Literary landscape

There was a pleasant reunion for the audience with the Bard of Avon at the British Council recently. KAUSALYA SANTHANAM writes.

THE Bard of Avon's appeal is ageless. The variety of his work is infinite the contemporaneity amazing. Portrayer of the human predicament chronicler of life, remarkable interpreter of history - William Shakespeare is the poet-dramatist for all seasons and cultures. Whether his plays are enacted in the open air of his native Stratford or recited at a small auditorium in Chennai, the effect is the same - sheer magic. Whether his works are abridged or adapted, the power of his pen is undiluted. For his imagination has created a gallery of characters so real that it is almost blasphemous to see it as fictional. His vocabulary is calculated to run to 15,000 words. And what words they are! Words to make you weep, laugh, reflect, exult.

The audience at the British Council came under Shakespeare's awesome spell when the British Council Poetry circle presented an evening of verse and song "Willm Shkspr - A bridg'd". The event as British Council Director, Mr. Jasper Utley pointed out was held to commemorate World Book Day and the birth anniversary of the Bard.

The listeners travelled for an hour, with the talented trio of the Poetry Circle, through a familiar yet exciting literary and dramatic landscape, savouring the wit and wisdom of the bard, marvelling at the range of his thought and his mastery of metaphor.

The voices brought to life the varied characters caught in the vortex of Fate and their own actions. Sleep-denied kings and guilt haunted queens, unhappy monsters and scheming witches, grieving ghosts and down-to-earth grave-diggers, suspicious husbands and contrite wives, betrayed fathers and loyal sons, the audience met them all. The well known passages had been woven together in a smoothly interlinked chain. Maximum effect was wrung out in minimum time. Comedy, tragedy, historical drama and the sonnets - they all found place. (But where were the engaging clowns and fools?)

Paul Mathew, Rashmi Devadasan, Siddhi and Yog Japee performed well infusing the quality of drama intothe reading through their expressive voices, faces and gestures, though it is difficult to live up to expectations.

Some of the highlights were: the poignant narration of the ghost (Paul Mathew) in "Hamlet", the heartrending outburst by Shylock (Rashmi Devadasan) against discrimination in "The Merchant of Venice", the conversation of the grave-diggers (Yog and Rashmi - "Hamlet") the popular Porter scene in "Macbeth" and the "will" sonnet (rendered by Siddhi).

As for Portia's 'Quality of Mercy' speech, the miming did not seem an inspired effort, however divine the implications of the fountainhead of mercy.

Picking the best of Shakespeare is an unenviable task as it is impossible to include everyone's favourite passage.

But Renuka Rajarathnam had done a fine job providing to an audience familiar with their "To be's or not to be's" and their "tomorrows" a pleasant reunion with their favourite poet.

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