A Midsummer Night's Dream/Indian Dream
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
THE DASH Arts production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Indian Dream runs until April 21, 2007 at Camden’s Roundhouse Theatre.
Created in India with Indian and Sri Lankan performers and creative team, this production has already been marked out as a seminal staging of the play.
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 the nation’s major cities.
A cast of 23 dancers, musicians, actors and performers from a 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 described as a passionate, energetic, thrilling and beautiful re-interpretation of the play, which casts aside familiar traditions of performing Shakespeare and replaces them with an epic, visceral and emotional power.
And according to promotional material, it knocked audiences and critics for six when it was performed in outdoor arenas in India, at the Verona Festival, and at a sensational sell-out run in June 2006 as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Complete Works Festival in Stratford upon Avon.
Tickets: £37.50, £27.50, £15 and £10 (preview prices – until March 13 – £20 and £10).
Following six weeks at the Roundhouse, the company will return to the Swan Theatre in Stratford upon Avon for a three and half week run. Later in 2007, it will embark on a major UK tour, before returning to India and a planned tour of major cities. A worldwide tour is planned for 2008.
UK Tour dates:
April 25 to May 19, 2007.
Swan Theatre, Stratford upon Avon
Week commencing September 10, 2007.
Watford Place Theatre
Week commencing September 17, 2007.
Richmond Theatre
Week commencing September 24, 2007.
Malvern Festival Theatre
Week commencing October 1, 2007. Newcastle Theatre Royal
Week commencing October 15, 2007.
Oxford Playhouse
Week Commencing October 22, 2007.
Edinburgh Kings
Week commencing October 29, 2007.
The Lowry, Salford Quays
Week commencing November 5, 2007.
Plymouth Theatre Royal