What: What Is Done, Is Done. An adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, to be staged as part of Sabhagar Theatre Festival, presented by Centre Stage Creations and t2
Where: GD Birla Sabhagar
When: December 4, 7pm
Director: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Kalki Koechlin, Vinay Pathak and others
Tickets: Priced from Rs 750 to Rs 2,000, available on bookmyshow.com

Director-actor Rajat Kapoor is coming to Calcutta for the all-India premiere of his play What Is Done, Is Done, based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth, at GD Birla Sabhagar on December 4. Kapoor talks about Shakespeare, his love for Ratan Thiyam and Ritwik Ghatak, and how clowns help him get to the essence of things. 

Why have you chosen Macbeth?

In the last few years I have done Shakespeare’s Hamlet and King Lear. This is the third Shakespearean tragedy I am doing and this, once again, is with clowns. With each play we are discovering a new way of clowning or another way of clowns interpreting the play. Hamlet — The Clown Prince was one particular way, then Nothing Like Lear has just one actor. This time we have a big cast, like 10 people on stage, it projects a very different idea of clowning, and it is a little scary this time. They are funny, but they are also scary.

What can we expect from the workshop you will be conducting at GD Birla Sabhagar?

I am going to talk about the way I approach my work in theatre and cinema. The way I design a play, how does it start... we actually do not start with any script, we start with just an idea. We start improvising and it is with improvisations that we arrive at something. 

Since when did you get interested in theatre?

It was when I started doing theatre, quite by chance. I had gone to learn French at Alliance Française in Delhi. There they have a small theatre group. I just joined them out of curiosity. And the next year we ended up opening our own theatre company called Chingari. It was a complete high, you know. I can’t even describe that high to you… how passionate we were about it. It’s been 30 years now and I still can feel that passion. 

What plays are you working on?

Hamlet — The Clown Prince and Nothing Like Lear are still running. I am going on with another play very soon — As You Like It. We will open that in March. So with that, we will have four Shakespeare plays running simultaneously. 

What draws you to Shakespeare?

He gives me enough of a platform to take a jump, you know. Of course we do our own thing with it. Shakespeare gives me enough of a plot, a theme, and a bunch of characters to really go into my own thing. 

Why use clowns for your Shakespearean tragedies?

I did a play called C For Clown in 1999. That was my first interaction in a clown format. Then I discovered something very special — that through clowns you can directly go to the essence of something. A clown gives you a kind of purity, which is very liberating. 

Why call this one What Is Done, Is Done?

It is a line from the play. We chose it because you really can’t go back on what you do. Life kind of chooses its way based on your actions.

Your expectations from Calcutta?

This will be the first show ever of ‘Macbeth’. So I am excited. Let’s see how the audience responds! 

What do you enjoy more — acting or directing?

Directing is what I chose to do. Acting again happened to me quite by chance. My main job is to direct. That is what excites me more. 

How do you choose your films as a director and as an actor?

The idea has to be so strong and I have to be so passionate about it that I don’t mind spending two or three years of my life on it. So it has to be very, very special for me to spend that kind of time. As an actor, if the idea is exciting then you take a leap of faith, and hope the project would land on its feet.
 
You are playing Kalki Koechlin’s father in a film called Mantra?

That’s a film I am very excited about. It’s one of my best roles and it’s a wonderful film. It’s by a first-time director... Nicholas Kharkongo. He is doing a great job.

Film directors you look up to...

There are many... from Charlie Chaplin to Federico Fellini to Martin Scorsese... Ritwik Ghatak is one of my top fave directors. 

And in theatre… 

The only person whose work I really like in this country is Ratan Thiyam. He has enough rigour in his work. The kind of physicality he brings into his play is really awe-inspiring!