Reviewed by Barry Lenny, 23rd September 2016
It's Shakespeare, Jim, but not as we know it. The first line of the performance, "If music be the food of love, play on", says it all. This is an all-singing, all-dancing production of
Twelfth Night from Company Theatre Mumbai, and the cast does, happily, give us "excess of it". The translation, or adaptation, into Hindi, resetting the action to Mumbai, is by Amitosh Nagpal, with fast paced direction by Atul Kumar.
Shakespeare's comedy is all there but, of course, not the words and the poetry, as written. For a start, it is in Hindi, with subtitles on two good sized screens that can be easily read from anywhere in the venue. The intimate venue is the Ukiyo Tent, in Elder Park, where the performance is in the centre with the audience seated around it, albeit a little uncomfortably considering the length of the work, on bleacher seats, backless padded benches. A small raised stage is provided for the musicians, and the ensemble sits behind them when not on stage.
The performers: Titas Dutta, Anamika, Sudheer Rikhari, Dhwani Vij, Pooja Gupta, Nehpal Gautam, Raunk Kahn, Dhruv Lohmi, and Anjana Ghosal, are highly energetic and are clearly having an enormously good time, which is highly infectious and the audience laughs and applauds throughout. It is a good sign that the musicians: Omkar Patil, Manish Kumar, Moumita Pulak Ray, and Noor, are also still laughing, and they must have seen the performance countless times.
The performers throw themselves into it with gusto. Titas Datta has the central role of Viola, who pretends to be a boy named Cesario to be close to the Duke, Orsino, and then finds herself in the awkward position of having Olivia, played by Anamika, fall for Cesario when sent as a go-between by the Duke, who is seeking to marry Olivia. This triangle is the core of Shakespeare's comedy
The role of Sebastian, Viola's long lost twin brother, is normally a small one, but Dhruv Lohumi has been given extra lines for the actor playing the role, complaining about the lack of lines provided by the Bard for such a talented fellow, which all adds to the fun of this production. Dhwani Vij makes a lot of the role of Maria, the devious woman who leads Sir Tony Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek into mischief, making a fool of Malvolio.
The toilets are at the far end of the site and had queues, suggesting the need for more than are provided, especially as the crowd in the area was growing as the evening wore on and is sure to be bigger each weekend, which made the fifteen minute interval inadequate and saw patrons returning well after the allotted time. There is also music and noise from outside that is audible at times. This is a new initiative this year so, hopefully, lessons will be learned and corrections made. Note that food and drink are not allowed in the venue. Save the dinner and a drink for after the performance. There is certainly plenty to choose from.
It is a highly comical production, with a touch of Bollywood, that is suitable for all ages due the physicality carrying as much of the story as the singing and dancing, with the projected translations in simple modern English removing any need to know and understand Shakespeare's dialogue.
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