Puck, the mischievous fairy, delivers the play's epilogue directly to the audience. He playfully asks for their applause and forgiveness, suggesting that if they didn't enjoy the play, they can pretend it was all a dream.
The very end of the play. The lovers have been reconciled, Theseus and Hippolyta are married, Bottom and the mechanicals have performed Pyramus and Thisbe at the wedding, Oberon and Titania have blessed the house, and the fairies have danced through the sleeping court. Everyone has left the stage. Puck enters alone, broom in hand, to sweep the dust behind the door, and turns directly to the audience. The play's fiction is closing; the theatre's frame is being acknowledged. This is the only moment in the play where a character speaks to the audience as audience, asking them — by clapping — to confirm that what they have just seen was a play and not a dream they should be angry about. Historically it would have been performed at the Globe with the house lights essentially unchanged, in full daylight, with eye contact possible.
Puck is, even here, mischievous — but the mischief is now in the negotiation with the audience. What he wants from them, specifically, is forgiveness and applause, in that order. He is offering an exit clause: if you didn't like the play, pretend you dreamt it. If you did like it, clap, and we will fix things next time ("we will mend"). Underneath is a quiet acknowledgement that the entire play has been about the unreliability of vision — lovers seeing the wrong people, Bottom seeing himself as Titania's beloved — and the epilogue extends that unreliability to the act of watching theatre itself. He is also, simply, a working performer at the end of a long show, asking for the response that means he gets to come back tomorrow.
This is not a speech to deliver to an empty middle distance. The whole point is direct address. Find specific people in the house and speak to them — not "the audience" as a concept. The danger is preciousness: actors often play Puck-the-cute-sprite and let the verse become singsong. Resist. The metre is tight tetrameter couplets and the speech moves fast; let the rhymes be ordinary, not pointed. Mark the conditional structure: "If we shadows have offended, / Think but this, and all is mended." He is offering a deal. Then a second deal: "If you pardon, we will mend." Then a direct request: "Give me your hands." That last line is the ask — applause — and it should be specific, almost intimate, not a grand gesture. The "serpent's tongue" line is the only moment of edge; Puck is briefly acknowledging the possibility of hissing, of failure, before brushing it aside. Tempo should be light and quick; this is a sweep-up, not a sermon. End on the hand-clap invitation as a genuine request, not a flourish.
Useful as a short audition piece (under a minute), particularly for younger actors, drama school auditions, and any classical generals where they want to see verse handled lightly and with charm. It works extremely well as a second piece — something to leave the room on, after a heavier first selection. It shows direct address, lightness, comfort with the audience as a presence, and command of short, tight verse, all of which are useful indicators. It is genuinely under-used compared to the heavier Shakespeare epilogue options. Avoid it as a sole audition piece for serious dramatic casting; it will read as slight. Also avoid playing it cute — the panel has seen enough whimsical Pucks. Best for actors who can hold a room without effort and want to demonstrate ease.
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.