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| Mansi Multani and Geetanjali Kulkarni as Olivia and Cesario |
William Shakespeare looked like an Indian god, a jester was named Fool Singh, a woman named Olivia from Illyria started singing in Raga Yaman while a shipwrecked man made a late entry owing to “the heavy Calcutta traffic”!
Atul Kumar’s Piya Behrupiya, a Hindi adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, sprinkled local flavour and raised many a laugh at GD Birla Sabhagar on Sunday.
Presented by Five Elements Inc in association with t2, the musical began with King Orsino of Illyria proclaiming his love for Olivia, the “beauty who is indifferent” to his romantic advances. A lady named Viola lands up in Illyria after a shipwreck. She doesn’t know if her twin brother Sebastian survived the disaster. Disguised as a man named Cesario, Viola gets a job in the “cultural department” of King Orsino. But the king employs Cesario to convince Olivia of his love.
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| Mantra Mugdh as Sebastian |
Olivia falls in love with Cesario (Viola in disguise) while Viola starts liking Orsino. The arrival of Sebastian (who survived the shipwreck after all) creates much confusion and sets in motion a series of hilarious situations stitched together by an equally funny sub-plot, where Olivia’s servants conspire against her steward Malvolio, leading him to believe that Olivia is in love with him.
Bright colourful costumes, energetic actors, witty dialogue and an ensemble of rustic melodies added to Piya Behrupiya’s charms.
Initially commissioned for the Globe to Globe Festival as part of the World Shakespeare Festival in 2012, the play has had a successful run in New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Indore, Singapore, Bangalore and Chandigarh.
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| Sagar Deshmukh as Orsino |
Taking a cue from the bard, if music is the heart of this play, then its actresses like Geetanjali Kulkarni (Viola), Neha Saraf (Fool Singh) and Mansi Multani (Olivia) kept the melody going, despite some dull moments in the first half.
However, the second half presented enough tension in the scheme of things, along with a good dose of humour and music, to redeem itself and more in the end.
The first half was not that appealing. But as the play went on it became hilarious. I laughed so much that people around me started staring at me. In school, we have just begun reading about Shakespeare’s plays and after this show, I will definitely try to catch more shows of Shakespearean plays.
— Harshit Jain, Class VI,
La Martiniere for Boys
Twelfth Night is one of my favourite plays. We had performed it in 1985 in college. This is a wonderful adaptation. The actors were brilliant. They were having a blast on stage, playing around with the dialogue, interacting with the audience. I am really impressed. This is one of the best productions I have seen of Twelfth Night.
— Bickram Ghosh,
percussionist
The play was very entertaining. We laughed a lot. However, the second half of the play was much better than the first. The actors, especially Gagan Riar (Tobi) and Mansi Multani (Olivia), were superb. The best part of the play was its music. It was excellent!
— Anju Malhotra,
homemaker
Pictures: Anindya Shankar Ray
