Stellar Players

Cast Picture!

2010-01-29T06:04:00.000-08:00

Winding Up the Charm - Stella Maris College Play 2010

2010-01-29T05:58:00.000-08:00

Winding up the Charm - Stella Maris College 2010 is coming to a theatre near YOU next weekend!

When the three Witches from 'Macbeth' make a mistake while casting a spell, a miserable Ophelia from 'Hamlet' appears out of a magical box kept in their lair. Trying to send Ophelia back to her own world through the box fails, and only serves to make matters even worse, as a furious Beatrice from 'Much Ado About Nothing' emerges from the box and takes one of the witches away with her. While the remaining two witches attempt to bring back their missing sister, a bizarre stream of myriad Shakespearian characters appear out of the box, making for conversations that range from the sinister to the innocent, the hilarious to the philosophical as they vie with each other to offer the heartbroken Ophelia their advice.

The play is directed by Hans Kaushik and is playing at Alliance Francaise on the 5th, 6th and 7th of February. At 7 pm on the 5th and at 3 pm and 7 pm on the 6th and the 7th.

Tickets available at Landmark (Nungambakkam) and Fruit Shop ( Spencer Plaza, Annanagar, Kilpauk, BesantNagar and Greams Road)

Gw\et your tickets soon, we're selling out fast!

Shakespeare in India by Ramu Ramanathan (cinema)

