In this volume, F. Murray Abraham provides a joyful commentary on playing the character of Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, his favorite role in his forty-year career in the theater. Writing with both insight and passion, Abraham not only shares his own experiences in playing Bottom in different productions-most notably and most fondly at Joseph Papp's Public Theater in New York City in 1987-but also analyzes the play's characters and breaks down its language to assist the reader in understanding the richness of the humor and the sheer inventiveness of the plot.