Plays / A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream: who’s in each scene

William Shakespeare · 1600

Plan this showLoads this breakdown into the free planner. Add your cast and their conflicts; get a schedule and call notices.

Scenes

Speaking roles

Groups / ensemble

Scene × character grid

● speaks · ○ on stage, no lines. Weight compares each scene’s length to the play’s typical scene.

Scene	Weight	Theseus	Hippolyta	Egeus	Hermia	Helena	Lysander	Demetrius	Philostrate	Lords and Attendants	Peter Quince	Nick Bottom	Francis Flute	Tom Snout	Snug	Robin Starveling	Oberon	Titania	Puck (Robin Goodfellow)	A Fairy	Fairies	First Fairy	Second Fairy	Peaseblossom	Cobweb	Moth	Mustardseed
Act 1 Scene 1Athens. A room in the Palace of Theseus	normal	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Act 1 Scene 2The Same. A Room in a Cottage	light										●	●	●	●	●	●
Act 2 Scene 1A wood near Athens	fuller					●		●									●	●	●	●	○
Act 2 Scene 2Another part of the wood	light				●	●	●	●									●	●	●		●	●	●
Act 3 Scene 1The Wood	normal										●	●	●	●	○	●		●	●					●	●	●	●
Act 3 Scene 2Another part of the wood	heavy				●	●	●	●									●		●
Act 4 Scene 1The Wood	normal	●	●	●	●	●	●	●		○		●					●	●	●		○			●	●	○	●
Act 4 Scene 2Athens. A Room in Quince’s House	light										●	●	●	○	●	●
Act 5 Scene 1Athens. An Apartment in the Palace of Theseus	heavy	●	●		○	○	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●		○

Cast size and doubling

24 speaking roles plus 2 groups.

Egeus never shares a scene with Quince, Flute, Snout, Snug or Starveling.
Philostrate never shares a scene with Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth or Mustardseed.
The Fairy of Act 2 Scene 1 never shares a scene with the First Fairy, Second Fairy, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth or Mustardseed, so one actor can take it with any of them.
Theseus and Hippolyta never share a scene with the Fairy, First Fairy or Second Fairy.
The First and Second Fairies never share a scene with Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth or Mustardseed.

Heaviest scenes

Work these early and often:

Act 3 Scene 2 — 6 speaking, about 480 lines
Act 5 Scene 1 — 14 speaking, about 414 lines
Act 2 Scene 1 — 6 speaking, about 273 lines

Characters

Theseus — Duke of Athens
Hippolyta — Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus
Egeus — Father to Hermia
Hermia — Daughter to Egeus
Helena — In love with Demetrius
Lysander — In love with Hermia
Demetrius — Suitor to Hermia
Philostrate — Master of the Revels to Theseus
Lords and Attendants — Attendants on Theseus and Hippolyta
Peter Quince — A carpenter; speaks the Prologue
Nick Bottom — A weaver; plays Pyramus
Francis Flute — A bellows-mender; plays Thisbe
Tom Snout — A tinker; plays Wall
Snug — A joiner; plays Lion
Robin Starveling — A tailor; plays Moonshine
Oberon — King of the Fairies
Titania — Queen of the Fairies
Puck (Robin Goodfellow) — A fairy serving Oberon
A Fairy — Fairy of Titania's train
Fairies — Trains of Oberon and Titania
First Fairy — Fairy who sings Titania to sleep
Second Fairy — Fairy who sings Titania to sleep
Peaseblossom — Fairy attending Titania
Cobweb — Fairy attending Titania
Moth — Fairy attending Titania
Mustardseed — Fairy attending Titania

Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook #1514: modern-spelling text prepared by the PG Shakespeare Team (release 1998, revised 2025); no print source edition is named. Breakdown derived from this text. Public domain in the United States. Breakdown only — no text of the play is reproduced here.