I just got back from this amazing production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's dream directed by Tim Supple and featuring an Indian/Sri Lankan cast. It was performed half in English and half in various Indian dialects like Hindi, Bengali, Sinhalese and Sanskrit.
First of all the production design was visually stunning; there were live musicians playing Indian instruments and I found that the incorporation of Indian cultural elements like song and dance actually made the "fantasy" elements of the play a lot more organic and flowing.
I was amazed at how amazingly multi-disciplinary the cast was, not only were they required to deliver Shakespeare (which they did with a passion, emotion and raw sexual energy I've not seen in any Western Shakespearean production) and to be able to dance and sing but the staging also incorporated a lot of physical/aerial acrobatic elements. They had a climbing wall as the back drop and the actors would scamper up and down as they delivered lines.
The performance also featured quite a bit of web and aerial silks skills but they were incorporated into the staging, the "fairy" characters would use them to descend from the back wall or swing out, or they were used as hammocks for when the characters slept.
I thought it was so awesome that the actress playing Titania (Queen of the Fairies) would deliver her full Shakespearean monologue then climb up a strand of silks.
There were also a few abstract scenes where the artists did roll downs and other tricks on the webs and silks. It was amazingly well-done and completely flowed with the action of the play.
It was very avant-garde but also surprisingly accessible, I don't remember the last time the audience was on their feet dancing and rhythmically clapping along at the end of Shakespearean play performance.
Check out the video trailer at the show's website: http://www.dreamonstage.co.uk/ it gives you a sense of the energy and visual splendor of the production.
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