A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Dash Arts This English production of the ever popular A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with a team of entirely Indian and Sri Lankan actors speaking in English as well as their own languages, is a feast for the senses. I agree with one audience member who commented that this production includes the best Puck ever – Ajay Kumar’s Puck is a cheeky Indian Mr. T. whose charisma, comic strutting and infectious grin are worth the ticket price alone. Originally commissioned by the British Council, director Tim Stupple scoured Indian and Sri Lankan cities in 2004-5 and met with hundreds of actors, acrobats, dancers, musicians, directors, designers, producers and technicians in order to bring together 23 performers in this colourful multilingual extravaganza, performed in India, the UK and now premiering in Australia. Performers speak in a mixture of languages and dialects, some more in English, others rarely, yet nothing is lost. Indeed, even for the unfamiliar, Hermia’s father’s wrath, Lysander’s insistent and defying speeches of love, and the would-be actors dealing with the overly enthusiastic Bottom are more intense without Shakespeare’s over familiar verse. Archana Ramaswamy’s Titania is a delight for her cheek and passion – the scenes with Bottom (Joy Fernandes) are hilarious and her energy ceaseless. Bottom’s costume change as he morphs into the ass raised a few eyebrows and Fernandes plays the ass and its actor equivalent beautifully. Shanaya Rafaat’s Helena is joyfully comic in its melancholy and self pity, and P R Jijoy was a hit with the ladies as Theseus and Oberon. Coming back into the theatre after intermission, actors are on stage and hanging from various parts of the bamboo set, and enjoy staring at the audience for several minutes too long, watching us talk and wriggle before deciding they’d had enough and started the next scene. The brilliant set, designed by Sumant Jayakrishnan, not only looks fabulous but is incorporated into the action throughout. The clever bamboo and butchers paper set is used imaginatively – with fairies bursting through and ripping the elegant order of the city of Athens and instantly turning the set into the chaotic ripped and tangled enchanted forest beyond the city walls. Full use was made of the height of the stage, with performers’ acrobatic skills used to emphasise the full height and chaos of the forest. Titania sleeps cocooned inside a bright red ribbon pod several metres above the stage and sleeping Athenians find themselves entwined in ribbon and rope at different heights as the fairy mischief increases. The three musicians, on stage throughout, use a mixture of Indian, Sri Lankian and western percussion instruments, such as Tibetan singing bowls, bells, guitar and traditional flute adding to the regality and otherworldliness as required. Jayakrishnan’s costumes are equally inspired, colourful and sumptuous. The final happy scene with lovers coupled and the town celebrating is heightened with grand gowns, candles and infectious dance and music. Director Tim Supple needs high praise for extracting highly physicalised performances that expertly balanced high farce and humour with a strong dramatic spine. Called back to the stage for a third round of applause, the company starts singing and dancing instead, enjoying themselves and inviting the audience to join – everyone leaves with a smile on their face. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide Adelaide Bank Festival of the Arts For full article, read here --> http://tinyurl.com/2jngvs