Manipal’s Kalamanch presented a pair of one-act plays in, ‘Shakespeare Retold’, held in the Library Auditorium. The first play was a direct adaptation of The Tempest and the second- Gulaab- was an indianised version of Macbeth. Shakespeare’s stories are undoubtedly beautifully stitched together with a deep understanding of our race, but this also makes execution of these plays a very tricky task.
The first play began with a scene of a ship, tossed and tumbled in the sea with a Duke and Duchess travelling with their family and their advisor. Meanwhile on an Island, a banished Prospera (Prospero, from the original) is with her daughter and is plotting against the members of this ship. Being a sorcerer, she uses the spirit of Ariel to toss the ship over, and bring the travellers to the island. They are the family that wrongfully banished her, and from that point on the plot thickens, to a tempest-tossed myriad of emotions.
Prakhar Agnihotri, who played Caliban, a captive of Prospera’s, handled the role with utmost delicateness. Maintaining clarity even in the role of a gruff brute, Caliban’s acting, and his chemistry with Prospera stole the spotlight. Ariel, on the other hand, was perfected by the art on his body. The team that painted him blue for The Tempest, deserves a round of applause. The sets for this play were extensive, and well planned out. However, it cannot be left out that the set changes took too long in the middle of the play. It may have been best to use common elements, and maintain minimal change. The play remained enjoyable, with soft young romances, and drunks playing comic elements. What the play lacked was a time-limit. Itwas far too extended, and could have been clipped at points to keep it snappy.
Gulaab, the second play, was adapted from Macbeth. Riddhima Chatterjee played Gulaab, a psychotic woman who had lost all her family members in a car accident. The family being the proprietors of a slaughterhouse, the setting and image of blood is aptly brought through. Shohaib is Gulaab’s brother in law’s son under her care, and Salim her own son. The workers at the slaughterhouse play the role of the witches that make her kill Shohaib for all the property, but when she’s overridden by guilt, she believes that her son too is Shohaib and in a compulsive necessity kills him too. The story is marvellous, and self-written by Rounak Bose and his team as a part of 2nd year theatre project. Notwithstanding their grading, the play touched hearts with Riddhima’s acting being the central attraction of the story. Her role as Gulaab was convincing, and moving.
The props and sets were minimal and the scenes rotated around a bedroom and a kitchen, but the strong script made sure that it was stitched together with completeness. The music complemented every scene of the play, keeping up with the morose setting.
Kalamanch, as a group, put up a great show, and induced respect and appreciation as a club. In terms of minor shortcomings in the length of the plays, and a weaker marketing end, the club has a long way to go. But the story of ‘Shakespeare Retold’ has proven their mettle with a great possibility of some beautiful plays coming forth in Manipal’s way, in the future.
-Qais Akolawala for MTTN
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.