A Midsummer Night's Dream

In the piazza before a grand renaissance house in the Tuscan countryside, preparations are underway for Duke Theseus' wedding. Unremarked, two small figures mingle with the townspeople, collecting odd treasures to be carted off to an unknown destination.

As if his bride Hippolyta weren't skittish enough at the approach of their wedding, the Duke is obliged to listen to the complaints of opposing sides in a dispute over an arranged marriage. Crusty old Egeus has promised his daughter Hermia to Demetrius, but Hermia loves Lysander and wants to marry him.

Ordered by the Duke to obey her father, Hermia plans to elope with her true love, using a new-fangled invention, the bicycle. But Hermia's best friend Helena, who is in love with Demetrius, warns him of their plot. That night, when the lovers flee into the forest, Demetrius takes after them on his own bike, with a determined Helena pedaling in hot pursuit.

Unknown to lovers and thespians alike, their journey into the dark forest has brought them near the secret home of the fairies, where the fairy trickster Puck administers a powerful love potion that causes the lovers to mix and match with outrageous results. As for the workmen, their rehearsal is about to be interrupted when Bottom, succumbing to Puck's spells, becomes a pawn in the love games of Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of the fairies.