Is Shakespeare going downhill?

While studying in Glasgow decades ago, senior theatre actor Shernaz Patel remembers watching an astounding Shakespeare play. She recounts, “The entire focus of the production was on the language of Shakespeare. A group of actors just sat in a semi-circle and wore black. It just means you don’t need mega steps to have a fabulous Shakespeare production.”

A die-hard fan of the Elizabethan playwright’s works, Shernaz feels the number of Shakespearean plays is gradually on the decline in India. She blames the Indian education system for it. She says, “It (the lack of Shakespeare plays) stems from our education system. We were made so frightened of his plays. If only we were taught Shakespeare in an interesting way and made to understand the beauty of the language, it would have been different.”

Veteran theatre person Alyque Padamsee echoes the same thought. He says, “The problem of Shakespeare in India is that in schools and colleges, we are forced to read him on a printed page instead of enjoying his dialogues on the stage.” However, he also feels that with each passing year, Shakespeare is just getting younger and transcends geographical and time boundaries. He says, “I would say Shakespeare is the youngest playwright we have. For instance, Royal Shakespeare Company recently did an amazing acrobatic production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The greatness of Shakespeare is in his characters and dialogues. That is why lines like ‘To be or not to be’ still have an impact.”

Veteran theatre director Rahul Da Cunha feels that Indian theatre groups consciously are shying way from the way Shakespeare has been traditionally interpreted in the West. He says, “When you do his plays in a traditional British or American way, you tend to alienate the Indian audience.” Da Cunha feels despite the traditional opulence and flamboyant sets in Shakespeare production, his plays can also be well adapted on to the contemporary minimalist stage settings. He says, “The biggest proof is Baz Luhrmann adapting Romeo and Juliet into a contemporary setting.”