2010-01-15T00:08:00.000-08:00

Vishal Bharadwaj’s Omkara is an important film. It did many things, right. One of them being: Omkara plonked Shakespeare and Othello right into the mindscape of mainstream Indian cinema.
Curiously enough, in 1996, Sadanam Balakrishnan’s adapted Othello. It was staged by artistes from the International Centre for Kathakali, New Delhi. The dramatisation did not deviate from the traditional grammar; the padams were in manipravalam and the musical style, sopanam. The play had larger-than-life representation in Kathakali – enacted in front of the flickering flames of a brass lamp – captured the strong passions of the characters.
Bharadwaj achieves similar grand emotions by locating his tour de force in the cow belt of Uttar Pradesh.
But enough has been spoken about Omkara. The point is, prior to Omkara, Indian cinema has had an on-off affair with The Bard.
From Sohrab Modi’s 17-song interpretation of Hamlet in Khoon Ka Khoon in 1935 to Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, The Comedy of Errors have been adapted for Bollywood audiences.
“Hamlet was Kishore Sahu’s dream project. But it was a big flop,” recalls Mala Sinha, who played the film’s 18-year-old Ophelia. Romeo Juliet, also flopped. It was directed by actress Nargis’ brother, Akhtar Hussein.
Do Dooni Chaar, based on Comedy of Errors, flopped. The producer of film, Bimal Roy had a bout of cancer during the shooting. Therefore supervision was outsourced to United Producers. “Consequently, the film lacked spontaneity,” recalls Gulzar who penned the dialogues and screenplay for the film.
Over a decade later when he told producer Yash Johar about his desire to make another film on the same story, Gulzar received an interesting answer. “People want to remake superhits. Why remake a flop?” But the director-poet persisted with the idea and Angoor was made. It became a landmark film with superb performances from Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma.
Gulzar was tempted to produce a film on Julius Caesar. There are reports that Anant Mahadevan wants to film his version of Comedy of Errors. Meanwhile Vishal Bharadwaj’s Maqbool, bagged its share of critical accliam.
Apart from these Shakespeare adaptations, several other films have been partly inspired by the bard’s works. Film historian Firoze Rangoonwalla recalls that Dilfarosh, a 1930s film, was based on The Merchant of Venice.
Shades of The Tempest can be seen in the 1930s costume drama Aab-e-Hayat. And parts of Aan (Dilip Kumar Nadira), Ziddi (Asha Parekh, Joy Mukherjee), Dharamveer (Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman), Betaab (Sunny, Amrita Singh) are inspired by Taming of the Shrew.
Ashish Rajadhyaksha in the Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema credits Sohrab Modi with bringing “Shakespeare to the Indian screen.”
A Times of India review published on January 10, 1936 said that Modi’s performance in the Hamlet-based Khoon Ka Khoon dominated the film to the extent that “other characters did not matter much.”Rangoonwalla adds, “Modi told once me the film was shot with two cameras when the play was being staged. It was edited later. It was the first time such an experiment was done.”Besides the above versions, there have been performances of Hamlet in the North-eastern state of Mizoram; Sadanam Balakrishnan’s Othello in Kathakali; Roysten Abel’s multi-lingual play Othello a Play in Black and White, Jayaraj’s Kaliyattam, a Malayalam film version of Othello, and finally, Arjun Raina’s Magic Hour which plays with A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and Merchant Ivory Productions’s film, Shakespearewallah starring the Kendalls and Shashi Kapoor.
So, WHY does everyone who is anyone in the cinema and theatre fraternity, lend their ears to the Bard.
The ANSWER: The Bard is one of us.Purshottam Nedungadi, scholar-author from Calicut, Kerala (and the Dronacharya of my life) used to say, “Do not be intimidated by Shakespeare. He is one of us. He is basically, a moplah from North Kerala who is called, Sheikh Speare!”
Of course, Nedungadi was joking. The point is, Shakespeare has a longish relationship with India. Right from the moment, he was thrust down, imbibed, worshipped, subverted, and at times, rejected. The Shakespearean presence in India is older and more complex than in any other country outside the West. This can be attributed to India’s long colonial history, the presence of unusually receptive elements, and the absence of original playwrights in the local languages. So the local playwright or theatrewallah borrowed from the Master Bard and, in turn, were reshaped and inseminated by Shakespearean influence.
According to the Indian National Library in Kolkata in 1964, the translations and adaptations in Indian languages are: Bengali (128), Marathi (97), Tamil (83), Hindi (70), Kannada (66) and Telugu (62). I know for certain that Ayyappa Panicker and Kavalam Narayana Panicker have translated into Malayalam, 27 plays of Shakespeare. There are others.
Some of the Shakespearean highlights have been :
Agarkar’s version (adapted) of Hamlet. This was a production in which the great “prose” actor, Ganpatrao Joshi played the role of Hamlet. A young Bal Gandharva (yes, the very same) saw a show in Jalgaon and makes a special mention of Joshi’s reaction to the ghost. Later, Ganpatrao Joshi’s drama company staged “bookish” translations of Othello, Macbeth, and of course Hamlet.
But over and above the “natives”, the British were going about with Project Shakespeare. In 1903, Ms Elisa May and Ms Chloe Player (yes, they are addressed as Ms according to chronicles to give the ladies a certain respectability and distinguish them from the waifs who inhabited the stage) went to Deccan College (Pune) and read out Shakespeare plays in English for Rs 500! Then, in 1872, the students of Vishrambaug High School, staged Julius Caesar in their school courtyard. Later, pupils of Baba Gokhale School staged the Merchant of Venice. Also, students of Rajaram College performed Marathi versions of Romeo & Juliet and Merchant of Venice. This was on the prodding of Principal Prof Candy who awarded a prize of Rs 150. A lot of money for poor students in those days.
There have been innumerable British touring companies which performed Shakespeare. Old timers recall Tempest being staged at the Bandstand. It had Prospero emerging from the sea, and the fairies leaping out of trees. Theatre reviews speak glowingly of a British production of Hamlet at Capitol Cinema which was touring Mumbai around 1947-48. A Marathi critic said he had seen Ganpatrao Joshi’s Hamlet. But that was Ganpatrao Joshi in and as, Hamlet. This was the real thing.
Maharashtra’s Sangeet Nataka parampara was vibrant, but what is unknown is innumerable playwrights were influenced by plays of Shakespeare. For instance, there’s Khadilkar (there’s a street named after him in Girgaum, which is famous for sale of greeting cards and wedding cards). This is Krishnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar. He specialised in developing roles based on Hamlet and Iago. For eg, in Bhaubandaki, we have a hapless Peshwa who murders at the behest of a power hungry uncle & aunt. In Sawai Madhavvracha Mrittyu (Death of Sawai Madhavrao), is directly influenced by Macbeth and Richard II. Then there’s Keechakvadh (an allegory on the tyrannical regime of Viceroy Curzon). This play was banned! Again shades of the plays on Richard and Henry! Interestingly, Khadilkar was a gun-runner in Nepal, and was Tilak’s right hand man. He wrote potent edits in the Kesari.
The classic, Ram Ganesh Gadkari’s Ekach Pyala has a structure based on Othello. Its a tragedy. The husband starts to drink. But instead of jealousy, Gadkari introduces alcohol as a theme. Shakespeare has one community drinking scene, in its place Gadkari brings on stage, an entire gang of drunkards. And so, Taliram = Iago. Like Iago, it is Taliram who stuffs Othello with the spirits. And so on. Gadkari’s rendition has theatre craft! The legendary singer-actor, Bal Gandharva played the wife, at the grinding wheel, in the original production.
Vijay Tendulkar speaks very highly of Baburao Pendharkar in Jhunjarao (Othello). Curiously enough, P L Deshpande was playing the organ for the show. Organised by Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh at the open air grounds of Marine Lines.
There are other versions: Vasant Kanetkar has done a khichdi version which incoporates 4 to 5 Shakespeare plays into one. And then there’s the Dalit playwright, Premanand Gajvi, who penned a play which was about a new play by Shakespeare (yes, the 39th play).
Speaking of Midsummer’s Night, there’s the ever popular version by Ratnakar Matkari which stars, Prashant Damle, the man who has completed 7777 shows. There’s also the all time favourite, Natsamrat. Penned by Vi Va Shirwadkar, this play was an adaptation of King Lear. In Natasamrat, the basic plot is more or less the same, but Shirwadkar has taken the liberty of incorporating soliloquies from other Shakespearean plays. Then there’s Raja Lear which has been brilliantly translated by the poet, Vinda Nabar and superbly performed by Sharad Bhutadia and his troupe from Kolhapur.
Arun Naik, translator narrates an interesting tale. There was an “illegal” Konkani production of Othello, based on Naik’s Marathi translation. Due to a typo in the script, there was one critical 10 minute scene in which Othello and Desdemona’s lines got inter-changed. The group had done many shows. And no one realised it.
That’s the magic of Shakespeare. His plots are like the stories from the Ramayana or Mahabharata. The minor glitches and goof ups, don’t seem to matter.
This magic of Shakespeare was something the Parsee Theatre had realised. The Parsee theatre manager, whose contribution to our theatre has been their remarkable sense of management and resources, set up a network of theatrical companies across India. They performed the plays in Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati – even, briefly, in English.
The playwrights (the backbone of any theatre movement inspite of what actors and producers may say) were: Ahsan Lucknowi, Radheshyam Kathavachak, Aga Hashr Kashmiri (who founded the Indian Shakespeare Theatrical Company, and liked to be called ‘the Indian Shakespeare’), Narayan Prasad Betab (who ran a magazine called Shakespeare to publish his versions), Shrikrishna Hasrab, Mahi Hasan and Tulsidas Saida.
The important plays were:
K Khusro Kabrazi, who founded the Parsee Nataka Mandali in 1853, presented Rustom and Sohrab in Grant Road Theatre (only one theatre in those days in Mumbai). On 29th October 1853. So that’s the unofficial theatre day for Mumbaikars.
On 21st December, 1867, they staged Comedy of Errors. This was a big event. The huge success of the play led to the formation of Victoria Theatre Company. This was backed by the richest patrons – who owed allegiance to Queen Victoria in a distant land and hence the name.
Right opposite the Victoria (in Grant Road), the very wealthy, Cooverji Nazar leased the Grand Road heatre building and set up the Elphinstone Dramatic Club. The Elphinstone Dramatic Club. produced two Shakespeare plays: Cymbeline translated by Nasraonji Khan as Alamgir. And then, King Lear as Bagobahar. Once again, the translator was, Nasraonji Khan.
Then there’s Amit Keshav Nayak (not Naik). After the split of Alfred Theatre in 1881, he started the Khatau-Alfred theatre with Cavasji Khatau. Nayak was an actor-manager. who studied in a Gujarati school but was proficient in Urdu. The first play the group did was Khoon-E-Nahak (based on Hamlet) written by Ahsaan Lucknowi. The roles: Hamlet = Cooverji and Hamlet’s mother = Nayak. Later, Agha Hashra Kashmiri penned plays for the duo. He penned Bajmephaani (inspired from Romeo & Juliet). and so on. Hashra wrote four more plays.
There are many more.
The main thing is, the Bard lives because his plays are the thing! As Vijay Tendulkar says “Life is poorer without Shakespeare and we should meet him at a stage when we are ready for him.”

