A KINGDOM FOR A HORSE?

When theatre director Sunil Shanbag first read Julius Hay's 1962 play The Horse in the 1980s, he recalls being immediately drawn to its humour. Now, more than 40 years later, he has finally brought the Hungarian playwright's biting allegory alive on stage. First performed in Mumbai last month, the play comes to Delhi this weekend at Kamani Auditorium under the Aadyam Theatre banner.

- ADITHI REENA AJITH

Shanbag, an established name in Mumbai's theatre hub, says performing in Delhi is something he looks forward to. "Delhi audiences have always received us warmly. There's a wonderful openness to new work here, an excitement when work comes from outside," he says.

The Horse is set in Rome and is centered around the cruel and megalomaniac Caligula, who ruled Rome between AD 37 and 41. The play opens in a tavern, where the emperor and his subjects gather for gambling. One night, a young boy, Selanus, arrives clutching his belongings. Soon, he loses them to the gamblers, and his final possession, a dapple-grey horse named Incitatus, is put up as a desperate wager. That bet sets off a riotous chain of events that questions Caligula's authority and Rome's sanity.

Although set in Rome and inspired by a real ruler, Hay's play is far from historical realism. "It is an allegory. You could poke holes in it historically, but that's not the point. It's a vehicle," Shanbag explains, adding that his production stays true to Hay's text. "What attracted me was the way Hay used comedy as a vehicle for satire. We don't see enough of that in the theatre."