MSND - Tim Supple

Title: A mid summer nights dream
Direction: Tim Supple
Mathivanan Rajendran- engrossed audience member
Venue: Bucks Auditorium

Over the past year following Gareth Armstrong s workshop and Masquerades MSND I have been able to understand, appreciate and enjoy Shakespeare. During our workshop on the tempest 'our mantra' was "Shakespeare was an actor too" which largely goes to say that every scene and line written by him was written from a performers perspective (which would also explain his terrible sense of geography!!) . However there seems to be several interpretations to the text and characters of his plays. It gives the director just enough freedom to visually express the story in his style without actually disturbing the plot.

Tim Supple s MSND was an absolute visual treat. There was very little emphasis on the iambic or the text which gave a different perspective to the entire play. I thought the choice of Languages for the characters was brilliant. Tamil suited Egeus' outcry,Hindi was apt for the bungling bully bottom and the naivish Puck, English for all the women was interesting and effective. Considering the volume of lines i was nt sure initially if a Malayalam speaking Oberon/Theseus would work but the rhythm of the language lent lot of colour to the king of shadows and also gave the lines a more poetic feel.

Another the thing which i found really interesting was the characterization. Helena was fiery and commanding unlike the self-pitying weak character usually chosen. An unconventional looking Puck, Also the hidden relationship between Puck and Oberon was chosen to be left unexplored. The purple dye was shown not as a drug that induces love but one that arouses carnal lust (which i think was the original idea) and this was effectively communicated.

Enjoyed the sequences with the mortals and all the musical frills. In particular I really liked the way the fairies entered tearing through the paper, The "roundel and a fairy song" before titania sleeps. Personal favs Egeus,Bottom,Fairy.I enjoyed Palani s potrayal of Duchasana at the other festival ( directed by Bala) and this was no different.

I guess one can t say "take away the music, take away the frills and what do you have left..." since everything was an integral part of the production.I ve seen 4 versions of MSND and each one of them have lent a unique perspective into the script. It was a new experience for me and thoroughly enjoyed it and i look forward to more experiences on both sides of the fourth wall........