Shakespeare Love Quotes

2010-01-11T12:10:00.000-08:00

What does Shakespeare himself has to say about love?????
" They do not love that do not show their love."
" The course of true love never did run smooth."
" So long as I can breathe or I can see, so long lives your love which gives life to me."
" Love from one side hurts, but love from two sides heals."
" Love looks not with eyes, but with the mind."
" So dear I love him that with him, all deaths I could endure. Without him, live no life."
" When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew."
" Love is the most beautiful of dreams and the worst of nightmares."
" Love sought is good, but given unsought is better."
" Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts."
" How like a winter hath my absence beenFrom thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December's bareness everywhere!"
" As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words."
" My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite."
" No sooner met but they looked;
No sooner looked but they loved;
No sooner loved but they sighed;
No sooner signed but they asked one another the reason;
No sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy;
And in these degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage..."
" Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from their books; but love from love, toward school with heavy looks."
" One half of me is yours, the other half yours-Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours, And so all yours!"
" Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liarbut never doubt thy love."
" What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
" Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs,
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes,
Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears.
What is it else? A madness most discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet."
" …Love is not alters when it alteration finds,
Or Bends with the remover to remove.
O, no! It is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.
It is the star to every wandering bark,
whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken."
" They do not love that do not show their love.
The course of true love never did run smooth.
Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love."

How the Sonnets came about-

2010-01-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well, it wasn't Aphrodite.

A plague hit London and Shakespeare decided to stay put in London instead of touring with a theatrical company. He had to subsist on something until the play houses reopened, and so he found his patron, third Earl of Southampton, Henry Wriothisly. So why the sonnets? The Sonnet form was very famous when Shakespeare began writing and also playwrights at that time were often considered as "populist hacks", writing largely disposable comedy. The Sonnets were published in 1609 and were simply titled "Shakespeare Sonnets." Out of the 154 sonnets, 1-126 deal with a fair youth, 127-152 deal with a "dark lady" and 153-154 are dedicated to Cupid. Shakespeare mused on love, beauty, sexuality and the passing of time! :)

Sonnet 116:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Excerpts from Liz Lewis' essay "Shakespeare's Treatment of Women in the Tragedies Hamlet, Othello and Antony and Cleopatra"

2010-01-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

Shakespeare, it is claimed by many modern critics, was a feminist. Shapiro for example goes so far as to claim that Shakespeare was 'the noblest feminist of them all'. Although I am inclined to agree with McLuskie that as Shakespeare 'wrote for a male entertainment', it is historically incorrect to regard him as a feminist. I believe that Shakespeare because of his extraordinary genius for portraying human behaviour, necessarily depicted the condition of women within a patriarchal system and created women characters which in their richness, transcend the limitations of his time.

Ophelia, it would seem, wholly at the mercy of the male figures within her life, is certainly a victim figure. Although it has been claimed by critics that Hamlet is unique amongst Shakespeare's tragic heroes for not being to blame for the tragedy of the play, if we are to consider the death of the heroine as part of this tragedy then surely we must question Hamlet's innocence. In his treatment of Ophelia, Hamlet oscillates between protests of undying love and cruelty such as his cold and accusing speech in the 'nunnery scene'. In short, Hamlet throughout the play uses Ophelia as a tool in his revenge plan.

To examine this culpability more deeply however, it could be suggested that it is Queen Gertrude's behaviour that has instigated Hamlet's unforgivable treatment of Ophelia: She transgresses the patriarchal bounds of femininity by marrying so soon after her husband's death and not remaining in passive grief and obedient devotion to his memory. This provides Hamlet with a model of women's inconstancy. His bitterness leads him to believe that all women are untrustworthy - 'Frailty thy name is woman' and as R. S. White puts it, Hamlet projects upon Ophelia the 'guilt and pollution' he believes exist in Gertrude's behaviour. However we view his culpability, Ophelia suffers as a result of Hamlet's patriarchal values of womanhood.

With regard to her father and brother, the two direct ruling male forces in her life, Ophelia is also very much a victim. Unquestioningly obeying their remonstrances against pursuing a relationship with Hamlet, she rejects his advances - which of course she believes to be genuine - and thus when he pretends to be mad she believes it to be her fault. Her speech reflects her deep and genuine sorrow:

And I of ladies, most deject and wretched

That sucked honey of his music vows ...

O woe is me.

Ophelia's feeling of guilt is reinforced by Polonius's insistence to King Claudius:

But Yet I do believe

The origin and commencement of this grief

Sprung from neglected love

Polonius's conviction, in which one can't help believing, stems from a mercenary desire to marry his daughter off to such an eligible husband as the prince of Denmark, rather than a genuine belief in his daughter's role in causing Hamlet's madness.

