To think this cbeebies Midsummer night dream is rubbish

[kojackscat]

It's a complicated story enough in the first place, what with a play within a play, and a complex storyline. They are making it even more complicated by having bits of' backstage' singing and dancing.

I thought they would take the story and make is accessible to young children by updating the language.

Ds was really looking forward to it, but has got bored already, as he has no idea what theybare talking about.

Very disappointed.

DS (6) is loving it. I like the fact they haven't dumbed down the language and the narrator bit is working well here.

I was just saying the same to DH, way too complicated for little kids. My DS (3) has lost interest already as well so we put it off.

Ds was just so confused. He kept asking 'is this bit in the story?' He couldn't differentiate between the added bits and the story, except the added bits made sense to him, so he was listening to them, and loosing interest on the actual play as he didn't know what they were saying.

And I do think the language should be 'dumbed down' for them. In every day life we explain things to children in language and concepts that they understand. If we want to introduce them to great literature, we should do the same too.

www.shakespeare400.org/

You may find some local events

Try your local theatre or cinema

My 4 year old is loving it, and the 2 year old is enjoying it because he recognises people I think

Thanks for the link Lucky. Shame its almost all in London.

My 3 and 4 year olds loved it (so did I).

I liked that they kept the language but had characters watching and going over what was going on.

I thought it was excellent.

I thought it was a really ambitious idea and well done Cbeebies for giving it a go.

This is now on repeat. What a wonderful adaptation.

Absolutely fantastic and my 3 year old daughter loves it. I doubt my child understood everything that was going on, but by the end of watching it for the 3rd time she certainly had a good idea of the essentials: Fairies, Kings, Magic, Oberon, Titania, and particularly Puck.

To have changed the language would have been to have missed the point completely - i.e.the richness of Shakespearean language.

A marvelous effort from the CBeebies Team.

I thought it was amazing, and DD loved it.

I thought it was great too. BUT I wish that they hadn't used such recognisable CBeebies presenters rather than CBBC ones (or a mix) because 6 -10 yos get so much more out of it, but may not come across it on CBeebies or be reluctant to watch the "baby" channel.