Following the inauguration of the festival, Ananda Lal, Professor of English, Jadavpur University, and theatre critic, Barun Chanda, actor and author, Nivedita Bhattacharjee, theatre personality and former journalist, Ramanjit Kaur, actor and Artistic Director at Creative Arts, and Vikram Iyengar, Artistic Director at Ranan participated in a panel discussion on 'Is Shakespeare Contemporary?'. The panel discussion was moderated by Anjum Katyal, author, editor and Co-Director of Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival.

Talking in the context of Shakespeare being contemporary, Ananda Lal said, "There have been great dramatists over the ages. But the interesting fact, that has emerged from researches, is that, tragedians never wrote comedies and comedians never wrote tragedies.Shakespeare, is an exceptional case who has been a master in writing both the forms successfully- tragedies and comedies."

Barun Chanda, revealed  that one of his acting experience was of playing the character of Hamlet,during his college days at Jadavpur University. According to him, playing the character of Hamlet was quite difficult for him initially...“To be or not to be, that is the question, but at the end of the play, because I became  so intensely involved with the character, I experienced a crisis of existence". He was not quite sure who he was and that’s what he called Shakespeare’s 'speciality'.

 

On being asked about how we can seek Shakespeare in our everyday life, Nivedita Bhattacharjee replied:“Once in The Brook Gallery, London a play was presented  where characters from Shakespeare came alive, where women played the roles of men and men played the roles of women. As a theatre personality, I would love to be Macbeth and want some man to present himself as Lady Macbeth where we would not put any caricatures to identify ourselves.” Added to that she said: “Shakespeare himself put Portia in the character of man where she has been portrayed as an assertive and authoritative character.”

The three-day festival will be held at South City International School auditorium from May 9 to  May 11 between 10 am to 4pm.

Ten other schools of the city  will be participating in the program.The festival will include a drama competition, a quiz competition, debate on ‘Did Shakespeare really write his plays?’ and also an art competition. The  prize distribution will be held on May  11 at 4pm.

(Reporting by Aninnya Sarkar)