A Midsummer Night's Dream

Four young Athenians flee into the woods outside the city, two in love, one betrothed against her will, one hopelessly chasing a man who despises her. Unfortunately for all of them, the wood is already occupied: the king and queen of the fairies are mid-quarrel, and Oberon's servant Puck has a flower whose juice makes the sleeper adore the first creature they see on waking. Applied to the wrong eyes (repeatedly) it turns the night into a whirligig of misplaced passion. Meanwhile a troupe of earnest amateur actors rehearses a tragedy nearby, and their leading man ends the night with the head of a donkey and the devotion of a fairy queen.

Shakespeare's most purely delightful comedy is built for the ear, the fairies speak in shimmering rhyme, the lovers in escalating panic, and the rude mechanicals in glorious nonsense. If you have ever wanted an easy door into Shakespeare, this moonlit one is it.

At roughly 20,200 words, A Midsummer Night's Dream runs about 2 hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is in the public domain, so the complete text is free on Project Gutenberg and LoudReader has the entire Project Gutenberg catalog built in. To listen:

1. Download LoudReader for Mac or iPhone (free, no account).
2. Search for “A Midsummer Night's Dream” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

LoudReader reads with natural offline voices, so the whole book works on a plane or underground. It is fully on-device and private, your library never leaves your device. Listening is unlimited on the free tier.