"Marry, our play is, The Most Lamentable Comedy
and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe...."See in text(Act I - Scene II)
By incorporating these laborers and their desire to put on a performance, Shakespeare introduces the theme of a play within a play, which has several important functions in A Midsummer Night’s Dream: the laborers’ mistakes and attempts to put on a show introduce more humorous strains into the tale, Shakespeare is able to comment more broadly on the nature of art and the theater, and the laborers’ play will parody many of the main events in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, keeping the tone light and comical.
