One thing I knew was that A Midsummer Night’s Dream, showing as part of the Perth International Arts Festival, wouldn’t be performed in English. Directed by Tim Supple with Indian actors, Shakespeare’s play would be part in English, but most of the time the actors would be speaking Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Gujurati, Sinhala, Marathi and Kannada. Uff! What I didn’t know was that it wouldn’t have English subtitles - like the welcome ones I had seen a few nights before in Jandamarra - performed partly in English, partly in the Bunuba language and the Kriol dialect. It took me 10 minutes to realize it wasn’t a production problem and was still hoping the subtitles would appear briefly. Then it took me another 10 minutes to get used to the multiple languages, before I realized there would be no subtitles. OK. Now everybody knows A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Nevertheless, it is always good, specially because His Majesty’s Theatre was packed with very young people, to be able to understand and follow what the actors are saying. A colleague sitting next to me felt tired as she had the impression somebody was flicking the on/off English version switch, and I’m pretty sure she wasn’t the only one in the audience.After the shock wave had passed, I was able to concentrate on the performance. Supple's A Midsummer Night’s Dream is full of beautiful and ingenious ideas. Right at the beginning, the audience can only see a white wall on the back of the stage, and a beautiful silver carpet. However, as the actors move on to the next scene, in the forest, the audience realizes under the carpet there is red earth, and that the wall, made of paper, is torn into pieces as the first act progresses. The idea of mixing actors, dancers and musicians - who play live on the stage - contemporary performers and others trained in classical and folk traditions is also perfect, specially during fights and dance scenes. Such a mix reaches its highest moment when Titania, Queen of Fairies, uses a colorful fabric to climb the top of the theatre to sleep, followed by others fairies.
Tim Supple has chosen well his actors and crew. Ajay Kumar Geetarjun, playing both Philostrate and Puck, received spontaneous applause while enacting Oberon’s servant, at the same time mischievous and funny, mean and smart. Joy Fernandes must be a wonderful comedian in his country: it was impossible to hold back peals of laughter coming from the audience with his Bottom, the egocentric actor who becomes an ass by magic. Yuki Ellias, Shanaya Rafaat, Prasanna Mahagawage and Chandan Rou Sanyal are also perfect playing two young couples. The director was fortunate in picking Archana Rawaswamy and Pr Jijoy to recreate two central/powerful characters in this play, Titania and Oberon.
This is not a traditional Shakespeare performance. But I’m pretty sure the bard himself would be amazed at how powerful, colorful and full of life this version of his A Midsummer Night’s Dream became onstage.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By William Shakespeare
Venue: His Majesty's Theatre | 825 Hay Street, Perth
When: Thur 14–Sun 17 Feb, 7.30pm, Tue 19–Sat 23 Feb, 7.30pm, Sat 16, Sat 23 & Sun 24 Feb, 1.30pm
Duration: 2hr 30min including interval
Prices: A Reserve $60/Friends $50, B Reserve $45/Conc $40, C Reserve $35
Bookings: perthfestival.com.au Festival info 6488 5555