creating their own production. A great way of doing this visually is for students to create a mood board or collage of images that could be used as design inspiration.

The section on design in the Teacher Notes on the Productions page develops on this and asks students to think about the approach they might take to designing a production and what to consider.