Details

On a midsummer's night Hermia and her lover Lysander flee from Athens and Demetrius - the man Hermia's father favours as a son-in-law. Demetrius follows, pursued by Helena who loves him in spite of being spurned in favour of Hermia. On the same night Bottom and his friends leave Athens to find somewhere quiet to rehearse their play which is to be performed at the wedding feast of Duke Theseus. Drawn into the woods they enter a world of magic, mystery and wonder. Created in India with Indian and Sri Lankan performers and creative team. The production is the culmination of a project that began in autumn 2004 when the British Council in India and Sri Lanka commissioned Tim Supple to create and direct a theatre production to tour. A cast of 23 dancers, musicians, actors and performers from a hugely diverse range of locations and backgrounds came together for a seven week rehearsal process to create a production which is performed in English, Tamil, Malaysian, Sinhalese, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and even a little Sanskrit. The result is a re-interpretation of the play, which casts aside familiar traditions of performing Shakespeare and replaces them with an epic, visceral and emotional power.

Cast/Performers

Shankar Arora, Kavita Puri Arora, Joyraj Bhattacharya, Tapan Das, Kaushik Dutta, Yuki Ellias, Joy Fernandes, T Gopalakrishnan, Umesh Jagtap, Faezeh Jalali, J Jayakumar, Ashwatthama J D, P R Jijoy, Ajay Kumar, Prasanna Mahagamage, Quasar Thakore Padamsee, D Padmakumar, M Palani, Dharminder Pawar, Lakhun Pawar, Ram Pawar, D Prakash, Shanaya Rafaat, Archana Ramaswamy, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Toral Shah, Jitu Shastri, N Tiken Singh

Creatives/Company

Author: Shakespeare
Producer(s): Roger Chapman, Matthew Byam Shaw, ACT Productions
Company: Dash Arts
Director: Tim Supple
Design: Sumant Jayakrishnan
Lighting: Zuleykha Allana
Music: Devissaro
Choreographer(s): D Padmakumar, M Palani