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The Bard revisited
THE TWO-DAY Shakespeare Festival at the Madras Christian College (MCC), Tambaram did not really take off despite a good start because the dates probably did not suit the other city colleges. Which explains the lack of participants from elsewhere. ``Perhaps, the other colleges have examinations now,'' said a student of English at MCC.
The exhibition, in the examination hall, was excellent. The model of Globe Theatre was well done, with an eye for detail, making it seem like a replica of the original. The students obviously had invested a lot of time to prepare and arrange the charts and displays.
What mattered was the spirit to share one's joy in reading and understanding Shakespeare. As V. Rajagopalan, head, department of English, MCC said: ``MCC... even at the expense of being anachronistic, decided to conduct a Shakespeare Festival for he is the only composer who is a personification of composure. So we are partisan to Shakespeare.''
While inaugurating the festival Rathi Jafer, manager, Arts, Culture and English Studies, South India, British Council, said, "How remarkably easy it is to roll a Shakespearean line or phrase off one's tongue, the time lag between Elizabethan England and present day Chennai vanishing without a trace. So effortlessly have the words of the Bard become quotable quotes that have seamlessly integrated into modern day speech.... Far from becoming redundant, Shakespeare is now re-visited, re- discovered, and re-read with the leap in cultural consciousness providing the vital bridge that arches back to lean forward...''
Sceptics could challenge the relevance of Shakespeare today, but the works of someone, who with an amazing sensitivity probed the human mind, its deviousness, its genius, its diabolical propensities in such detail within the constrained format of a play, need to be appreciated much more than they have been so far, except by students and researchers of English Literature.
Even if other city colleges failed to send participants all the way to Tambaram because of end-semester prerogatives (because such a participation would in the first place have raised the awareness of the teams and second, it would have been a fitting tribute to the students of MCC who worked hard to meet the festival deadline without compromising on quality), what matters is the revival of the cultural side of MCC that used to throb with life till the Seventies. For this the credit goes to Dr. Rajagopalan, department head, and other faculty members and students who made it possible.
The college principal, Alexander Mantramurti, may have failed to highlight in his first sentence that the cultural spirit had been rekindled, and infused with life that it was denied for over two decades. And one only hopes that the spirit is not dependent on a single team's effort. If it does, it will be asphyxiated in the near future after the dynamic members retire.
G.G.
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