Why? Why is this production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in several Indian dialects? It’s showing at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, the first play to be staged there since its redevelopment. The Roundhouse website says “This production is performed primarily in English but also Tamil, Malayalam, Sinhalese, Hindi, Bengali and Sanskrit.” I would dispute that. The play I saw was primarily performed in non-English languages. Unfortunately my ear for Indian accents and speech is not finely attuned enough to distinguish between the dialects they mention. I’m not even aware to what extent those dialects differ.
My point, I think, is that the subtleties of Shakespeare’s language have been lost in translation. An obvious point to make, sure. But not only that – in the process of translation any exoticism or mystique presumably intended by the staging has also been lost on me, merging into one opaque “otherness” which left me feeling alienated and emotionally uninvolved.
Shakespeare’s play is a hot, steamy summer night, permeated with the sounds and smells of nature. Tim Supple has been partly succesful in capturing that sense, using a sand covered stage fronted by a water trough, the actors barefoot and the men often topless. But he is reliant on the audience coming with a thorough understanding of the plot. Otherwise it is just incomprehensible.
Despite the paper-covered scaffolding ripped to shreds by mischevous nymphs, the beautiful silken chrysalis dance and the clever and complex rubber rope trick by Puck, many in the crowd were confused. The scenes in English and those in Indian dialect seem to have been arbitrarily picked. Indeed, the opening scene is spoken completely in non-English, a concession that the director could surely have afforeded us? I heard some people complaining they were lost or didn’t understand what was going on, and noticed a fair amount of people leaving during the interval.
The spectacle itself was outstanding. The music, performed live, was exotic and fresh. The costumes were rich, the dance and acrobatics inventive and energetically performed. But the balance of the cross-cultural integration seems to have been misjudged, at least for these shows in front of a UK audience.
Note: It was commissioned by the British Council which says:
“We support some of the best UK artists to travel overseas and give performances or collaborate with artists from other countries. Through this we hope to give a modern, diverse picture of the UK, and promote better cultural understanding between the UK and other countries.”
Audio slideshow backstage for a dress rehearsal, at The Guardian