The Republic of India is a multiethnic, multilingual nation, the second most populous in the world. Director Tim Supple wanted his production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to arise out of contemporary India, and the more he travelled throughout the vast country the more he realized that multilingualism would be more than a component of his Indian re-imagining, it would be its essence.

“If I had done it all in English I would have restricted myself to a very particular group of people who had certain training and acted in a certain way.” Supple explains. “None of the folk performers act in English, none of the traditional physical performers act in English. And, if I had chosen just one other language alongside English, such as Hindi or Bengali, I would have restricted myself to one region of India. I was doing the best production I could with the actors I had and in order to get them to be their strongest selves they had to speak the language they live with and act in.”

Supple and his Indian and Sri Lankan creative team were very careful to make the translations as accurate as possible whether it was in verse or in prose. “Even if you don’t understand word for word what is being said on stage it’s done with rigor and rhythm, you don’t drop or loose the rhythm.”

A cast of 23 dancers, musicians, actors and performers from a diverse range of locations and backgrounds perform in English and seven other languages. They are:

Hindi, the language used by the Central Indian Government when communicating with the states of the Hindi Belt.
Bengali, the official language of Tripura and West Bengal
Malayalam, the official language of Kerala and Lakshadweep
Marathi, the official language of Maharashtra
Sanskrit is the language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism
Tamil, the official language of Tamil Nadu and Podicherry

From Sri Lanka — Sinhala and Tamil

The South Asian dance techniques featured in the production include:

Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form originating from Tamil Nadu and thought to have been created by Bharata Muni, a Hindu sage, who wrote the Natya Shastra, the most important ancient treatise on classical Indian dance. Bharata: Bha for Bhava or abhinaya and expression, Ra for raga or melody, and Ta for tala or rhythm; Natya is Sanskrit for the art of sacred dance-drama brought to the stage at the beginning of the 20th century.

Kalarippayat originates from Kerala, which was taken to China by the Buddhist monks. Kalarippayat literally means 'acquired skill' of art. Kalari means school or arena, and payat is skill training, exercise or practice.

Kathakali is a form of Indian dance-drama. It originated in the state of Kerala during the 17th century and is traditionally performed in a Hindu temple.

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