Shakespeare in Love

The Commedia dell’Arte is a type of comedy theatre that was born in Italy in the 15th century and has survived to the present day,testimony to the fact that we humans have always enjoyed a good laugh. Theatre company Il Carro dei Comici brings this medieval art of stage buffoonery to Delhi today when it stages Mori de Venezia,a mix of stories from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice,Romeo and Juliet and Othello. The event is being organised by the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Centre. “Our play is a sum of the emotional elements of the original three stories from Shakespeare. Though the play is in Italian,it is full of action so the audience will be able to relate to it easily,” says Maria Paola Benedetti from the theatre group. In their rendition,Jessica,the daughter of Shylock,falls in love with a pirate while Antonio,a rich merchant in the original,is depicted as a poor fisherman. “The hour-and-a-half-long play is packed with live music,acrobatics and fencing duels. “Stock characters and themes like anti-semitism are exaggerated and we have introduced several new characters to give it a contemporary feel,” adds Benedetti. Directed by Carlo Bose,63,Mori de Venezia has a six-member cast and was first staged in 2007. “We’ve had 100 shows in Italy as well as performances in Poland,Spain,France and Iran. Language was never a problem,” says Benedetti.

Mori de Venezia will be staged today at India Habitat Centre at 8 pm.

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