ShakesPeare In Sanyas

Mrs Shakespeare (angrily thrusting an empty bucket into his lap): Firewood or no firewood; that is the question! Do you want to die of cold tonight?

Salila Kubitza,who lives in Germany,spent enough time rehearsing her dialogues for the character of Mrs Shakespeare in this comedy Shakespeare Remix. Like Kubitza,there are others from different parts of the world doing the same. Nisarg Kalaiya,an NRI from Australia,plays the tragic Hamlet,while Devapria Gokani from Germany is called ‘Nobody’. UK-based Anand Savita and Dawa Riley play Queen Elizabeth and Ophelia respectively. The main theme of this play is Hamlet’s existentialist dilemma: “To be or not to be”,fodder for a few thousand literary musings over the centuries. Set for its first public performance,the play has been produced under Ragni Chandrethia’s Dreamup Productions. After a show in Pune on February 19,the play will travel to Delhi,Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Although the actors live in different parts of the world,they belong to the acting group The No Mind Players,and are all Osho sanyasis (members). “We all got to know each other during our visits to Pune’s Osho International Meditation Resort but the play is independent of any Osho organisation. We are doing it for free because we enjoy theatre and this is our first project together,” says Subhuti. The play is written by Denmark-based sanyasi Anand Subhuti,who plays the protagonist.

Shakespeare Remix will portray literature’s most-known playwright and poet in a new light. Known for his complex tragedies such as Macbeth,Othello,Hamlet and King Lear among others,the Bard here is confronted with the philosophy of Osho. Subhuti feels that Shakespearen plays depict vanity,ambition,greed,struggle for power,misery,revenge,bitterness and such. “His writings were a portrayal of human ego and desires. But,in this play,Shakespeare’s wife advocates Osho’s philosophy of dropping the ego through love,humour,dance and celebration. She nags her husband to the extent that he not only changes his philosophy,but also gives Hamlet a happy ending,” says Subhuti,who has been visiting India for the past 36 years. He was also a part of the Rajneesh Shakespeare Company that toured Mumbai,Pune and Delhi and presented two plays,A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night in 1979-80. Kalaiya,one of the actors,admits that playing Hamlet is a bit of a stretch for him,as he has developed an Australian accent. “I am nervous and excited about playing the prince,” he says. On the other hand,Gokani dwells on a paradox. “Every character in a play has an ego,but I’m playing a guy called Nobody. How can Nobody have an ego?” he wonders.

Ask Subhuti if the play will go down well with the literatti and Shakespeare fans,considering that Osho philosophy has met with controversy in the past,he says,“Shakespeare was not afraid to take liberties with history in order to write his dramas,and I am doing the same. For example,in my play,Shakespeare’s obsession with tragedy is motivated by his desire to please Queen Elizabeth I. She is portrayed as old and bitter in the last year of her life and she’s interested only in plays that show human suffering.”