In Twelfth Night, every character is in love but can’t get what they want: Oliver Dimsdale

How have to treated Shakespeare’s characters and dialogues musically?
In Twelfth Night, every character is in love but can’t get what they want. The servant Malvolio is outwardly puritanical but wants to be flamboyant so he speaks in rock ‘n’ roll; the mourning Olivia has classical soul pieces, the fool Feste talks in ska and rock ‘n’ roll while Count Orsino is all country and western.

Why a bare set for one of literature’s most festive plays?
We had no money. Also because we wanted audiences to imagine. The five actors are always present on stage, fiddling with Play Station gadgets or music instruments, when not playing their scene. After their scene is over, they return to the music in the background.

How have you dealt with the political commentary on gender and class?
It is significant that, 400 years ago, Shakespeare wrote of a woman who disguised herself as a man to survive. Issues of migration, refugees as well as working class versus aristocrats emerge throughout the play without our tampering with the original text.

Why have you cast a woman actor as the fool Feste?
To achieve a balance of three male and female actors on stage.

The play will be staged at British Council in Delhi today, 7 pm; and Modern School, Barakhamba Road, tomorrow 7 pm. Entry: free. Contact: 23711401
The play will also be staged in Chandigarh (November 27-28); Kolkata (December 1-2) and Mumbai (December 17-18). For details, visit: http://www.britishcouncil.in