What are People Saying About it?

Key Quotes:

"Thrilling and illuminating"
The Columbus Dispatch

"Dream Come True"
Columbus Alive

"Exhilaratingly imaginative...a rare eye-opening and rewarding multicultural delight."
The San Francisco Chronicle

"Extraordinary...an experience that simply transcends language"
The San Francisco Examiner

Read the full reviews:

Read the article from Columbus Alive review.

A Patron review.

Who's the Playwright?

William Shakespeare

Known as the "Bard of Avon," he is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. Although the date of his birth is unknown, he was baptised in 1564 and died in 1616. A prolific poet and playwright, his works include 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and numerous other poems. His works have been translated into virtually every living language and he is the most-performed playwright of the current era.

For more information on Shakespeare, visit the following links:
absoluteshakespeare.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
www.bardweb.net/man.html
www.shakespeare-literature.com

Play Notes

Columbus will be only the third city in the US to experience this once-in-a-lifetime
production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Commissioned by the British
Council and directed by Tim Supple, this international sensation is cast entirely with actors, dancers, martial arts experts, musicians, and street acrobats from India and Sri Lanka with the dialogue being delivered in English, Tamil, Malayalam, Sinhalese, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, and even Sanskrit (supertitles will be provided). Supple's Midsummer casts aside familiar traditions of performing Shakespeare and replaces them with an epic and visceral power which has captivated audiences worldwide.

In 2004, the British Council in India and Sri Lanka commissioned Tim Supple to create
and direct a touring theatre production. After a trip to the area to meet with directors,
performers, designers, venues, producers, and technicians, Supple decided that all the artists and production team would be Indian and Sri Lankan and chose A Midsummer Night's Dream as the text.

Over a year of travel, the actors, musicians, dancers, martial arts experts, and street
performers were selected as were the designers, composer, and production team. Supple worked with hundreds of performers-both contemporary and those trained in classical and folk traditions-in Manipur, Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kerala, Bangalore, Chennai, and Colombo.

The cast and crew rehearsed for seven weeks, living, eating, and working together
around the clock. The performers learned from each other, seeking to understand not only each other's performance language but also each other's language of speech.
In March 2006, the group built their own temporary 750-seat auditorium in the garden of
the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts with bamboo, cloth, and simple rostra.

This was repeated in Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata, and in each city, audiences came and filled the theatre to bursting, even sitting on the floor and stairs.
By the end of April, the company had completed their first tour, and reunited in the UK to
perform at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The performances grew and matured at the Festival, and the response of the audiences was astonishing-12 standing ovations for each of the 12 performances. The production returned to the UK in March 2007 for a triumphant six week engagement at London's Roundhouse.

Having always played in open arena stages, the company had to adapt to proscenium arches, which ultimately made the show richer and more focused with greater nuance. A further run of Royal Shakespeare Company houses met with packed houses as enthusiastic as those of Stratford and London, and each performance managed to achieve connection and vitality.

The North American tour debuted in San Francisco in May 2008, followed by a two-week
run in Toronto in June. CAPA managed both cities on the tour which the San Francisco
Chronicle described as "...an exhilaratingly imaginative, polyglot staging of Shakespeare's great comedy, performed by a proficient, engaging and athletic cast in a manner it's probably safe to say has never before been seen on this continent."
Midsummer is also touring to New Haven, Ottawa, and Chicago.