Henry IV, Part One

In the year following its championship winning performance at the Inter School Shakespeare Drama Competition, Ananda’s entry trod an intentionally different path. Interpreting very literally the recently changed and rather unpopular rule banning any and all editorial intervention in the extract selected by the judges, this production found ways to faithfully articulate every single line in the script, including the stage directions.

Staged on a very low budget, with minimal costumes and props, the excerpt was conceived as a rehearsal, and featured some of the most fluid and fluent Shakespearean acting ever exhibited by Ananda in the history of the competition.

Though it did not progress beyond the semifinals, the production won over nearly everyone in the audience—except, perhaps understandably, the judges—and is still spoken of fondly by stalwarts of the competition.