A Midsummer Night's Dream

Tonight we went to go see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Globe Theatre. I had never seen the show before tonight nor had I read the play, so it was an amazing first-time experience with such a fun show.
I've read a lot of Shakespeare previously, and he definitely uses fantasy elements in many of his plays. Macbeth has the three witches along with other haunting elements and The Tempest has intense magic and sprites, as well as many others. A Midsummer Night's Dream includes fairies and magical love flowers. There is a really interesting mix of the classic mythical with these fantasy elements. The play takes place in Athens and in the "green world" of the Wood. Shakespeare uses archaic fantasy elements in this play, although when he wrote it, they probably wouldn't refer to it as "archaic" at that time.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is such a good show and its obvious why this show is a classic. It's hilarious and entertaining. It also reminded me of our discussions of fantasy in modern times. Fantasy is often seen as children's entertainment or of lower quality than other texts. But A Midsummer Night's Dream shows that it's the works of fantasy, not the fantasy elements themselves that determine the quality of the work. Shakespeare's plays are incredibly important and respected in the world of academics. No one gets through high school without being exposed to Shakespeare in one way or another. The fantasy elements that Shakespeare employs are very important to his work, but it doesn't lower the quality of Shakespeare's plays. It was cool to be reminded that fantasy elements are still enjoyed by people who might not declare themselves as ardent fantasy fans.