Savouring the play of words

It is quotes like this one that make Shakespeare one of the greatest writers in the English language. William Shakespeare, born in 1564, finds his admirers even to this day, who can’t get enough of his work and soak in each word ever written by him with a fanatic enthusiasm.

‘Midsummer Magick’, a dramatised rendering of some of Shakespeare’s work, gave Shakespearean lovers in the City an opportunity to share their mutual love for the great writer. Two of Bangalore’s actors and theatre persons, K V K Murthy and Kirtana Kumar Reddy, read out excerpts from two of Shakespeare’s plays along with his popular sonnets to a small yet highly informed audience at ‘Urban Solace’ recently. The atmosphere at the reading was of feverish excitement and included audience from all walks of life. Quotes and words found in Shakespeare’s work were remembered and rendered, the play of words discussed and savoured. The actors too interacted the audience members providing them with equally fun trivia and opinions about the works they were presenting.

The evening began with the reading of scenes from ‘Taming of the Shrew’. K V K Murthy slipped into the character of ‘Petruchio playing a worthy manipulator. Kirtana as ‘Katherina’ was a delight to watch. The chemistry that existed between the two actors made the reading a real fun affair and the audiences were seen thoroughly enjoying the play reading.

K V K Murthy, on the genesis of the event said, “It all began with a very casual exchange of comments on Kirtana’s wall on Facebook. We have come together because of the common love for Shakespeare that we share. Both the play readings essentially speak about the man-woman conflict and it was great working with her as we gel perfectly.”
The second play reading included scenes from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. The scene where Titania wakes up to fall in love with Nick Bottom, a weaver, who has turned into a donkey by then was brilliantly read and the audience were seen chuckling with delight.

They also read out some of Shakespeare’s really popular sonnets. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, all on love dedicated to a Mr W H, the identity of W H was never known. Of the sonnets read out, Sonnet 130 — ‘My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’ highlighted the diversity in each of the sonnets and was a befitting end to the grand evening.

Rekha Nair, a member of the audience, appreciating the initiative said, “It was beautifully rendered and they brought life to the characters. I was really glad that they read out my favourite sonnet — Sonnet 130!”