TORONTO: This month, Tarragon Theatre explores the connections between Shakespeare and Bollywood through its whimsical retelling of the classic comedy, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.
As the play’s director Richard Rose describes, both are, more often than not, about “people suffering love” and so form the perfect marriage on the Toronto stage.
With support from consulting director Ravi Jain, Dora award-winning choreographer Nova Bhattacharya and cultural consultant Sharada Eswar, the play mirthfully explores gender perceptions and old-versus-new value struggles within South-Asian-Canadian communities by way of its Bollywood flavour and its Brampton-based setting. At a time when these subjects are being heavily politicized – in Canada and in South Asia- the humour-filled play acts as a gentle bridge to the timeless quality of Shakespearean drama; and it aptly illustrates that the battle of the sexes and the sufferance of love knows no geographical boundaries.
The play follows the visit of CEO Lord Tata (Kawa Ada), his CFO Benedict (Alon Nashman) and his young protégé Darius (Ali Momen) to the home of Mayor Ranjit (David Adams) in Brampton. Upon first glance, Darius falls in love with Mayor Ranjit’s daughter Sita (Sarena Parmar) and seeks Lord Tata’s help to win her hand in marriage. Meanwhile, Sita’s cousin Thara (Anushree Roy) and Benedict engage in what seems like an everlasting duel of tongues while Lord Tata, Darius and Sita scheme to turn them into lovers. Trickery, wit, dance and drama pervade this majestic South Asian retelling of the Shakespearan classic. Truly, the stage becomes the movie screen upon which Brampton, Bollywood and Shakespeare engage in the most creative of dances for a diverse Toronto audience.
Right from its beginning, the play incorporates a commentary on the richness of Canadian diversity into its storytelling – with a Bharatnatyam dance setting the stage for the show and a Halloween costume party following shortly thereafter. The interplay between Sita’s ‘Canadian’ verbiage and ‘South Asian’ family values; and Thara’s decidedly South Asian parlance and razor-sharp North American wit conveys the cultural complexity of the South Asian diaspora.
The seamless integration of Shakespearean prose with Bollywood gestures and occasional Hindi dialogue; and the consistent use of English and Hindi surtitles also make the play a true reflection of the dynamic communities – and audiences – in whose image the script was adapted.
In discussing the universality of the play, director Richard Rose – whose mother is Venezuelan and father is Anglo-Canadian – has stated that, “one of the purposes of art is to break down a wall…” between values, between worlds, between cultures. He and his dynamic team of artistic directors, cultural ‘gurus’, dancers, actors and playwrights have brought this play to life under this very principle, and break down a number of walls it does. Much Ado About Nothing runs at Tarragon Theatre (30 Bridgman Avenue) until May 31, 2015.
(Prof. Sehdev Kumar lectures on International Films at the University of Toronto. His latest book is, How’s & Why’s of an Unexpected Universe)
