British thespian Paul Goodwin looks for cast to do a play on Shakespeare's poem

Paul Goodwin. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Paul Goodwin must have been around 15 when he read Shakespeare's Macbeth for the first time in school. But he hadn't understood a word then. "Bad teacher," he says. We are sitting inside the Little Theatre of the NCPA where Goodwin has come to conduct auditions for an upcoming production, The Rape of Lucrece, a narrative poem that Shakespeare wrote in 1594, when London was hit by the Bubonic plague. The 59-year-old artistic director of The Shakespeare Edit, a classical theatre company based in London, first brought this production to India last year, as a premiering play at the Centrestage festival. At that time, the play had an Indo-British cast. But Goodwin wanted "a further life to the piece with an all-Indian cast" and thus, here we are.

Goodwin first came across this poem eight years ago during an acting workshop with Cecily Berry at the Royal Shakespeare Society. "It's an impenetrable poem, 1,855 lines. Meant to be read, rather than acted. I found it extraordinary. I was also on the lookout for Shakespeare that was not commonly done. This was written during the plague in London, when he had to stop writing plays because there was no theatre - one in four people kept dying. This poem was a great dramatic voice, I felt, that was kind of a springboard for the rest of his writing, which were mostly the tragedies," Goodwin says, admitting that he has always been drawn to the Bard's later plays, and his favourite would be Cymbeline. "Imogen's character in that play, I feel, is the best female character he ever wrote. Someday, I'd like to direct it when I find the actress to play Imogen."

Back to The Rape of Lucrece, the political context of the piece was further appealing - it tells the story of the tragic rape and death of its title character and the revenge that follows. The timing, however, made the choice even more interesting. "The piece explores a woman's voice in a patriarchal society and we wanted to show that. When we had started, it was before Weinstein, before #MeToo. The events caught up with us. It's extraordinary how something written back then is still so relevant," he says. We point out how the piece seems like a departure from the kind of Shakespeare we see here on stage, and the spin-offs we see in cinema. "I don't think it is that different really," Goodwin says. "If Shakespeare were writing today, he would be writing for films, television, radio, everything. He would be all over the place.

There is a certain sense of snobbishness associated with Shakespeare. I don't understand why. He is as populist as it gets, an accessible modern writer," he adds. Goodwin, who looks back at 30 years of acting, had felt the first push when he must have been a boy of 14, leafing through The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, that lay on his bedside table. "I used to go through the big speeches, it appealed to the actor in me. And, for as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be an actor." It was one of his former students, his first Indian student, who suggested he visit this country. Two years ago, Goodwin held a workshop at Thespo.

"It was appealing to see so many young people who are talented, wanting to do extraordinary theatre." That's perhaps the reason he is back again, in Mumbai, to find his Lucrece. The script has had eight drafts so far and the auditions are underway, and will go on for another week. "This is a challenging period, Goodwin says. "I am looking for someone with an interest in the material, the work needs to speak to them. They need to commit to the energy of the piece, be skilful and open to respond to direction and engage the audience in the emotional and psychological journey that she narrates," he says, adding, "People think acting is about what you do. But really, acting is about who you are."

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