At the time the Plothole to the Isle of Sycorax opens:

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Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father Egeus forbids the match. Instead, he wants his daughter to marry Demetrius, whom her best friend, Helena, is in love with. In order to avoid this trouble, Hermia and Lysander intend to leave, to find some other city where they can marry one another, and Helena and Demetrius follow them; the four lovers are lost together in the woods outside of Athens.

Meanwhile, Titania, Queen of the Faeries and Oberon, King of the Faeries are having a lovers’ spat in those same woods. Oberon, King of the Faeries, having witnessed the heartbreak of these four human lovers, tasks Puck, a faerie, with employing alchemy and magic to try and untangle it so that two couples; Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius will be happy in love together (but Puck does not know which Athenian human is which, and may well get these lovers confused).

At the same time, Nick Bottom (an over-confident weaver who considers himself an actor and witty entertainer) and Peter Quince (a carpenter and leader of the amateur troupe) are rehearsing a play in the woods, to perform with their friend(s) Flute, Snug, Snout and/or Starveling - fellow local tradesfolk - to perform a play at King Theseus and Queen Hippolyta’s upcoming wedding reception.

Witnessing their rehearsal, Puck decides to intervene - to magically transform Nick Bottom to have the head of a donkey as a prank, and at the same time he is brewing a love potion - initially intended to fix the Love Quadrangle between Helena, Hermia, Demetrius and Lysander.

As such, before the Plothole opens, the following plans are made but not yet set in motion:​

• For Peter Quince, along with friends Flute, Snug, Snout and/or Starveling and Nick Bottom to write, rehearse and perform a play to entertain King Theseus and Queen Hippolyta at their nuptial celebration.

• For Puck, under instruction from Oberon, King of the Faeries, to magically intervene with alchemy, so that Hermia and Lysander can be a happy couple in love, without interference from Demetrius (her father Egeus’ choice of match), if Demetrius requites the love of her best friend Helena. However, crucially, Puck does not know which of these human lovers is which, in order to interfere “correctly”, although he is brewing a powerful alchemical love potion.

• Puck has already transformed Nick Bottom to have the head of a donkey as a prank - this is terrifying to Peter Quince, along with friends Flute, Snug, Snout and/or Starveling, and they will likely be unable to rehearse anything whilst Nick Bottom’s appearance is so terrifying to his colleagues, much less perform in front of King Theseus and Queen Hippolyta.

• Titania, Queen of the Faeries and Oberon, King of the Faeries are warring with one another, and may plan cruel pranks on the other. Oberon, King of the Faeries often uses Puck as his liuetenant for such mischief, and Titania, Queen of the Faeries may also rely on her Faeries, though both are capable of powerful magicks of their own.

• Hermia and Lysander are determined to elope together, unless any outside interference changes this plan.

• Demetrius, although previously in love with Helena, is currently pursuing Hermia, as this is the match that her noble father Egeus approves of. Helena, meanwhile, is currently hopelessly in love with Demetrius, and is following him (as he follows her best friend, Hermia).

As night falls over Athens and the surrounding faerie woodlands, all of the above characters are settling down to sleep, when the Plothole envelops them all. When they awaken, they are on the shores of an unknown island, with several others from strange lands that they do not know or recognise…​