A Midsummer Night's Dream palace and the forest, and the fairies were portrayed as gossamer-winged ballerinas. The overture by Felix Mendelssohn was always used throughout this period. Augustin Daly's production opened in 1895 in London and ran for 21 performances. Herbert Beerbohm Tree staged a 1911 production which featured "mechanical birds twittering in beech trees, a simulated stream, fairies wearing battery-operated lighting, and live rabbits following trails of food across the stage." Max Reinhardt staged "A Midsummer Night's Dream" thirteen times between 1905 and 1934, introducing a revolving set. After he fled Germany he devised a more spectacular outdoor version at the Hollywood Bowl
Drysdale Overture Dyson found it to be a mess; he did, however, give it a read-through with the College orchestra. The overture is dedicated to Robert Lilburn, the composer's father. It is meant to celebrate the family farm and estate upon which Lilburn was born. In writing it, the composer once wrote that he was "left with that lovely Mark Twain image of Jim and Huckleberry drifting on their barge down that great river, looking up at the stars and wondering 'whether they was made, or only just happened'" The "Drysdale Overture" has been recorded twice by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra: