The play of the doomed lovers Pyramus and Thisbe that Peter Quince and his troupe of Athenian artisans have been rehearsing takes up much of the final act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In performance it is often extremely funny, in an over-the-top slapstick style – splicing physical comedy, an emphatically lacklustre script, Carry On innuendo and faux-poor technical execution. But in its central story, the playlet again shows us desire as destructive and violent.
