Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? No season is too old for Shakespeare, and on his 400th death anniversary, a group of theatre activists have come together to celebrate the playwright’s works.
‘Shakespeare Namana’, a week-long festival at Ranga Shankara, will see amateur groups Sanchaya, Drushya, Sanchari Theatre, Abhinaya Taranaga and Samasti performing Kannada translations or adaptations of the bard’s plays. The plays were earlier staged as individual productions since last September.
“Almost all of William Shakespeare’s works have been translated or adapted into Kannada,” said Keerthi Bhanu, festival convener and member of Sanchaya. Other regional languages have focused only on his famous plays.
There have also been several adaptations, such as Maaranayaka , an adaptation of Macbeth by Chandrasekar Kambar, which gives a local flavour to the text. A documentary on the festival is also in the works.
The plays will be performed at Ranga Shankara from Tuesday to Friday at 7.30 p.m. On Saturday, there will be two shows of Tempest by Sanchaya (at 3.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.).
Schedule
Tuesday : Julius Caesar
by Abinaya Taranga
Wednesday:Twelfth Night by Drushya
Thursday:Neeru KudisidhaNeereyaru by Samasti
Friday:Venicina Vyapaara by Sanchari Theatre
Saturday:Tempest
by Sanchaya