“To be, or not to be: that is the question.”
More than four centuries after William Shakespeare’s Hamlet first posed this existential dilemma, Adishakti Theatre’s upcoming play, A Woman or Not To Be, returns to the classic tragedy but with a twist: what if Hamlet were a woman?
Written and directed by Vinay Kumar and to be showcased at Alliance Française of Madras on June 6, the play reimagines Shakespeare’s troubled prince as Princess Hamlet, a young woman navigating grief, rage, suspicion and a relentless search for justice. At a time when we are still struggling with women’s rights, the production uses Hamlet’s story to examine larger questions of male privilege, revenge, emotional freedom and how society responds differently to women who express anger.
The idea for the play came from disturbing news that Vinay encountered about a young woman who was attacked after rejecting a man’s proposal, which eventually led him back to Shakespeare’s text.
Hamlet here is a modern young woman who loves manga and anime. One day, she receives the devastating news from home, only to find her mother, the Queen, murdered, and her aunt now married to her father. In her dream, her mother’s ghostly figure urges her not to seek revenge but to protect herself and complete her education.
“When I looked at Hamlet and other canonical works, I began asking what ethical difference exists between these acts and the violence we continue to see around us today,” says Vinay.
Vinay began wondering whether Hamlet’s actions and agency would be viewed differently if the character were female. “If Hamlet is a princess instead of a prince, will she get the same agency that the male Hamlet gets?” he asks. “Will she be allowed to brood, seek revenge, and pursue justice in the same way?”
From the sets of A Women or Not To Be
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Unlike the original Hamlet set in Denmark, Vinay’s play defies geographical boundaries to represent women from all parts of the world. For him, the major challenge was to write it from a female lens. “The discourse is a feminist realm, and I am a privileged man writing it, so I had to be extra cautious about the script.”
Playing Princess Hamlet is Nimmy Raphael, who was involved in the production’s development from its earliest stages. As part of Adishakti’s collaborative laboratory process, actors engage with the work long before a final script emerges. “In the process itself, you get a glimpse of where the script is going, and we keep having discussions on what character we are going to be playing,” she adds.
For Nimmy, portraying a female Hamlet required creating an entirely new emotional landscape. “Her concerns are different. Her outlook towards life is different,” she says. “The challenge was finding the right balance of emotion so that her voice is not dismissed as irrational or hysterical.”
As much as we aspire towards economic freedom and other forms of equality, true freedom also comes from emotional freedom, the freedom to express what you feel. “That is something this Hamlet struggles with because society constantly shapes and restricts how women are allowed to express emotion,” she says.
Music also plays an important role in the play. Composed as an internal part of storytelling, it draws from genres ranging from heavy metal to jazz and features multiple musical passages that drive the emotional shifts in the play.
“We are not telling audiences what to think,” says Nimmy. “The play asks questions about revenge, emotional freedom, and how society shapes our responses to both. We present those questions and allow people to arrive at their own conclusions.”
The play ultimately transforms one of the greatest tragedies into contemporary conversations about power, gender, and who actually has the agency.
A Women or Not to Be will be on at Alliance Française of Madras, on June 6 from 5pm to 7.30pm (two slots). Tickets at ₹250 on shreyanagarajansingh.com
Published – June 03, 2026 04:57 pm IST