Thus when Hamlet murders her father, Ophelia enters a double realm of guilt, believing herself to be to blame for both Hamlet's madness and her father's death. As a result she becomes mad. Although at one level this decline into madness sets Ophelia up indisputably as a victim figure, on a deeper level perhaps her madness itself can be seen as Ophelia's active rejection of patriarchal restraint. Charney Maurice suggests that since within Renaissance drama madwomen were 'more strongly defined than madmen', and women's madness was 'interpreted as something specifically feminine', through depictions of madness dramatists were able to give women a chance to express their selfhood - 'make a forceful assertion of their being' - in a way which patriarchal conventions would otherwise have prevented.

Shakespeare Snippets

2010-01-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

James Wilkes Booth appeared in the play Julius Caesar, a play dealing with the assassination of a nation’s leader. Four months later he changed history by assassinating President Lincoln. Booth wrote that "he expected to be praised as a real life Brutus".
Shakespeare earned an estimated average of less than £20 per year for writing plays. He earned more as part owner of the Globe, at £40 per year.
8 years after his death, Shakespeare’s friends published the First Folio: Mr William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies. Only about 230 copies of the First Folio are known to have survived. The last copy to come one the market in 2001 sold for 4.1 million pounds.
It is believed a passage from A Midsummer Night’s Dream refers to a real event in the life of the young William Shakespeare. When Queen Elizibeth I visited Kenilworth Castle she was treated to a firework display and a statue of a mermaid on a dolphins back rose from the lake.

Since once I sat upon a promontory,

And heard a mermaid on a dolphin’s back

Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath

That the rude sea grew civil at her song

And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,

To hear the sea-maid’s music...

...And the imperial votaress passed on,

In maiden meditation, fancy-free.

The imperial votress referred to in the passage

is Elizabeth (the virgin queen) herself.
An average of 3000 productions of Shakespeare are performed in Great Britain each year.

WHAT IS LOVE??????

2010-01-04T10:51:00.000-08:00

Excuse me! We are looking at love from a narrowed perspective. Probably the reason why Ophelia’s love for Hamlet is trivialized to such an extent that love is viewed as either life-giving or destructive. How can Ophelia even come to a conclusion that she could either ‘love’ Hamlet or ‘hate’ Hamlet? Is it that simple? If it was, Hamlet would never have been written.

In my opinion love is like a dynamite explosion that could prove to be worse than Hiroshima and Nagasaki despite not being as powerful as a nuclear bomb explosion….with due respect to all lovers…

Is love a feeling or an understanding? That reminds me of MoUs. That reminds me of emotional atyachaar too…..So, is love complicated or do humans make it sound complicated?

By the way, is it important to fall in love to talk about love?

Let’s tune into a few notable comments by ordinary men and women who are engaged in an arduous process to define love……again names have been held back so that democracy prevails……J

“You fall in love with him because…he asked you first! Basically you share a lot in common or at least because you don’t hate the stuff he does- not much magic involved. And sometimes it’s the stupid instinct that makes us do stuff like this- people don’t use their brain to fall in love – no one will fall in love if they use their brain!”

“I think the nature of love that one has changes across time. Depending on what stage on is in the curve, sometimes one might be ready to die for love. I don’t think its insanity- or whether it is worth it- I don’t know the answer. I think it depends on one’s view on the meaning of life.”

“I have a friend. He is 96 years old. When he was in his 20’s he got married. He had children and he also adopted a child. later his wife died . when he was in his 70’s he fell in love again- with another lady who was in her 70’s. They did things together- playing bridge and scrabble and other stuff at home. Last year this gentleman’s wife dies when she was 93. They had been married 18 years. Last time I talked to him, he told me that he lights a lamp on her anniversary and remembers her. I think it is love.”

“Look I don’t believe in the Disney concept of love…but yeah, if love means give and take, and if you still get along with the person on various levels after the mist fades…yeah that works..”

“ Its about the minds or call it the concept of soul mates if you must- two minds who are so much in sync with each other that even the bodies that house that then don’t matter- a kind of love that spans the boundaries of age, race or gender. The sync can be defined by similarities in thought processes.”

“You don’t have to love someone else to become a better person- you have to love yourself for that. Love at first sight? Crap! Soul-mates? Crap! I mean seriously! How do you even know that person is your soul mate?? What is love?? See… if you can accept a person for whatever they are… you don’t expect them to change anything, not even a little, you just like them the way they are… I guess that is love!! And yeah you will never hate them… no matter what they do, you cant just hate them! People say it’s a nice feeling! But I say crap… its just like how you are feeling today…maybe the first couple of hours you discover you are in love, you are maybe a little freaked… but then it goes back to normal. Like I said the first person you love the most in the world is yourself- if you don’t know how to respect yourself- the you cant fall in love.”

“Love makes you do crazy things, anything to show it, and anything to celebrate it.”

“Love makes you feel awesome not only because of the special attention I receive, also the special attention I can dish out to this person.”

“Its when you fight with your friend first put aside your ego, bug each other and say; “ I need you idiot, at least to fight with you.” Its not about hugs and kisses."

“Love is overrated yeah, but that is probably what makes it so awesome.”

Shakespearean Pie

2009-11-29T03:22:00.001-08:00

If music be the food of love, then parody be cheap dessert. Anyone for another slice of "Pie"?

A long, long time ago

I can still remember

How, alas, poor Yorick's jokes drew groans

He'd dance and sing and kiss my hand

Like Elsinore was Neverland

But then he went and joined the Skull and Bones

And now, Horatio, I get shivers

With every line the ghost delivers

All the Globe has been dark

'Cause something rots in Denmark

I can't recall a thing as weird

As when - dear old Daddy - reappeared

To say that he'd been incense-eared

The day King Hamlet died

So...

To - be - or to choose not to be?

