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Shakespeare with a Bollywood twist

9/ 7/2008

A BOLTON actor is hoping audiences will cry from laughter after watching a Bollywood themed play based on Shakespeare’s work.

The loose adaptation ofTwelfth Night – What You Fancy - is having its Manchester showing this weekend at The Lowry.

The play which has a Bollywood flavour won’t disappoint audiences with its music, colour and of course comedy said 26-year-old actor Shahid Khan.

"It's been so much fun being part of the whole production," he said.

"It's very much Bollywood with it being bigger and bolder than real life, it has music, magic and dance and audiences will love it."

The play revolves around former Miss World and hottest Bollywood sensation Olivia Kapoor who has been stalked, harassed and thoroughly humiliated on a chat show by her co-star Dhruv Raj Singh, the King of Bollywood.

Depressed and angry, she meets Casim who re-awakens her spirit and passion. Little does she know that Casim is really a woman in disguise, who is in love with Dhruv Raj Singh!

While this love story takes place the audience will enter the frothy underworld of Olivia’s servants, where a war is brewing to gain power and love.

Shahid plays Aashiq Kumar (Prince of Love) equivalent to Andrew Aguecheek in Shakespeare's original and is part of the comic mayhem to unfold on stage.

Said Shahid, who studied English literature at the University of Bolton: "I am a huge fan of Shakespeare. Othello and Twelfth Nights are just some of my favourite works and I even did my dissertation on Shakespeare as well so I was quite excited to be taking part in this."

Shahid was discovered for the part after taking part in the Bolly Idol competition organised by Phizzical Productions two years ago.

For the competition he had to perform a 15-min part in a Shakespeare play - which co-incidentally happened to be Twelfth Night - and he was chosen for his role following his performance.

He said: "The role was meant for me I guess.

"I always wanted to act but it was only when I decided to go for the competition two-years ago that I finally took it seriously.

"I have done other theatre shows, but this is my first feature length production. I would like to stay in theatre as the adrenaline you get from performing live on stage is just phenomenal.

"You know you’re interacting with the audience and you get to see them appreciate your work."

Although Shahid is comfortable working on stage, he has one major fear!

Shahid has partial hearing impairment and needs hearing aids and his worst nightmare is his hearing aid falling out on stage.

He said: "It’s just the worst case scenario and it happened to me only a few weeks ago.

"It fell off mid-way whilst we were performing for What You Fancy! I was panicking inside

"In the end I had to concentrate hard and also lip read to get through it all.

"Luckily for me when I told the rest of the cast what had happened, they said they hadn’t realised. I hope it doesn’t happen again."

He added: "I don't let the fact that I have a hearing impairment get in the way of things. I’ve always gone out there and have done what I enjoy and people should never let any kind of barriers get in the way of what they want."

What You Fancy is playing at The Lowry on Sat 12 & Sun 13 July, 8pm, tickets £12 - £16. For more information call 0161 876 2044 or visit www.thelowry.com