Midsummer (1m, 4w) is set in a wood near Athens with lush vegetation and shadows. Puck and four fairy girls—“sweet, pretty, and delicate”—are relaxing. Peaseblossom says that Puck is “absolutely manic,” and she doesn’t know what to make of this behavior. But, she says, not all fairies are alike. Cobweb, for example, is distracted and complex, Moth is always fluttering around, and Mustardseed is always critical. Mustardseed says everything excites Puck sexually and he’s always bragging. Puck says he saw the Great God Pan die because nobody believed in him, but his ghost still haunts the woods. When Puck tells Peaseblossom that pleasure and disgust are closely related, Cobweb mentions Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams which, she says, Hermia left in the woods. She says Freud isn’t born yet, that all times and places coexist in the forest, including some which are entirely imaginary. When Mustardseed says Puck is a lost, evil little thing, Puck says they are all evil things, all lost. Peaseblossom observes that throughout the woods creatures are kissing, copulating, killing, and devouring each other.
Puck says that long ago they were gods, that the wind moving through the trees is the breath of Pan, and the feeling of panic is the awareness of the presence of an ancient god reminding you that you’re going to die. Mustardseed says she would rather be a fallen god than a human. Puck says humans are degenerate monkeys. Moth thinks she is too young to die and Cobweb says that when the last person who believed in you, or at least remembered you, is gone, you’d be gone, too. Peaseblossom says they have to do something so people don’t forget them. Puck says that’s exactly what he’s been doing. They all sense something, and Cobweb suggests that perhaps Shakespeare is coming with more rewrites, perhaps cutting the scene. Puck says there isn’t any wind and urges them to listen. Lights fade out.
Don Nigro 