Thursday June 12, 2008 will forever be know (in my humble books) as the night I saw **literally** the best stage production thus far in my life.
And to top it off, it was a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Performed by international South Asian performers. In eight (8!) different languages.
I saw it at the Canon Theatre as part of this year's LuminaTO festivities... and wow... it just blew my mind. Having seen a number of productions of the same over the last... say 7 years or so, I went into it thinking "this will be interesting if nothing else" and wondering if some of the subtle nuances would be lost - being that I don't speak Tamil, Malayalam, Sinhalese, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi or Sanskrit.
But again... wow... I was surprised, delighted, entertained and more! To a tee, all of the characters were perfectly cast, and carried out their duties seamlessly, sometimes switching languages mid-sentence. In fact, it was so well executed, at times I actually forgot that it wasn't fully being performed in English. The parts that were performed in the other languages came across very clearly through the use of appropriate tones, gestures and facial expressions, and still managed to be appropriately stern where required, and incite the audience to laughter where it was appropriate.
The set, combined with the talents of the performers provided a visual and aural buffet on which my senses happily feasted. The cloth covered bamboo backdrop provided a playground for the actors to jump, climb and acrobatically manoeuvre around throughout the course of the show. When combined with the over-the-top ropes and silks which were used to varying degrees for climbing, hanging, swinging and reclining, the set came together to provide a fantastic and dream-like setting in which to carry out the lovers' stories.
Another element that this group successfully contributed to the piece was the overt presence of sex on the stage. I assume that most productions shy away from this because Dream is generally thought to be a "family" viewing experience, and sexual content is generally deemed inappropriate for younger and older people. The element of chemistry and passion between the characters - from Lysander and Hermia to Bottom (the tender ass...lol) and Hippolyta - was a necessary addition to this hot-blooded version of one of Shakespeare's finest.
There was so much more that I could literally go on and on and on if I wanted to. Everything about this production was "spot on"... from the South Asian instrumentation (my favourite being the presence of the tassa drum toward the end of the show), to the costume design which seemed to blend the best of South Asian and Western fashions with a touch of haute couture flamboyance, this version of Dream was THE version of Dream.
Recommendation: It's playing in Toronto until Sunday June 15 - go buy your tickets now!
