A sensational production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night'sDream which was created in India arrives in Bath next Tuesday at thestart of a world tour.
The multi-language production, directed by Tim Supple, was twoyears in the making and has already played to astonished audiencesall over the world - including major Indian cities.
The play begins in the mythic court of Athens, where a warriorking and queen prepare for an uneasy political marriage.
Four young lovers are forced to flee to escape the threat of deathand six workmen struggle to create a play for their rulers.
In the darkness of the forest they all become entangled in aferocious game of enchantment, madness and sexual desire.
Created in India with Indian and Sri Lankan performers andcreative team, the production which opens at the Theatre Royal Bathon Tuesday has already been marked out as a seminal staging of theplay.
It is the culmination of a project that began in autumn 2004 whenthe British Council in India and Sri Lanka commissioned Tim Supple tocreate and direct a theatre production to tour.
A cast of 23 dancers, musicians, actors and performers from ahugely diverse range of locations and backgrounds came together for aseven-week rehearsal process to create a production which isperformed in English, Tamil, Malayalam, Sinhalese, Hindi, Bengali,Marathi and even a little Sanskrit.
The result is a passionate, energetic, thrilling and beautiful re-interpretation of the play, which casts aside familiar traditions ofperforming Shakespeare and replaces them with an epic, visceral andemotional power that knocked audiences and critics for six when itwas performed in outdoor arenas in Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai(Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta) and at the Verona Festival.
A sell-out run followed at the RSC in Stratford upon Avon.
Following six weeks at the Roundhouse earlier this year and areturn visit to the RSC, the company returned to India for severalweeks, before embarking on a worldwide tour which will see theproduction tour to Australia and America in 2008.
Director Tim Supple first started making theatre out of stories inhis childhood home in southern England.
He has directed, adapted and devised theatre, opera and filmthroughout the UK and in the US, Europe, India and the Middle and FarEast. He has worked regularly at the National Theatre and the RoyalShakespeare Company.
A Midsummer Night's Dream appears at the Theatre Royal Bath fromTuesday, October 9 to Saturday, October 13. Ticket prices rangefrom pounds14 to pounds28.50 with concessions available. To bookcall the box office on 01225 448844.
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