Two weeks in India

Gateway of India, Mumbai

One week for work, one for pleasure. Just let me adjust to being back in Europe for a few days...

Garland-maker, Mumbai

Auto rickshaw and auto rickshaw van, near Mumbai airport

Cricket at Oval Maidan, Mumbai. Not far from the Brit village cricket of my childhood.


Paints, Devaraja market, Mysore.


Orange-seller, Devaraja market, Mysore

Elephant, temple, Srirangapatnam

Ox, cart and bus, Bangalore-Mysore road


Sari shopping at Mysore silks, Bangalore


Ladies with pretty saris, outside Mysore Palace

Indian Dreaming...

In the middle of a glorious weekend in the UK - all sunny sun, rolling green hills and Pimms - we sneaked last-minute tickets for Dash Arts' exuberant Dream, at the RSC Swan Theatre. Performed in English, along with seven different Indian dialects including Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali, the production is a high-energy interpretation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Rounding off the RSC's year-long Complete Works festival, Dash Arts enthralled their audience with a text enriched rather than overshadowed by acrobatics, music and dance. The predominently middle-class, white audience were visibly entranced and despite not being fluent in Tamil or Sanskrit, no meaning was lost for those new to the play.

With a UK tour scheduled from September, this is theatre not to be missed. Really.

Find out more about tour dates and see what I mean with a video preview at dreamonstage.