Students mix Bollywood with The Bard

The Bollywood buzz that has swept the globe has arrived with a bang in Wollongong and not even The Bard himself is safe. Students at St Mary Star of the Sea College and Edmund Rice have joined forces this year to put a Bollywood twist on Shakespeare's classic tale, A Midsummer Night's Dream.The production - renamed A Bollywood Night's Dream - had a big kick-start last week when two choreographers from the studio of Bollywood choreographer Shiamak flew in from Melbourne to put the cast through their paces.The school secured the services of the celebrated international choreographer through the family of one of their students.More than 250 cast members worked with teachers from the Shiamak Indo Jazz Studio, honing their dance technique over three days.Despite the Bollywood theme, the production will retain the play's original Shakespearean language.But from there, production director and St Mary's drama teacher Stephen Goldrick said, the production takes a turn for the contemporary."It is The Bard meets Bollywood and we have shortened it to include dance and musical numbers," he said.The production will begin at the end of June.