The eternal tragedy

The actors rehearsing for the play

By Aashay Khandekar

For any theatre artiste, being a part of the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a learning experience in itself. Filled with raw emotions, ruthless decisions and overpowering dreams, the play offers a plethora of opportunities for an artiste to grow as an actor on various levels. Showcased for the first time in April, 1611 at Globe Theatre, London, the play has been staged by numerous theatre groups across the world in various languages. The city-based Mystique Theatre performed the Bard’s tragedy on July 20 in Pune.
What’s interesting is that it is the first time the group is attempting an English play. The challenge was bigger because the group was dealing with archival English used by Shakespeare in the original play. Shivani Karhadkar, director of the play, says, “Like many others, I was also scared of the archival English. However, a few months ago, I went to London for a course at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). That gave me the confidence to pull it off. Even my actors, who were not comfortable with normal English in the beginning, have got an amazing hold on this.”
While the original play had 22 characters, the version by Mystique Theatre has 13. “We have dropped a few scenes. Shakespeare’s characters were always larger than life. At RSC, I learnt that in a play, words and emotions carry more importance than set and costumes,” says Karhadkar.
According to Karhadkar, Macbeth is a milestone play and will always be relevant because the story revolves around ambition. “When I was studying Shakespeare, the play brought a revelation in my life. When Macbeth and his friend Banquo — both generals of King Duncan’s army — come across the prophesies of three witches about their glory which involves the King’s doom, Banquo tells Macbeth that they should not betray their master by listening to the unknown. But Macbeth lacks this maturity, which finally leads him to murder the King. It was all so relevant; you can never tell who will backstab you or the other way round,” she says.
According to Karhadkar the most important role in the play is that of Lady Macbeth. “There are many shades to her character. She is a perfect example of how a person’s ruthlessness can lead to irrationality, and finally destruction,” she says.
Karhadkar, the granddaughter of S.V. Paranjape, who founded the renowned cultural organisation Kalapini in 1977, has been associated with theatre from the age of four. “Theatre was all around me because I was born in a family that breathed theatre,” she says, adding that she co-founded Mystique Theatre in 2010 along with Darshan Naik. Some of their productions are Mirad, At the Ark at Eight, Eka natacha mrutyu, Mrutyukatha and Aajcha Baki Itihaas.
The actors who performed in the play include Kartik Shete, Sidhartha Jatar, Soumitra Riswadkar, Chaitanya Deshpande, Rohit Jadhav, Sarang Mulavekar, Aishwarya Kulkarni, Prasiddhi Ayalwar, Harsh Pandit, Shubhankar Ekbote and Viraj Sawai. While the lights have been designed by Rahul Joglekar and Sanket Dhere, the music has been composed by Karhadkar herself.