Sir,
It is heartening to read that Samooh Theatre presented the legendery playwright,William Shakespeare’s great play’Hamlet’ in Dogri at the Abhinav Theatre,to pay a beffitting tribute to the great playwright. (DE,April24,2016).Dr.Gyan Singh, Ravinder Sharma, the local cast and all others associated with the play, deserve praise for successful presentation of this classic play in Dogri and thus making it possible for the spectators to appreciate the main themes of the play, such as indecision, ambition, deception, revenge etc which dominate the play.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s longest and most performed play of the world. It is estimated that it is being performed every single minute somewhere every single day.This great play has supplied many words and phrases such as ‘to be or not to be’, ‘Neither a borrower,nor a lender be,’Frailty! Thy name is woman’ etc which have become a part of our everyday conversation.It is believed that Shakespeare himself enacted the role of the ghost when this play was performed for the first time at the theatre ‘The Globe’.To watch such a play in Dogri is certainly a feast to the eyes and ears.Another writer, Madan Gopal has produced the Dogri translation of the famous Shakespearean play’Julius Caeser’ and won accolades for his earnest effort.The theatre in Jammu has come of age and presented many English clsssics on the stage.It is hoped that more Shakespearean plays such as ‘Othello,Macbeth,’The Merchant of Venice,’The Tempest’etc will be presented at the district Headquarters in the times to come and the local audience will get a chance to have a glimpse into those times as also of Shakespearean wit and art.
Yours etc….
Ashok Sharma,
Lecturer in English,
Govt.Hr.Sec.School(Boys),
Udhampur.