Shakespeare Voila!!

안녕하세요!! We were asked to watch a few movies throughout this course to get a better understanding of how a play is staged and to get a clearer picture of the stage itself. On the 21st of February, at 8.00p.m, we watched a movie starring Shashi Kapoor entitled “Shakespeare Wallah”. It was filmed in 1965, so there’s practically no Technicolor yet. Hehe. Watching a black and white movie reminds me of Charlie Chaplin (I don’t know exactly why) but thank God it’s not a silent movie. The first thing that caught my eye was the costume they were wearing at the beginning of the movie where (I don’t know whether they are practicing or actually performing) in front of a group of students. It was of British aristocrats where the clothes comprise of big buttons and tight white pants. The women on the other hand wore big, heavy and over accessorised gowns. Both male and female wore one thing in common that is white and curly wigs like a judge or lawyer might wear in court these days. The first few minutes were a bit blurry to me as I can’t get used to the thick English accent yet. I guess this has something to do with me never really being exposed to English movies or television series enough. Maybe it is also because of our television station airing too much of American mass media instead of the English ones. Therefore, understanding what they are saying is rather hard for me and the sound system of the room did not help as well. That is why I would rather have the help of subtitles (English, that is) to assist me in understanding the dialogue. Lizzie (or Lucy, I don’t quite know which one is the correct name) the leading lady, went to India to perform a few of Shakespeare’s masterpieces. The first one that she and the rest of the players (or actors which includes her parents) acted out was Antony & Cleopatra (one of the play that is subscribed in this course). It is fun to see how it is staged though the scene only lasts a few seconds. Here, I can see the “chamber”, which functioned as a balcony or as the second floor of the setting. The stage here is nothing special as the audiences sit just in front of the stage. During another performance, (Macbeth if I’m not mistaken) I can see that the stage is a “thrust stage” where there are seats on three sides of the stage area. I also think that only wealthy or well-known people can sit at the box which is located at the top of the seating place (kind of reminds me of Phantom of the Opera). Sanju and Manjula sat at this box whereas people of lower class sit at the bottom seats. There’s one part that I found hilarious. Lizzie’s father, I think was in character but he suddenly broke out and asked audiences to keep quiet and enjoy the performance. The audience went out of control because of the sudden appearance of the movie star, Manjula. I find this movie interesting as it also keeps the tradition of Indian movies which is, including songs and dances to complete the movie, though there is only one scene for that. There’s a lot more I’d like to talk about this movie but I’m already tired now. I’ll leave you with the last one. I don’t understand the ending. Hehe. My interpretation is Lizzie went to France to send her parents while she goes back to India to her beloved Sanju. My friend’s interpretation of the ending is different from mine. She said that Lizzie is leaving her parents in India while she goes somewhere else because of an acting offer. I thought I heard the announcement in French then English and that’s how I came up with my interpretation. Anyway, it was overall a nice movie with a few scenes that I bet many of my course mates really enjoyed. (cheers!!)