A passage from India

10 April 2012

'People have this idea of India as a strange, exotic place,' says 23-year-old actress Shanaya Rafaat.

'You think of India and you think Bollywood. Some even assume that all Indian actors work in Bollywood rather than theatre. So it was important for us to make sure this production wasn't just a piece of Indian exotica.'

We're sitting in the fragrant gardens of the Adishakti ashram near Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu province, India. In the communal dining room, another actress has just flicked on the TV; it's showing American Idol. Across the garden, music and shouts drift from the ashram itself, currently co-opted as a rehearsal space.

This idyllic place is where a 30-strong cast have been rehearsing British director Tim Supple's polyglot production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which received ecstatic reviews at the RSC's Complete Works festival last year and tonight opens in London.

The cast, ranging from classically trained dancers to Bollywood actors, musicians to martial arts experts, actors to street performers from the Delhi slums, speak seven languages between them (India has 17 official languages).

'When I was casting it, I really got off the beaten track,' explains Supple, as we sit under flowering bougainvillea.

'I saw actors performing in ways that have been cultivated for thousands of years that now only exist in tiny villages. I was struck by the fantastic physical vitality I was seeing. Right away, I was determined to produce something that would bring together people from very different backgrounds.'

This was handy, since the production was first commissioned by the British Council as a touring piece of theatre to reflect the country's cultural diversity; it has already received standing ovations up and down India.

Supple chose A Midsummer Night's Dream because he found in it a spirit that resonated with traditional Indian theatre but also because of the themes it deals with.

'It's about social hierarchies, the thinness between reality and the spiritual world, and the two extremes of ourselves - our yearning to be better and at the same time our unstoppable desire for sexual gratification.'

Certainly, from the snippets I saw at the ashram, the production is a sexually charged fiesta of colour and energy, rhythm and ritual, movement and acrobatics.

It's also not been without controversy. Some have objected to Supple's decision to have the actors largely speaking in the language they feel most at home in, meaning the production is a glorious cacophony of English, Tamil, Bengali and Hindi. This reaction has confused the cast. 'In India, everyone speaks at least three languages,' says Rafaat. 'We are used to hearing a babel of voices.'

There's also the issue of sex. With its night-time woodland scenes of sexual confusion, Shakespeare's play feels post-Freudian in its treatment of desire. India, however, is very sexually conservative and public expressions of physical affection are rare. 'It was unusual for
this cast that I wanted to view things such as sex naturally,' says Supple.

Yet Yuki Ellias, a Mumbai-based actress and the production's vivid, passionate Hermia, laughs it off. 'Some Bollywood films are pretty vulgar these days. Then again, when we were performing in Chennai, I did notice a woman place a sari over her daughter's face when I was kissing Lysander.'

Some people have raised the potential problem of the production being seen as an act of cultural colonialism, given that Supple is an English director. And as Rafaat, who plays Helena, points out, the actual undertaking could easily risk merely showcasing aspects of India's performing heritage rather than creating a complete piece of theatre.

These questions tap into India's deep caste divisions and wealth inequality. Outside Bollywood, acting is something people do within their communities rather than as a profession.

Supple's cast is from a broad variety of social and economic backgrounds. 'To be honest, it took a British director to find all of us and put us together,' says Ellias.

'A Midsummer Night's Dream is about people from different social classes coming together to share something. There are still huge problems in India. My cousin, for example, lives in a block of flats in Mumbai in which the doorman isn't allowed to use the lift. That's what it's like in India. You can't change everything in one night but you can change little things.'

'There will be people who will say "This is not India",' adds Joy Fernandes, the production's delightful, rotund Bottom. 'But India changes every few miles and every few minutes. This production is just the India we know.'

Tonight until Apr 21, The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road NW1, tonight 7pm, otherwise Mon to Fri 7.30pm, Sat 2pm and 8pm, £10 to £37.50.

Tel 0870 389 1846. Tube: Chalk Farm

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