That's the question I'm digestin' in my so-lil-o-quy

& When fortune aims its slings and arrows at me

Tell me how I'm gonna live through Act III?

Answer, please, iambically

Did you like Shakespeare in Love?

And did you rewind for scansion of

Gwyneth with her wardrobe gone?

Now, do you believe in English Lit?

Is brevi-ty the soul of wit?

If so then why's this bloody play - so - long?

Well, I know this role has real cachet

For each Branagh and Olivier

Mel Gibson draws blood nice

Man, I dig that Passion of Christ!

I was a young, great Dane in British schools

With my pet Ophelia and a dad who RULES

But I knew we'd - been played for fools

The day King Hamlet died

So here's the question:

To - be - or choose rather to be

Suicidal or to idle apathetically,

Or IS volition all it's cracked up to be

If "to die, to sleep, to dream" is love-ly?

Um, explain the question to me...

Less than TWO MONTHS since the obit ran

And Lord knows, frailty, thy name's wo - man:

My dumbass uncle wears Dad's ring

So I set the stage for a royal sting

What a script! I thought, The play's the thing

Where I'll catch - the conscience of the king

Oh, and while the king enjoyed the show

The players showed him whack his bro

The king stomped off and cried

O!!! J. yelled Homicide!

So Let's Make a Deal, Queen Mother, who

Is bee-hind curtain number two?

How now, a rat? I sliced him through

The day Polonius died

I was thinking...

To - be - or to go with Plan B?

Is it nobler just to soldier on Shakespeareanly

Or fly off to - the undiscovered coun-try?

Frickin' conscience makes a coward of me

Get me to a fun nunner-y

Hanky panky? Nope, Ophelia's cranky

Could she be ticked that I nailed that Yankee?

Maybe 'cause I knifed her daaaaaad?

She shouted Foul! in her wrath:

You'll never tread on my primrose path!

(Guess my joke 'bout "country matters" made her mad)

Now, the nymph went nutso north-northwest

Went'n' took a swim completely dressed

She sank just like a ship

So-o-o - here's the moral: skinny-dip!

Poor Laertes missed his tour de France

But, merde, this ain't no cheap romance

(Ask Guildenstern and Rosencrantz)

The day Ophelia died

And I was thinking...

To - be - or to other-than-be?

That's the question - screw depression - death sounds painless to me

This too too solid flesh should melt melt like brie

And resolve into a fondue - yum-my!

Serve it with some crumpets and tea

Oh, and there we were all in one place

Equipped with poison, swords, and Mace

With Fortune there to shape our ends

So come on - fence me nimble, fence me quick

Back-scratch me with your tainted prick

'Cause - Fie! - Bet your ass we're foiled again

So Laertes and I both got poked

Mom drank New Toxic Carb-Free Coke

The king was S.O.L.

Thus ends his sworded tale:

I said, My name ees Hamlet Junior, guy

You keeled my dad; prepare to die

(Yep, I stole that from The Princess Bride)

The day King Claudius died

I was thinking...

To - be - or choose alternately?

That's the question I'm pro-cessin' in Scene I of Act III

To end these shocks - or bear 'em heart-achingly,

Quoting Sonnet Number 73?

(That one's too depressing for me)

[Soft you now]

I met a girl named Juliet

And her boyfriend, whose name I forget

(What's in a name, man, anyway?)

I led Othello to his death

And made life a bitch for King Macbeth

Till the Bard said, Dude, you're in a different play

So meanwhile back at Elsinore

A bunch of guys - come to mop the floor

It's Fortinbras's legions

I guess we're now Norwegians

And the three co-stars I riled most:

Laertes, Mom, and King Claudi-os

Went off to hang with Daddy's ghost

The day that Hamlet died

I see dead people...

To - be - or choose oppositely?

Are we tougher if we suffer indefatigably

Or take up arms against a turbulent sea

Of the troubles fortune's slinging at me?

Screw it - let's go watch some TV

We were thinking...

[All:]

