Bard on the Beach took a chance through a new twist to Shakespeare’s “All’s Well That Ends Well”. This story of a secret unrequited love is set during the India-Pakistan Partition era, where an Indian woman falls in love with a British soldier. Directed by Johanna Wright and Rohit Chokhani, the show attempts to weave cultural and historical elements into a performance that is surprising, sometimes in unpleasant ways. It is praise-worthy and indeed a courageous endeavor to melange Shakespeare, Bollywood, and the Partition. Though I must admit, I cringe stating those three themes in one sentence.
Although the Director’s notes and the show’s program do go into detail about the last days of the British occupation in India and the subsequent divide of the Indian subcontinent in attempts to rectify not being able to invest deeper into the history of the Partition in the performance, the show lay uneasy for me. The political tensions, violence, and continued trauma that still inform present generations of the South Asian diaspora was displayed in insensitive bits and pieces.
The Bollywood dancing was fun but made me uncomfortable in the context in which it took place. Most of all, the image of four women of colour dancing around one white British colonial soldier, Bertram, as he lay in wait to get laid by an Indian woman will haunt me forever. If the point was to make a woman of colour uneasy, they did the job well. I just hope it made white audiences uneasy for the right reasons too.
Having said that, the play redeems itself in the end. The final scene is spectacular, capturing the intricacies of identity and what it might mean to belong in more than one place as a member of a diaspora. “All’s Well That Ends Well” was worth a watch, despite its shortcomings. If you belong to Vancouver’s South Asian community we’d love to know what you thought of this production.
To learn more about Bard on the Beach and next year’s season click here!
– Maira Hassan