William Shakespeare’s 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' by Tim Supple

The multilingual adaptation of William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy classic play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, directed by Tim Supple. What can one say about such a show? Its hard to put the enchanting experience into words. As per some records Shakespeare wrote the play near the end of the 16th century, and this adaptation by all means does justice to the greatness of his work.

This strange, loud, energetic, colorful, multilingual and joyful show keeps its audiences spellbound with its perfection. The artistic and poetic feel of the presentation with the witty plot and characters of the play ravishingly keeps its audiences enchanted and entertained, all in under 2 hours. Ludicrous at times, the play primarily involves interlocking plots of three couples and a poor worker-actor. The supernatural world of fairies and magic is presented with such perfection, one understands what the fairy intends in its sheer innocence.

The play uses more than 5 different languages. For somebody who only understands English, the multilingual presentation poses no difficulty in understanding or a break in the flow of the play. Shakespeare’s words are professed in English that take up a small part of the overall dialogue count, but the following languages like Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, among others showcase emotions and the story while bearing on Shakespeare’s message. One never feels lost in long sequences of unknown languages, as the actors marvelously communicate the essence by means of expressions and actions. The background music done brilliantly keeps the viewers in tune with the play.

A prominent character in the play is that of Puck, a hobgoblin, the servant of the king of fairies. The strength of the character is impressively maintained with his soliloquies. Moreover, he architects the amusing interlocking of the characters in his innocent and foolish demeanor.

For many viewers, the dance sequence of Titania and Oberon, in celebration of resolution of their differences, will be the most enthralling.

The show showcases the use of several theatrical tools like martial arts, dances, songs, rope tricks and also dares to experiment with a multilingual script.

The show supports well, why 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' is considered among the best works of Shakespeare. It’s a brilliantly revisited classic. Its magical, its brightly colorful, its full of energy, its highly entertaining, and it’s a sensational and imaginative use of the stage. This matchless adaptation will stay with its viewers of decades and we shall all revisit theatres only hoping to experience anything close to such a show all our lives.