This new adaptation of Shakespeare's play sees Hamlet from the lens of gender

Through this play, director Vinay Kumar asks what grief, rage, and justice look like through a gendered eyes

If revenge is seen as heroism when a man claims it, what happens when a woman demands the same space? Adishakti's A Woman Or Not To Be asks that question through a bold retelling of Hamlet, turning the tragedy inward, toward the psychology of grief and agency.

The new production reimagines Shakespeare's Hamlet through the body and experience of a daughter. Writer and director Vinay Kumar asks what grief, rage, and justice look like when the world reads emotion through gendered eyes.

Vinay Kumar Pic/Instagram@vkvinayadishakti

Performed in English, the play follows Princess Hamlet, a 20-year-old student who returns home to devastating loss. Her mother is gone, and power has shifted. The young woman is left negotiating anger, love, doubt, and the pressure to act.

For Kumar, the impulse began with an ongoing engagement with gender and power. "The discourse on gender is something that has always excited me," he says. His earlier work, Bhoomi, explored questions around feminist responses to trauma. This play, he says, extends that inquiry. "These classic characters hide behind great literature to peddle messages of the patriarchy."

The research behind the play looks closely at the psychology of mourning and the ethics of revenge. It draws on feminist debates around anger, closure, and the cost of mimicking masculine forms of violence. Kumar reflects on how women are often pushed toward symbolic forms of retaliation. "If women want closure, they need to mimic the masculine understanding of revenge," he says.

Kumar says he does not expect agreement in the audience. "Non-agreement is what will be vital for the discourse," he says. If people leave thinking, reflecting, or unsettled, the work has already done its job."

WHERE: Prithvi Theatre, Juhu
WHEN: January 17 and 18
PRICE: Rs 500 onwards
TO BOOK: BookMyShow.com