To - be - or to not freaking be

That's the question we're obsessin' 'bout interminably

But as for us, the answer's clear: NOT TO BE

Caught in THIS Shake-spear-e-an trag-e-dy!

~~~~~ THE END ~~~~~

[Horatio:]

Good-night, sweet prince.

[Hamlet:]

I'm not quite dead...

Ophelia.

2009-11-28T23:57:00.000-08:00

I did not say anything.
How could I, when my throat
was jammed with words that wouldn’t come out -
clawing struggling strangling
my jaw locked
my mind screaming at my body
reminding it to breathe -
reminding it to beat -
reminding it that the world has to go on
even if you don’t love me.

Hating the colour of your eyes
because it reminded me of the best I could be,
I stood there like a life-size gawking puppet
painted red and white – empty-eyed
jaw jerking – but with no words coming out
as you told me that you never loved me.
Never did.

You had opened me up – made me real
made me feel like a woman
and not what I was taught to be -
a big eyed baby doll for my father and brother
to pet and scold and feed
use and throw-
use and throw-
until it breaks
and is packed away – invisible.
Don’t you see? Your love made me visible again
after all those years, the sun no longer
shines through me.

You are afraid – I see it in your eyes.
But I am afraid too.
I am afraid that every person I love
will end up in a grave
the way my mother did
before I could learn to say
good bye, or even, thank you.
I am afraid that when you let someone in
you give them the right to take your soul -
to mess around with your insides
twist turn scrape grate
your heart out with their insecurities.

Don’t you see Hamlet?
I love you.
But I hurt too.

othello

2009-11-26T07:56:00.001-08:00

othello is by far the best of plays i've read by shakespeare. There is something distinctly true about all the cunning, deceit and mistrust we read about. When you see othello you feel sad; why won't he trust his wife? and iago? man o man; you need bloody guts to do that. I don't care what others say; Iago is someone i love. but the truth is when we read othello we see the men; the common tendency is to forget the women. In actuality it's the women who carry the story forward. they are the ones who bring it down. the whole empire falls!
Desdemona is someone who is incredibly naive. Naive and mistrusted; she doesn't believe that a woman can actually cheat on her husband even when emilia says that given the right ince3ntive she could do so too. emilia is someone who we all love. her men-ashing attitude rocks but is it true? i mean; she still sticks by Iago despite all his faults. why? Are all women like that? are we really ever-forgiving? Incapable of lasting hatred?? I wonder.

Script-Writing in full swing

2009-11-25T08:46:00.000-08:00

What connects all Shakespearean heroines???? Love – the universal feeling that unites and separates human beings. Shakespeare’s treatment of love is more universal than any other writer’s in English literature and love is governed by lot of factors including jealousy, murder, money….blah blah in his plays. One thing that everyone must keep in mind is that this play is not a discourse on love (and it is definitely not a discourse on men :-p), but rather reactions of different female characters including that of less-known ones (whom we tend to ignore because of the overarching presence of the so-called heroines, but play indispensable roles) to plumes of love that stroke everyone – sometimes leaving the person enchanted, but mostly wreaked…..hey!!!!!! Let’s not condemn love……Love may not be liberating…….but…….it is definitely cathartic. Love obviously brings Ophelia’s picture into our minds and that raises more trepidations than questions…….haha……So everyone out there! Think twice before plunging into the stream of love.

Coming back to the script, here are a few comments of the brilliant team:

“Ophelia is having doubts about Hamlet - the Prince Charming that she
has been so hopelessly in love with has finally started to go crazy.
And everyone is here to cheer her up. Everyone has their own views on
love and men - you have say, Miranda who thinks all men are beautiful
spirits, and "no ill spirit can dwell in such a temple" and you have
Rosalind who'd say, "Men have died from time to time, and worms have
eaten them / but not for love." And you'd have Emilia who'd admit to
cheating on her husband to make him a monarch, and Lady Macbeth who
does commit (close enough) murder to make her husband a monarch. There
is Ophelia herself, who believes that without her love she is nothing,
and on the other hand, you have Juliet's Nurse who leans more towards
the marriage of convenience.”

Indeed, Shakespeare’s female characters are multi-layered! Which view is more realistic? Which view is more convenient? Which one is more inspiring? Which one is imprudent? It’s for the audience to decide.

The most fascinating of all characters is undoubtedly Lady Macbeth. Just as Indira Gandhi was referred to as the MAN PRIME MINISTER, Lady Macbeth is close to the most powerful MALE CHARACTER/HERO. Shakespeare’s heroes seldom exude the sense of power and chivalry that you would expect them to. That is why, Shakespeare is often called the first feminist writer in literary history.

“Lady Macbeth - Possibly her obsession for power rises from the fact
that she is childless - she tries to control everyone around her the
way she would control her own child - and this spills over into an
obsession for power, that trickles down from personal relationships,
to the country as well.”

“Ophelia - Both Hamlet and Ophelia think too much. While we do at least
see Hamlet's long soliloquies, we can only guess at what Ophelia is
thinking or going through. Possibly like many abused women, or people
who've not not-so-great-childhoods maybe Ophelia ends up being
attracted to a man who would walk over her - even though her brother
and her dad (who are not that great, anyway) counsel her otherwise. In
fact, she gets pushed around by all the men in her life, and the only
thing she was holding onto was her love for Hamlet, and when that goes
'kaput!' she is driven over the edge.”

“Miranda - Hm, she sees only three men in her life, one is her father,
the second is a semi-human and the third one she falls in love with.
BUT she is the once who proposes to the guy, and not vice-versa :)”

Well! Well!!! So, is she the dumbest of all!!!! Life in Stella itself gives creeps…..think about life on an alien island……must give her the credit…….

“Emilia - Super cynical about men, even if she is driven by some sense
of duty towards them. She is Iago's wife after all. She has this
brilliant men-bashing speech - but in a way, she also believes in
serving the husband types, which is why she steals the handkerchief for
Iago.

(Killed in the end (Iago crippled)!!! Her cynical view of men is compensated by Iago’s lecherous view of women. Who wins???)

Goneril - Probably because everyone expected the first born to be a
male, she feels under constant pressure to act like a prince. Hence she
tries to 'tough out' a lot of things, which makes her one of
Shakespeare's most evil women.

(Very despicable character…….betrays all her relations including her father, sister and even husband…..)

Beatrice - Quite similarly, had a speech about how she would like to
be a man so that she can murder this guy who wronged her
friend. Also, considered the wittiest of Shakespeare's comic heroines.

(KILL THE MAN!!!!!!)

Nurse: This is interesting, because Nurse is the only one who comes
even close to understanding Juliet. She knows her since she was a
baby, and has seen her grow up. Even though she thinks that Paris is a
better choice for a husband, she helps Romeo, because Juliet is so
