When the Bard spoke Hindi

In April this year,at the Globe to Globe Festival,a part of the World Shakespeare Festival held in the UK,theatre actor and director Atul Kumar was faced with the daunting task of performing a Hindi translation of one of the William Shakespeare's best-known plays-'Twelfth Night'.

In April this year,at the Globe to Globe Festival,a part of the World Shakespeare Festival held in the UK,theatre actor and director Atul Kumar was faced with the daunting task of performing a Hindi translation of one of the William Shakespeare’s best-known plays-‘Twelfth Night’. However post the performance,as Kumar puts it ‘the audience was very impressed with the Hindi version,which bolstered the mood of everyone involved in it.’ Post the performances in the UK,Kumar’s Mumbai-based company,The Company Theatre has performed the Hindi translation called ‘Piya Behrupiya’ in cities across India like Delhi,Mumbai and Chandigarh. Kumar is bringing ‘Piya Behrupiya’ to Pune,which will be held at Nehru Memorial Hall on October 13.

Revolving around two parallel stories,one of a jilted lover and the other of a mini revolution brewing in the household of Olivia,the play is best known for having some of Shakespeare’s finest poetries along with its themes of unrequited love and cruel comedy. The translation to Hindi,according to Kumar,was fun and was done by Amitosh Nagpal,who plays Sebastian in the play,We were just translating it into Hindi not adapting. It means the names of the characters,the settings and even the props and costumes were all the same as in the original version, he says.

While Mansi Multani is playing the role of Olivia,the character of Lord Orsino is essayed by Sagar Deshmukh. Explaining the plot further,Kumar says,Orsino is deeply in love with Olivia,who does not share the same feeling for him. On the other hand,the servants of her house are quietly rebelling against her steward Malvolio,played by Saurabh Nayyar. Things take a comic turn albeit rather cruelly,when the two stories cross paths. While Kumar has directed the play,it has been produced with Kiyomi Mehta,Serena Walia and Anshul Pathak. Other memebers of the cast include the likes of Trupti Khamkar as Maria,Neha Saraf as the Clown,Geetanjali Kulkarni as Viola and Gagan Riar as Uncle Toby.

Story continues below this ad

For ‘Piya Behrupiya’,Kumar auditioned actors who could act as well as sing,because it was a requisite for the roles. Besides being cruelly humourous,the play also has sections that prompt the audiences to think. We want the audience to not only see the performance and even enjoy the Bard’s writings, says the artiste.

Post the performance in Pune,the play will travel to Chennai,Bangalore and other cities. Interestingly there are other plans that Kumar has for the upcoming months. We might adapt Romeo and Juliet in the future. That too in Marathi. But it is just a thought. As of now it is ‘Piya Behrupiya’ for the near upcoming future, says Kumar.

(‘Piya Behrupiya’ will be performed at 9 pm on October 13 at the Nehru Memorial Hall in Camp)

Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories

Tags:
Twelfth Night