‘Let’s Read The Classics’: Shakespeare & Tagore

Gabriella Sundar Singh

Why continue to study the “classics” in 2023, when there is a plentiful stock of contemporary works to draw from? How can each student and educator relate to the classics, when the air is full of conversation about representation, equity and inclusion? Why this now? The answer requires not only careful listening from educators but demands that we lean into this conversation and prepare to rethink and redefine what the classics are. And forging forward with a willingness to challenge our ideas of drama, theatre and performance, and bring our students into this conversation with us.

Looking to the East, we can look at the works of Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel Prize-winning Bengali polymath, poet, playwright, novelist, and composer whose educational impact still exists. His works deeply impacted and reshaped Indian art and literature, and these works are still being performed, most recently in the Shaw Festival’s 2022 Season. His writing drew from the experiences of everyday people, history, and spirituality and focused on themes such as identity.

So what can we do with these classical works in today’s classrooms? With a piece like Tagore’s Chitra and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there are endless conversations and explorations to be had. We first need to start with an understanding that language, identity and community are ever-evolving ideas. But what is constant and sure is our ability to know ourselves in the past, the present, and to be able to imagine possible futures. Upon reading and further investigation, we learn that both Hamlet and Chitra were young people born into extraordinary circumstances; they both had a legacy thrust upon them; we meet them in a space of deep contemplation and reverie; and a great journey awaits ahead of them. These are not identical stories: they come from two different writing traditions, from different corners of the world, with very different societal circumstances. But where these two stories meet is in their love for language, their use of the mystical as a vessel of conveying story, and their ability to speak to their younger audiences.

So, why the classics now? Because it is by looking back that we can understand our present and our future. And through the works of Shakespeare and Tagore, and their contemporaries, there is a wealth of stories out there that we can use as a vessel to spur on the kind of conversations that our young people are asking us to have. It is by investigating the classics together that we can imagine and create our possible futures.

Gabriella Sundar Singh is a Toronto-based artist and educator. She trained from a young age in Bharathanatyam, classical piano, and singing. She holds a B.A.H. in Theatre Studies from the University of Guelph; completed her post-graduate studies at Centennial College in Children’s Media; is a graduate of the Acting Program at the National Theatre School of Canada (Montreal); and is currently pursuing her Master’s with the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies at the University of Toronto. She has spent five seasons as an actor at the Shaw Festival and works regularly in TV and film. Her work with young people has been in the capacity of educator, mentor and coach through the City of Toronto’s Recreation programs, TiFF Kids, Shakespeare in Action, and the Shaw Festival’s Education and Outreach programming. Gabriella wishes to bridge the gap between text and embodiment in the drama classroom, by using the element of Play and understanding the impact that young people can have on the world when they feel engaged in the work.