KOZHIKODE: When the rain played hide and seek outside, the backstage at the Cosmopolitan Club witnessed flurried activity.
Anxieties of freshers were writ large on the faces of the members of the theatre group ‘What Is In A Name’ while waiting eagerly for their turn to perform scenes from Shakespeare’s world famous plays.
However, as soon as the compere finished the announcement, the fear of unfamiliarity faded away and they set the stage on fire with their stunning performance. Five couplescum- friends who never had any exposure to drama, stole the hearts of spectators by enlivening the revenge, madness, romance, tragedy and adventure of Shakespeare’s characters.
Interestingly, the troupe is an outcome of one of those lazy weekend partying of the couples.
It was an initiative from the part of Fajeena, a teacher by profession, who had attended Jayaprakash Kuloor’s drama workshop conducted under the aegis of the Indo-Anglian Theatre of the Malabar Christian College, that ended up in the formation of new theatre troupe.
“My friends have shown great enthusiasm when I presented the topic before them and thus formed the theatre troupe including five couples with the support of two of our common friends,” said Fajeena, who gave life to the sleepwalking scene of Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Macbeth’.
“The rehearsal that began at 10 pm usually stretched up to 3 to 4 am,” said Fajeena. “It was Jayaprakash Kuloor, who nurtured and instilled confidence in each one of us to take up challenges,” she said. The late night practice and workshop under Jayaprakash groomed them individually and helped them to keep their inhibitions at bay.
“I was not convinced when Fajeena approached me with the idea. But many of them amazed me with their ability to act and deliver dialogues,” said Jayaprakash Kuloor, dramatist, who trained the artistes.
Sharing the joy, Jamshad, a planter by profession who enacted the character of Mark Antony in the show, said It was a wonderful experience.
Sucharita, who stunned the audience by playing the character Ophelia, said the programme had deepened the bonding among them, she said.
