a midsommernighte dreame

Since my supervisor is away, I got an opportunity to go to the theater with his family (they had an extra ticket). We saw the Midsummer Night's Dream.
It was an interesting show. Different. In a good way.
It was performed by an Indian/Sri Lankan group, and it was part English and part in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Sinhalese and Marathi. Needless to say, that I only comprehended English. Thankfully I was hinted beforehand to read the plot carefully. So I did a good wikipedia check and read the prelude given in the theater.
At first it was difficult to orient myself in this non-english environment. Soon I got the hang of it and realized that even though only part of it was in English, it did give all the necessary details and hints I needed to figure out what is going on and where has the plot reached. I admit the first part felt like it lasted forever. When it ended I was hoping it was entirely done, but it was just a break (my supervisors' wife left with the kids then, 'cos they couldn't take it. Understandably so - they are about 6 and 10 and 17 years old.). The second part went much more smoothly. It was more clear in a plot which helped. And it ended with a wonderful group song. I wish I knew which song it was. So all and all I think it was a good show.

I especially liked the non-conventional elements in it: they had an interesting musical instrument (a stone that made a sound when touched with water), the floor was sand (which flew everywhere), the ladders were covered with rippable fabric (it was so impressive when the gang of fairies "jumped" in through ripping the fabric), ropes and crazy climbing tricks and upside down dangling people, hanging ribbons acting like hammocks, live music on the stage. Also some very good looking indian-looking actors/actresses.
In the end of the first part there was another neat element (that Leslie liked too). Two couples (Hermia and Lysandria; Helena and Demetrius) were arguing (mostly because Puck made the mistake when putting special flower elixir into Lysandrias eyes, so he falls in love with Helena instead of Demetrius, and thus the crazy love misunderstanding). While the arguing and fighting is going on, Puck is knitting a spider web around all of them (out of some expandable ropes). So the fight has to go over and under the web parts, and it's really, really neat.
Actually, the fact that Puck is always around, mostly playing tricks on others, smiling evilly, or just hanging out, adds a lot to the play flowingness.
Also - as the play progressed, and I got used to the fact that I can't comprehend all the words, I started to play attention to other things: details here or there, and also implying my own story/understanding to the plot. And I think that was one of the ideas of this play, that theatre offers so many other means of conveying the story than just words. And it also helps people to wake up their imagination, as they need to apply it to the details they see and understand, to make the entire story to flow.
So I think the main reason why it was great, was the fact that it was untraditional. It wasn't served to people on the plate - all ready for consuming. People needed to do some work to make the experience the fullest. And I like it. Most of canadian shows I have seen are like soap-operas - simple relationship story, played out on the stage. I expect more from the theater. I expect it to provide something that movies and other canned culture products can't give you. And I expect them to wake up my mind and make me think.
A Midsummer Night's Dream did it.