This weekend, Puck will be in Bengaluru, messing with the love lives of Shakespeare’s Athenian lovers - except, he will be entertaining the crowd in 'Hindi Gibberish'. Khwaab Sa, an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will see its Indian premiere on January 14 and 15 at the ADA Ranga Mandira. Commissioned by the KHAM theatre in Taipei, Taiwan, it is directed by the renowned Atul Kumar of The Company Theatre, Bombay fame, who has over three decades of experience in the world of theatre.
This is Atul’s latest Shakespeare adaptation, after the immensely successful Piya Behrupiya, an adaptation of Twelfth Night which has had over 100 shows around the world since it was commissioned by Shakespeare’s Globe, London in 2012. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies and one of the most commonly staged plays with its fantastical plot and an incredible number of characters to match it – some fairies, a few humans and even a donkey-man, all bound by a common thread – love.
In line with it’s surreal, fanciful theme, Khwaab Sa will have elements of physical theatre – contemporary dance and movement and live Contemporary World Music. For this a talented bunch of professional artists have been brought together from around the country. Dance choreography is by Diya Naidu from Attakalari Centre for Movement Arts in Bengaluru, with some original music composed by Anurag Shanker. The actors include some familiar faces such as Abhay Mahajan of TVF Pitchers fame, Saurabh Nayyar and Gagandev Singh Riar, who were both seen in Piya Behrupiya.
Khwaab Sa will be desi in more ways than just having a fitting title. The play’s 'dialogues' will impart Indianness by having ‘Hindi Gibberish’ as the spoken word. If you’re wondering what ‘Gibberish’ is, it’s a language made up by adding ‘idig’ before every spoken vowel in a word (watch video here). For instance - the word 'gibberish' will become 'gidigibbidigeridigish', and 'donkey' will become 'didigonkidigey'. (You may even have used a variation at some point - remember P-language?)
Tickets are available on BookMyShow and at the gate on the days of the show.