British Council Now Lets You Direct, Recreate Shakespeare’s Plays

Always wanted to direct a play? Well, British Council is letting you recreate Shakespeare online.

Kalki Koechlin and Adil Hussain in Romeo and Juliet set in contemporary times. (Photo Courtesy: British Council)

Do you have some spare browsing time in hand? Of course you do. Now stop looking at that cat GIF and head over to the British Council website. ‘Mix The Play’ lets you direct and recreate parts of Shakespeare’s plays. It’s going to blow your mind. Trust us.

This new feature on the British Council website offers the viewer the choice between two of Shakespeare’s most iconic plays – Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Next up are a whole set of elements – from cast members to production components like music, location, setting and costumes.

Pick your favourite elements, throw in some personalised tadhka and voila, you get your own rendition of Juliet professing her love for Romeo or a Titania waking up to find herself smitten by Bottom.

The same scene has been already shot and directed, using all the combinations and permutations of the available elements, and then presented to the viewer as an inventory.

You do not require any prior knowledge of directing. Make your own scene and experience Shakespeare as you never have before.

British Council Website

Romeo and Juliet

The viewer is given the option to customise Act 2, Scene 2 of the play, which is originally set in Capulet’s orchard. You can choose between Kalki Koechlin and Kriti Pant for the role of Juliet, and Adil Hussain or Tushar Pandey for Romeo.

Next comes production, where once again, the viewer is given a whole array of choices that include time period, costumes, production and design.

Kalki Koechlin and Adil Hussain in Romeo and Juliet set in contemporary times. (Photo Courtesy: British Council)

You can pick Romeo and Juliet’s conflict as well. Would you rather have a clash of cultures or modern day problems like work schedules, or the traditional Elizabethan setting complete with warring families?

Go ahead and watch Kalki in a coffee shop reciting the age-old “What’s in a name, a rose will smell sweet by any other name”, or would you rather Kirti implore to her lover from a window?

Romeo and Juliet torn asunder due to cultural differences. (Photo Courtesy: British Council)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Unlike the woeful tale of the star-crossed lovers, A Midsummer Night’s Dream does not have an Indian caste. However, it’s akin to the Romeo and Juliet production in terms of the several choices it offers. The film samples, once again, allow the viewer to play around with actors, their accents and time period they want to base their play in.

Titania from the ‘60s. (Photo Courtesy: British Council)

The scene you can create from A Midsummer Night’s Dream is Scene 1 from Act 3. Unleash your closet playwright as you make Bottom say, “And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays”, in a half a dozen different ways.

Bottom from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (Photo Courtesy: British Council)

British Council has taken democratisation of theatre to a whole new level with this new tool, which it terms as an “interactive video platform” on its website, created in collaboration with Vic Theatre.

If you’re looking for autonomy in art, dear viewer, here’s your window. And of course, nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing your name as the director of the play.

This is perhaps what it feels like to be a playwright. (Photo Courtesy: British Council)