Shakespeare for all times

The ambience was just right. The British Library in Thiruvananthapuram was the appropriate venue for the workshop, "Know Your Shakespeare". Conducted by The Hindu - Young World Quest, as part of its Newspaper in Education programme, and the British Library, it attracted more than 100 students from 14 schools.

The event got off with "An Introduction to Shakespeare" by Prof. A. S. Balakrishnan. As he touched on the details of the Bard's early life and his plays, their origin and style, he also planted a doubt in the minds of the young, "Did Shakespeare really author all these plays?"

Critic Dr. V. Rajakrishnan questioned the need to discuss the subject, "Relevance of Shakespeare in modern times", because "we have to bring to it a dual perspective. Read him as he belonged to his period and read him as if he belongs to ours."

Every classic lends itself to this sort of interpretation. Prof. Balakrishnan said, "The archetypal resonances of the characters in the Bard's plays have lived on, as prototypes of humanity, through the centuries.

The charm of the Shakespearean dramas was brought alive through screening of extracts from screen adaptations of "Romeo and Juliet", "Henry IV", "Othello", "Hamlet" and "Taming of the Shrew", with supportive commentary by Ms. Daphne Gomez of Mar Ivanios College.

The staging of the "casket scene" by the students of Sarvodaya Vidyalaya and the quiz on "Shakespeare and his times", conducted by Mr. P. Vijayakumar of Government Victoria College, Palakkad, added colour to the workshop.

The lecture-demonstration by actors with the Footsbarn Travelling Theatre, Paddy Hayter and Paddy Fletcher, was the icing on the cake. The students watched in rapt attention and wondrous admiration, as the two Paddys improvised on an apparently unappealing scene and transformed it into an attractive comedy piece.

A comment by one of the participants, at the end of the day, sums up the purpose of the workshop, "We didn't know Shakespeare could be so interesting."

NIRANJANA HARIKUMAR (Holy Angel's School) and SWARAJ A. CHERIAN (Sarvodaya Vidyalaya), Thiruvananthapuram

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