besotted with him. But the thing is, at some point, both Romeo and
Juliet grow out of the infatuation - or the madness has just becomes
so infectious - and at that point when the lovers most need support -
everyone, including Nurse, betrays them. And that's what, (I think)
makes this story so tragic. So anyhow, in retrospect what is Nurse
thinking? Is she guilty? Does she think Juliet is a fool for having
killed herself?

(One of those characters who go unnoticed…..but as you can see, almost decides the fates of the two major characters)

Rosalind - Ah, crossdressers. She pretty much takes control, solving
everyone else's love lives as well as her own - and can turn
annoyingly bossy in the process! Takes a rather practical view on
love, she knows love is not the end-all in life, and doesn't hesitate
to poke fun at it, and at people in love, including herself.”

(But why the hell was she so rude to Phebe?)

Just imagine when all these characters come together on stage! Hmmm……Why would they be on stage in the first place?

“Meanwhile keep plugging at a basic plot , why do all these characters
come together, for what reason/purpose?
Once they are together, what happens and why? Hoow does the situation
get resolved?
A comedy of errors is a good place to start too....”

So, purpose and urgency are the things that any script-writer should be looking at.

“Sexy witches! I like it. we could also maybe give them three very different personalities--like one could be really sexual and keep making eyes at the men in the crowd. the other could be food obsessed or something and keep mixing up the spells with things like pasta and fettucini.. fettucini with a flourish! It’s that kind of word.

or maybe they could be more 'Indian'? bilingual, kinda.. However this can get tiring after a while..but just an idea.”

Macbeth’s witches are going to have gala time on stage, I swear! We are not going to stick to the traditions….even a post-colonial reading of Shakespeare is an option….really??? Experimenting with a canon…..the most exploited/researched/critiqued writer ever…….is not a joke……

Lot of ideas pouring in……Chorus is part and parcel of Shakespeare’s plays. So, let’s not leave out chorus…..and let’s give it a completely different identity.

“…A chorus that lightens the mood by
singing/humming/whatever-you-call-it popular movie/show tunes
depending on the entrances, situations, etc... And, I was wondering
if, instead of having them just standing there and taking up space
during the course of the play, they could walk around like normal
people doing whatever people would do in this scene (I understand it's
a market-place sort of scene, so someone could sell stuff, a couple of
people buy it... blah blah blah) so that they don't look out of place.
Not all of them HAVE to be on stage at the same time. They can walk on
and off as they please. When it's time for them TO do some singing,
they will all be on stage, still buying and selling things, but
singing while they do it... Possible?

Are we going to be using one set throughout or changing?.. If we're changing, could it maybe be done while the scene is actually going on? Just little shifts here and there though the actors may remain oblivious to it…saw it being done in a couple of plays, and it really gives a nice sense of continuity.

The chorus idea is super..maybe they can even shout out important words here and there for added effect..or if someone is spouting in complicated English, they could break it down to one simple sentence or something..only for the comic parts though.”

For unexplainable reasons, the names have been kept confidential…..:-)

As we progress from zero draft to the final draft, let’s hope each character progresses in different ways and redefines her identity in terms of purpose of existence and actions to deal with her existence.

under way

2009-11-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

The work has well and truly begun. Students are very enthusiastic about the play this time around as can be seen by the number that are showing up for the meetings; whether it be auditions or publicity or tech. The scriptwriters along with the director got together recently to discuss the script. After a lot of discussion everyone decided that the character of Ophelia needed progression. now; all these terms are very alien to my ears so my natural question was-"what exactly is progression?". This is probably what the rest of the lesser mortals like me think. Ophelia as we see her now is to say plainly a wimp. she cries and rants and expects everyone to put up with it. yeah right! god help our play if we had her in it. So the brilliant team of scriptwriters have decided that Ophelia needs to change. Simple. We have to show a different Ophelia; one who changes with interaction and reacts to situations differently. This much for now. More on its way!

AND IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

hey all. it's finally here! college auditions have begun and now everyone is waiting, very desperately to hear the results. who's in? who's out? but before this suspense what happened was pure fun. director hans kaushik; witty, humorous and fun as hell organised a two-day workshop for all those auditioning. everyone was encouraged to come out of their shell; we saw elephants and boats and murders and if you're wondering what i'm talking about, these were just some of the activities we had. many first-timers learnt some about the theater and were instantly hooked. what's next?? results! let's wait and watch!

Gertrude Talks back!

2009-10-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

I always thought it was a mistake, calling you Hamlet. I mean, what kind of name is that for a young boy? It was your father's idea. Nothing would do but that you had to be called after him? Selfish.

I wanted to call you George.

I know your father was handsomer than Claudius. High brow, aquiline nose and so on, looked great in uniform. But handsome isn't everything, especially in a man, and far be it from me to speak ill of the dead, but I think it’s about time I pointed out to you that your dad just wasn't a whole lot of fun. Noble. Sure, I grant you. But Claudius, well, he likes a drink now and then. He appreciates a decent meal. He enjoys a laugh, know what I mean? You don't always have to be tiptoeing around because of some holier-than-thou principle or something.

By the way, darling, I wish you wouldn't call your stepdad the bloat king. He does have a slight weight problem, and it hurts his feelings.

And let me tell you, everyone sweats at a time like that, as you'd find out if you ever gave it a try. A real girlfriend would do you a heap of good. Not like that pasty-faced what's-her-name, all trussed up like a prizes turkey in those touch-me-not corsets of hers. If you ask me, there's something off about that girl. Borderline. Any little shock could push her right over the edge

No darling, I am not mad at you. But I must say you're an awful prick sometimes. Just like your Dad. The Flesh, he'd say. You'd think it was dog dirt. You can excuse that in a young person, they are always so intolerant, but in someone his age it was getting, well, very hard to live with and that's the understatement of the year.

Oh! You think what? You think Claudius murdered your Dad? Well, no wonder you've been so rude to him at the dinner table!

If I'd known that, I could have put you straight in no time flat.

It wasn't Claudius, darling.

It was me.

-Margaret Atwood

AND.....We're Back!!

2009-10-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

Hark ye mortals! ** drum roll** [COLLEGE PLAY] ** Its the Bard!** [COLLEGE PLAY] **gasp, they got permission AGAIN** [YES! its the college play]

