Similarly veteran Indian theatre director Anuradha Kapur has presented Shakespeare's romantic classic Romeo and Juliet in the contemporary Indian context. This production was staged at Bahumukh Auditorium, National School of Drama (NSD) campus recently as part of the 13-day theatre utsav arranged by NSD. The experimental production was staged by the Department of Indian Theatre of Punjab University.

For those who aren't aware, Romeo and Juliet tells the tale of two "star-crossed" teenage lovers who secretly fall for each other and marry. Their families, the Montagues and Capulets, have been fierce enemies for decades, and, even as Romeo and Juliet say their wedding vows, new violence breaks out between the clans. In the end, their love is doomed. When Romeo mistakenly believes Juliet is dead, he poisons himself. And, when Juliet discovers that he is dead, she too commits suicide.

Director Anuradha Kapur has presented the romantic story of two young couples, both named Romeo and Juliet. Through their love stories she has presented the lifestyle and morals of the Indian younger generation living in the metros. This experimental production got such a positive response from the audience that NSD arranged the second show of the production.

On the other hand, playwright-director Neeraj Kabi has presented Shakespeare's popular tragedy Hamlet in the Indian classical context. It was a bi-lingual production -- English and Hindi -- and was staged by Pravah theatre company at Samukh Auditorium, NSD campus.

Neeraj has presented the Danish prince Hamlet's tragedy with the blending of Indian traditional performing art forms like Dhrupad and Yakshagana with western theatre concepts.

Neeraj has transformed Shakespeare's script to the classical melodies of Dhrupad and rhythms of Yakshagana. The universal theme of Hamlet is reenacted with refreshingly new insights. The character of Hamlet is depicted as androgynous, and is played both by an actor and an actress. His mother Gertrude is represented by two different actresses to show the duality of the character.

The Yakshagana dance drama form was evident in tense scenes. The movements of the actors in traditional Drupad form added a new dimension to Shakespeare's tragedy. In fact Neeraj's attempt to fuse the three classical theatrical forms was worth a mention.