Know your Shakespeare

Imagine a Shakespearean play staged sans costumes, backdrops and even a stage.

When the Paddys - Hayter and Fletcher - of the Footsbarn Travelling Theatre took the floor, there was no stopping them. The audience split their sides, as the beautiful Fairy Queen sought the affections of the bumbling Idiot, endowed with a donkey's face ("A Midsummer Night's Dream"), and the cunning rogue bamboozled and robbed the clown ("The Winter's Tale").

Who could have thought that the Bard was so funny? A lecture- demonstration by the actors was the highlight of the workshop.

"We want theatre to be enjoyed by the widest possible audience. And enacting Shakespeare plays suits strolling players like us because the Bard is known the world over, he sells well and, of course, he has the largest repertoire of comedy, tragedy and romance," Paddy Hayter said.

"We are no academicians specialising in Shakespeare. However, we have spent much of our career exploring and improvising his plays. Our task has been to discover the comic element even in his tragedies." "Shakespeare was equally at ease with 'high' or 'low' comedy and incorporated this cleverly into his plot so as to give comic relief to the spectators. Even in his tragedies there is a comic element. Ironically, some of his comic characters - including Falstaff - have also had a tragic shade," Fletcher observed.

The Footsbarn has performed in many European countries where English is not spoken, and this has helped them evolve a style of their own, incorporating mime, music and dance. "You should see more of Shakespeare. Absorbing the dialogue will help you when you go back to your textbooks," Hayter said.

"Are you funny in real life too?" a student asked.

"Be very free, do not be scared to look ridiculous or vulnerable, and you too can be comic on stage," Hayter said.

"How do you feel when people do not laugh at your antics?"

"Terrible," Fletcher replied .

C. MAYA

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Features
Previous : Shakespeare for all times
Next     : Discovering new answers