Baba Shakespeare - Arcola Theatre
Pro reviewers average
2013-06-19
A new play by suggested by the Merchant Ivory film ‘Shakespeare Wallah’ of 1965Sanju: Do you like acting?Lizzie: Of course I like it. Well, I mean, I've never known anything else. Only acting and travelling. Travelling and acting.Inspired b...
A new play by suggested by the Merchant Ivory film ‘Shakespeare Wallah’ of 1965Sanju: Do you like acting?Lizzie: Of course I like it. Well, I mean, I've never known anything else. Only acting and travelling. Travelling and acting.Inspired by the real-life experiences of the Kendal family, BABA SHAKESPEARE follows a troupe of travelling British players in 1960s India as they journey from desert palace to hill station, performing Shakespeare amid declining audiences, changing circumstances and ever more slender means.While the Buckinghams fight to come to terms with a changing world, their struggle is mirrored in the love tangle between daughter Lizzie, Sanju a handsome Indian playboy and Manjula, a glamorous Bollywood film star.As the stakes rise on both the private and professional stage everyone is forced to make painful and far-reaching choices about identity and allegiance.This original take on an award winning classic film interweaves Shakespeare with the colour and spectacle of Bollywood-inspired music and dance
Show Details
| Running dates | from Apr 17 2012 to May 2 2012 |
| Theatre | Arcola Theatre |
| Peer Average | |
| My Rating | Review This Show |
| Cheapest ticket | £12 |
| Most expensive ticket | £12 |
| No pro reviewer has rated this show yet |
| Louise | Baba Shakespeare is something I have never seen before. And I want to see it again.It was truly wonderful to see this true story about the struggle to keep Shakespeare alive in 60's India, a country so in love with its film.It is about an old India versus a new India, that is shown in the love triangle between the three brilliant lead actors. Manjula (Lilia Vis), the wickedly funny Bollywood diva that you can't help but love. Her scenes with the mime servant is a lovely dynamic to watch. Lizzie(Lizzy Barber), plays the innocent stage actor who brings these light and beautiful touches to her story.The scene with where Lizzie and Majula have tea together shows everything opposite about them but also the underlying thing they have in common. Sanju(played by Cael King) was an absolute fantastic standout. After the show, I found out a lot of the audience were quite obsessed with him and his performance. He plays the man torn in his love between Lizzie and Manjula, between old India and new India, between Shakespeare and film. For the first half you see him play this cock sure young lad, but from the top of the second act you seem him caught out and from then on you see him looking to for redemption. And you see the side that he kept hidden through his personality in the first half. He makes you laugh at him, for him, with him, he make you cry, he makes you feel for him and he makes you dislike him. The last scene where he loses it sent chills down my spine -I had tears in my eyes because you never thought he had that. It was such an amazing performance. The whole show was so so wonderful to watch. It is this great story that has the best bits of shakespeare in it, it had some beautiful Bollywood dancing, it had these cute monkey puppets with their very funny master. The Shakespeare troupe were all really funny and great to watch esp the three boys. It has everything. It is at the Arcola Tent which is full of character but because its a tent you can hear the rain and transport outside and its so cold, but the actors do everything to be heard and seen in the round space (and god knows, how cold it is backstage!) and they keep you locked into 1960's India. I heard this is part of the RSC's global project and I hope that they go on to win it because it deserves a bigger stage. Thank you for making my night. | |
| Sabrina Lebnaoui | I went to see Baba Shakespeare last night (20/04/12) and I was blown away by absolutely everything. The actors will make you laugh, cry, laugh again, clap your hand, feel like getting on your feet and dance... It was a magical experience, helped by the fact that the performance took place in a tent as it helps you getting "in" the spirit of the play, which is India, in spring time. You don't just watch the play, you feel the play. It was a great performance, a great play, superbly written, directed and performed. The various Bollywood choreographies were really beautiful to watch, the monkey puppets were beyond great. The puppeteers did such an amazing work that you not only forget that they are operating the puppets, but also that the monkeys are puppets. Baba Shakespeare is a fantastic play, you will come home still thinking about it and talking about it with who ever you went to see it with. | |
| There are so many aspects to this show; dance, puppetry, comedy, tragedy, the hot Indian climate and the possibility of young love. The story is woven around a group of travelling Shakespearean actors and encompases the Bollywood musical scene as well as traditional theatre. I especially liked the humour in the scenes with Manjula and her servant which contrasted with the dwindling success of the travelling players. The set was simple but effective and the lighting evoked the oppressive heat. The costumes, of which there are very very many, are beautiful. The play was a little too long for my tastes but may have seemed longer as the surrounding are not the most convivial. Hard benches, dripping ceilings and uninformed staff don't help much. Oh and think twice before you order a coffee from the bar!! | ||
| Ellen Yilma | Great to see this unusual play fusing old English Theatre in an Indian context. A real fantastic cast that showed great comedic timing and emotion! | |
| walker davidson | Went to the Arcola Tent on a very wet Wednesday night to watch Baba Shakespeare and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The story is suggested by the book Shakespeare Wallah and the Merchant Ivory film of the same name. So it's India, 14 years after independence, gradually finding its feet and moving away from the old ways of Empire. The characters are caught up in this movement and either embrace the changes or yearn for the old days. The metaphor for this is the clash, if this is not too strong a word, between a touring company of classical actors and the booming Bollywood film industry and we know what the outcome has to be. But it is the personal stories within this evolution that draws you into the piece. It's a small story that deals with massive issues. Performances were uniformly excellent but two stood out for me. Llila Vis was fantastic as Bollywood diva Manjula, who has the clearest view of how events will turn out and what her own position will be. Tiny and beautiful she dominated her scenes with passion, wilfullness, anger, tenderness. A lovely performance. And Lizzy Barber as Lizzy Buckingham, English but never been to England, was a delight. Her innocence in this changing world showing, perhaps, how things could have been, was incredibly touching. Production values were very high and the set was lovely to look at. The overpowering heat of India was superbly suggested by light and sound. I felt that in the first half things moved rather slowly and this gave the feeling that it was overlong, but this is a new play and the pace should increase as the run continues. So I warmly recommend this production, but this is the Arcola Tent, so dress up warmly and bring a cushion. Oh, and go to the loo before you get to the theatre. |
Overview, Cast and Creatives
| Genre | Drama | |
| Synopsis | ||
A new play by suggested by the Merchant Ivory film ‘Shakespeare Wallah’ of 1965 Sanju: Do you like acting? Lizzie: Of course I like it. Well, I mean, I've never known anything else. Only acting and travelling. Travelling and acting. Inspired by the real-life experiences of the Kendal family, BABA SHAKESPEARE follows a troupe of travelling British players in 1960s India as they journey from desert palace to hill station, performing Shakespeare amid declining audiences, changing circumstances and ever more slender means. While the Buckinghams fight to come to terms with a changing world, their struggle is mirrored in the love tangle between daughter Lizzie, Sanju a handsome Indian playboy and Manjula, a glamorous Bollywood film star. As the stakes rise on both the private and professional stage everyone is forced to make painful and far-reaching choices about identity and allegiance. This original take on an award winning classic film interweaves Shakespeare with the colour and spectacle of Bollywood-inspired music and dance |
||
| Author | Ruth Jhabvala | |
| Emmeline Winterbotham | ||
| James Ivory | ||
| Director | Emmeline Winterbotham | |
| Company | Tower Theatre Company | |
| Movement/Choreography | Shobna Gulati | |