Over the past couple of months of a not-so-memorable semester, some brave comrades decided to fight it out for a stage, some sound, and yes, light too. After several such brave, eloquent speeches, one decision has left our endorphines elated for the next three months. YES, THE COLLEGE PLAY HAS BEEN SANCTIONED! Well, yet again. :D **pats on some shoulders**

Since Shakespeare is not quite dead in the literary scene, we have decided to pick out his wonderfully crafted heroines and adapt, rework and reproduce Desdemona, Ophelia, Juliet, Lady Macbeth, the Three Witches (we got slightly macabre) in any which way our mind directs us.

**Drumrolls** (again) Hans Kaushik, of Magic Lantern, is our director this year. A versatile stage actor in Tamil, Hindi and English.

The play is set for 5th, 6th and 7th Feb at Alliance Francaise de Madras.

SO.

Essentials: Since this year's play plays out a tribute to the Bard, but not quite in a language he supposed would suit him. We would like to present, TADA- Shakespeare in modern english, hinglish, tanglish and such and such. :D We follow Shakespeare's suit and have decided to play with language as he himself played with it. All such sweet minstrels who can invoke the muse, simply mail us. (Id given below)

Auditions are on 19th and 20th November from 14.00 hrs onwards.

And anyone who wants to help with sponsorship, publicity, sponsorship, lights, sound, sets etcetera- please mail us at curtaincall.smc@gmail.com

*the rest is silence.* (for now)

OkBye!

And it begins again....

2009-09-23T05:39:00.000-07:00

A historic day indeed! 7th September 2009 was the day that the college play and the hope of it began again. A lone soul went in to get permission for that one thing that seemed simply a hope and came out smiling! Approval was won for college play.

And then the madness began! Running around setting up committes. Sponsorship. Publicity. Venue. Lights. Sound. Ticketing. Production. And its only the beginning! Sponsorship and Publicity took off right away and for the record, they are doing a brilliant job!

We're going to be the college play with the best internet publicity! Twitter, Blogger, Facebook. And we've only just started. Our sponsorship team has invaded the mailboxes and minds of every potential sponsor! WooHoo!

Our first big hurdle was getting a director that could please everyone. Someone who could work within the college's framework and also be fun enough for us. And that man after much searching was Mr Hans Kaushik. With thirty years of experience in theatre and occasional association with Stella, he seemed to be the man for us.

With that out of the way, our next stop was coming up with a concept and here it is :) Shakespeare's leading ladies taken out of context and brought together for the first time on a stage! Its going to be great and our script writers are thrilled and already on the case!

Then came booking the venue. So we needed a place, easily accessabile, popular and economical. We used our minds versions of google and came with Alliance Francaise!! We're taking it over on the 5th, 6th and 7th of February! Be there!

We'll take a break soon, what with end semesters and our term break but believe you me, we'll be back with a vengence!

Contact Us

2009-09-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

mail us at

curtaincall.smc(at)gmail(dot)com

Follow our tweets at www.twitter.com/stellarplayers

About

2009-09-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

About the College

Stella Maris College is a name associated not only with academic excellence but also an active involvement in all forms of art, including dance, music and theatre. Students are encouraged to participate in activities organised both by the college as well as other colleges in the city, as part of college teams, and is noted for sustaining a high level of performance across all fields at all levels.

Stella Maris College is an autonomous college affiliated to the University of Madras and is ranked among the top Arts colleges in India. The College, which is under the direction of the Society of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, was founded on August 15th, 1947. The college became autonomous in 1987 and has 13 undergraduate and 10 postgraduate programmes. Research programmes such as M.Phil and Ph.D and also postgraduate diploma courses are part of the academic curriculum.

With the introduction of the credit based system since 1997-98 the college is offering many new academic programmes encouraging interdisciplinary associations. Along with the management - a dynamic team of faculty drawn from the aided and self-financing sections contribute significantly to the fulfilment of the academic programmes.

In recognition of its academic excellence, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, an Autonomous Institution of the University Grants Commission, has accredited Stella Maris College at the Five Star level among the autonomous colleges of

India

http://www.stellamariscollege.org/

About The Play

College students, theatre enthusiasts and the general public of this city have always eagerly anticipated the annual college play. In the previous years, Stella Maris College has staged a variety of plays including ‘Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat’(2005) directed by Mr. Yog Japee, ‘Antigone’(2006) directed by Mr. Deesh Mariwala, ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’(2007) directed by Mr. Freddy Koikaran and 'Dragon'(2008) and ‘Black and Blue and Other Hues’(2009) directed by V. Balakrishnan.

Nights of pouring over the script, nervous wait for the casting of roles, turning the city upside down in search of that one prop, rehearsals into the night without breaking for even food, the knots in the stomach before the screens go up and then, the first applause. The relief that floods us then is inexplicable. But ironically, when it’s all over, a heaviness settles down that surpasses the joy of a job well done. And we throw ourselves into it all over again. Practising a line the whole day to get it just right and redoing the whole scene because the character in the background turned left and not right may seem like madness to others, but it is a madness which energizes, induces, excites, and is a way of life for the Stella Maris College Play.

About The Director:

Hans Kaushik, an alumnus of MSU, Vadodra experiements in several creative arts - he is an actor, director as well as an artist. He made his debut as an actor, in 1980, and has been continually learning and evolving over the last thirty years through his experience working with renowned directors like Arun Agnihotri, Rajiv Krishnan and Issy Sanderson. He has starred in over twenty plays including western popular stage productions like Doctor Faust (1999) and Accidental Death of an Anarchist (2000) and Indian classics like Ponniyan Selvan (1999) and Nagamandala (1993). His performance as part of Sangathi Arinhya (2004-09), a theatre festival held in Tribute to Vaikkom Mohammed Basheer has been critically acclaimed.

Mr. Kaushik has directed several plays including The Odd Couple, Jambu Linga and Minnal Ravi. He has worked with several schools and colleges around the city, including Chittnad Vidhyasram, Dr. MGR Janaki College, PSBB, WCC and Ethiraj College. He is currently working on the Annual Christmas Pantomime that will be staged during December this year.

Photo Archive

2009-09-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

Black and Blue and Other Hues (2009) - Tech Morning

Black and Blue and Other Hues (2009) - Tech Night

Dragon (2008) - In production Stills