“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves”, Indulekha Arakkal, a student of S N School, recalled Shakespeare’s quote after watching a mesmerizing play by students of Department of English to commemorate four hundred years of William Shakespeare on Tuesday, October 25, 2016. The play titled “Hamaara Shakeseare” was scripted, directed, produced and performed by the Master’s students. They have picked various scenes from different Shakespearean plays and assorted with the monologue, “The Seven Ages of Man” from As You Like It, serving as the frame.
In the play, one of Shakespeare’s own fools comes to life and challenges Shakespeare’s relevance in our times. This tension pans out in the form of a contest between Shakespeare and the fool, where they direct alternate stages of life with their respective teams. While Shakespeare sticks to the original pieces, the fool modernizes the plot and the language. And thus unfold the Seven Stages of Man: the infant, the schoolboy, the lover, the soldier, the justice, the pantaloon and finally, the second childishness of the old man.
Jaee Sherlekar, one of the organising crew, said that, “This year we celebrate 400th centenary of Shakespeare which makes it special. We wanted to break the idea that people have that Shakespeare is something to be scared of, so we decided to modernize the language.” She added that the idea was that how people can enjoy a Maqbool, Haider or Omkara without having read Macbeth, Hamlet and Othello, similarly the play was written in a manner that people could relate and understand Shakespeare without necessarily being acquainted with literature. “The idea was also to break the pedestal that Shakespeare has been put on. It’s a sarcastic remark on the way people perceive English department – the first thing that people think when English literature is mentioned is ‘you mean Shakespeare?’ The play addressed this perception by presenting Shakespeare in ordinary language, with localised ideas and contemporary reality merging with his plays in order to signify the relevance and simultaneously break the canon.” She Noted.
Players:
Kaushik TV; Shruti Jain; Athira Unni; Benita Benjamin; Sheba D’Souza; Lekshmi R; Gayatri Devi; Greeshma AP; Krishnanunni Hari; Swadesh Gogoi; Kashapogu Suresh; Sachin Savarkar; Sarath Chandra; Shalini Mondal; Jaya Dwivedi; Akita Barma; Shraddha Singh; Mukulika Choudhury; Debahuthi Borah; Aiswarya Sudhakar; Nekha Fatima; Pritikana.
Support Staff: Aldish Edroos; Jaee Sherlekar
Pictures Courtesy: Jaee Sherlekar
By Kartheek Kumar
Department of Communication