Trapped.
Her lifelong dream of becoming a pop star someday is so near. But she’s left with no choice but to give it up. She would soon marry the Emperor of Persia and become Queen. The women around her would gladly give everything up to take her place, but not Esther. She was trapped.
Queen of Hearts, a musical by playwright Shekinah Jacob explores the journey of Queen Esther, the reluctant hero.
Esther is caught up in a role she doesn’t want. But she soon realises her responsibility to save her race and steps up, to the extent of risking her life. In a way, that’s the message of the play. “There’s so much evil happening in the world and we think there’s nothing we can do just because we’re not the President of the United States. But the point is that everyone has the chance to sing their song and bring goodness to the forefront,” says the 38-year-old.
What it takes is courage, Shekinah says, adding. “That’s what separates the thinkers from the doers. If you’re not afraid to lose your life, like Queen Esther, Gandhi or Martin Luther; unless you have that level of commitment, you can’t change the world. That’s the journey I have tried to explore in this play — her journey from fear to courage. And it’s something that resonates with every artist. There are so many artists who have been martyred for standing up for what they believe in and expressing it.”
Shekinah, who has close to two decades of experience as a playwright believes that there is some good original work from India’s theatre industry, but that there’s little support for artists. “The atmosphere is not really conducive. While hiring a hall, your overheads cost so much that you can’t make it up in ticket sales,” she empathises.
Shekinah herself has written several original plays. However, her most successful plays Long Way Home and Ali J have been performed on prestigious stages across the world. She now runs her own production house called Open House in Bengaluru. So what is it about being a playwright that drives her? She says, “It’s the sheer joy of moving people, making them laugh and cry, and hoping that those moments will push them to go out and do something. Not that the play changes the world, but that it changes the people who then go out and change the world.”