As you like it: Rangoli, bhangra for bard’s South Asia event
LONDON : William Shakespeare may be best known in India through Vishal Bhardwaj’s trilogy – Omkara, Haider and Maqbool – but an event at his birthplace celebrates his resonance across South Asia.
The Shakespeare in South Asia exhibition, which will , start on Friday and continue till September 8, has been organised “in celebration of the UK-India Year of Culture”, but includes elements from countries of the region.
It features two versions of Hamlet in Nepal, whether Shakespeare should or should not be on the curriculum in Bhutan, and a young woman who was inspired to become a cardiologist after playing Rosalind, the protagonist in As You Like It.
A Sufi adaptation of Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure, titled Rahm, explores the story of justice, tolerance and forgiveness crossing national and cultural boundaries, while students from the BD Somani International School in Mumbai will present traditional Indian dance.
In July, a Bhangra workshop will introduce the folk dance of Punjab, while visitors will be able to create South Asia-inspired performance space based on The Tempest at Shakespeare’s birthplace, using rangoli.
Elizabeth Dollimore of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust said: “Shakespeare’s works have a long and complex relationship with South Asia, a relationship which has sometimes been tested by the colonial context but which has been the root of extraordinary artistic and intellectual energy.”