Tragedy turns to comedy on Delhi stage

Transforming a tragedy into comedy (read foolery) is not child's play. But trust Atul Kumar here who has done the unthinkable. Actor, producer, script writer and director, Atul will be taking the stage this time to play well known Hamlet, one of the tragic hero created by Shakespeare. But with a twist.

Titled, Hamlet The Clown Prince, the play is directed by Rajat Kapoor, known Bollywood actor. Star cast includes- Atul Kumar, Kalki Koechlin, Sujay Saple, Neil Bhoopalam, Namit Das and Puja Sarup.

'A bunch of clowns are putting up a show of  Hamlet - they  sometimes misinterpret the text, Sometimes find new meanings in it, sometimes try and understand it, very often make a mess of it,' said Atul.

'They chose to use some phrases from the play and mixed it with gibberish. They even edited the text, threw out some important scenes and made a mess of the order of things as if the pages got mixed up,' he added.

'While Kalki play the lead actress Ophelia, the story has been kept as close to the original in terms of chronology and structure. The rest is clown show, where you will see me doing the fools act,' Atul said.

The 100 minute English and gibberish play has been running successfully since 2006, doing more than 100 shows all over. It's for the tenth time the play will be performed in the Capital.

What about gibberish? Any apprehensions to put up such nonsense before the audience? ‘The play has been accepted well for almost 15 years now. I have not once faced any uncontrollable situation, because it is an integral part of the act we are putting up,' Atul added.

Book your time this weekend to be part of this pure entertainment from history.