A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Indian Stages

  • Unique Paper ID: 166284
  • Volume: 11
  • Issue: 2
  • PageNo: 385-388
  • Abstract:
  • Two adaptations of Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream have been discussed in this paper. The first is Habib Tanvir’s adaptation, Kamdev Ka Apna Basant Ritu Ka Sapna. The second one is the adaption by Raghubir Sahay, a prominent Hindi scholar. His adaptation is titled Bagro Basant Hai. It was staged by the final-year students of the National School of Drama in November 1997. The Mohan Maharshi directed the stage production. Both adaptations have some similarities as well as some differences, which we have discussed in this paper. An earlier adaptation of the A Midsummer Night’s Dream is done by Utpal Dutta, in 1964, with the title Chaitali Rater Shopno, which was in Bengali. One striking similarity that runs across the titles is the mention of the season or the month. No title mentions the word ‘summer’, which is mentioned in the original text. The adaptation by Tanvir and Sahay contains the word ‘Basant’, i.e., spring season. The adaptation by Utpal Dutta has the name of the Hindi month ‘Chaitra’, which falls during the break of the spring season. If we take a look at the titles of these three adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we find that all three writers plot their adaptations in the spring season. Due to geographical and climatic differences, we cannot celebrate the summer in the way it is celebrated in the West. The paper contains the views of Habib Tanvir, too, on the specific mention of the spring season in his adaptation. The change in the name of the titles refers to a clear sign that the adaptations are done keeping in mind Indian culture and audience.

Cite This Article

  • ISSN: 2349-6002
  • Volume: 11
  • Issue: 2
  • PageNo: 385-388

A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Indian Stages

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