Pears helped to write the words for "A Midsummer Night's Dream", based on the Shakespeare play. In most of Britten’s operas Pears sang serious roles, but in A Midsummer Night’s Dream he had a comic role: the part of Flute the Bellowsmender. In this role he was dressed up as a female and did a parody of the great opera singer Joan Sutherland singing the mad scene from "Lucia di Lammermoor ".