Alyque Padamsee, Tarun Tahiliani, Louis Banks and an all star cast find Shakti in Lady Macbeth and tantra in the three witches.
Ever imagined Shakespeare’s Macbeth as Shiva and Lady Macbeth as Shakti? Or the witchcraft, blood and gore in Macbeth as the outcome of Tantric rituals?
Theatre director Alyque Padamsee is all set to stage Macbeth in a matter of weeks, but with a very different connotation. He seeks to find an explanation to the Bard’s bloodiest tragedy in Tantra.
“The world is bathed in blood today,” Alyque explains. “I want to see if Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedy has any answer to the metaphysics of violence. People have looked for Macbeth’s metamorphosis into a tyrant in a number of ways. Power, fame, hierarchy. I want to explain Macbeth’s unreason—the witch, the ghost, the bloody and grotesque in terms of Tantric rituals. Tantra had more than incidental similarities with the European practice of witchcraft. Tantra is said to have travelled to Europe with the gypsies. Shakespeare did not know the origin of witchcraft but he was greatly influenced by it. I want to trace the uses of witchcraft in Macbeth to Tantric rituals.”
In the play, Alyque shows how unharnessed power in Shakti transforms and eventually destroys not only Shiva, but the world around.
To be authentic in the use of Tantra rituals, Alyque is borrowing the expertise of Subhojit Dasgupta, a trained Tantra acharya. Explains Subhojit, “Tantra has two modes of interpretation: the left and the right. The right is the ascetic side, the left, the sexual one. We are using the left-handed interpretation to interpret the Macbeth-Lady Macbeth relation where sexual power dominates and is absolute.”
The uses of sound and vibration, says Subhojit, is intrinsic to Tantra. “We are trying to evoke the dark scenes in Macbeth through them. It’s also a technical accomplishment,” he says. “This is a first on the Indian stage.”
Designer Tarun Tahiliani is in charge of the look of the show. The infusion seems heady. The task uphill. But in spite of the play’s difficult ambitions, just watching Alyque at work is a privilege.
If the rehearsals are any indication, Alyque’s Macbeth is something to look forward to. With an ensemble cast and a talented production team, Alyque’s Scottish royal drama will be on stage soon.
Till then, as Banquo explains to his son on a moonless night, there is “husbandry in heaven”.
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