Tapping creative potential

IT IS difficult to walk past the children's section in any bookshop and not notice ``Mala'', one of the first books from Tara Publishers. The book's launch looked at the original story by Chandrasekar Kambar and screened the film ``Girija'' (based on the same story) by Madhyam. An interesting and animated discussion had followed.

Early this week La Kutir (the after-school care centre) and Thirai (a socially conscious theatre and film group) collaborated on a stage version of ``Mala'', though director K. R. Usha conceptualised it closer to the film.

The story in its rural setting deals with drought and the resultant hunger and misery. Through it all the children with their gift of optimism play and delight in life. Mani a brave little boy decides to meet the king and seek his permission to fight the demon who has stolen the rain-seed from the earth. He doesn't quite succeed in getting the seed. That is when his sister Mala comes into her own. She breaks free of the traditional role assigned to the girl, of the weakling relegated to household chores, obedience and silence. With a little kick- start from a couple of gypsies, who turn her into a boy and give her a mirror in which she will always find her ``girl-self'', she sets out to find the demon (who incidentally only allows the male of the species to enter his domain!). The demon flounders on encountering Mala as he doesn't have a clue about how to fight a female! Mala demolishes him, gets the rain-seed and plants it after an abortive attempt by the brother to claim the honours. Justice awaits. An enlightened king honours his word and gives Mala half the gold in his treasury and half his kingdom. Anyone who can kill the demon and gets the rain-seed is qualified to rule, irrespective of gender!

The story is rich with much potential for raising issues of women's empowerment and argues a case for equal rights without discriminating against men. It has rich folk elements like the highly charged, exotic gypsies, song and dance, and Usha populated the stage by working in roles for the twenty odd children (mostly of La Kutir) who accompanied Mala on her ``operation rain-seed''.

The production had many good points going. It has given Chennai a very good, sensitive and talented child artiste in Varsha Ramesh who played Mala. The crowd of little ones seemed to be most unselfconscious on stage. It was particularly nice that in a children's play children played children and adults played adults.

Sets and lights designed by Natesh were ingenious, appropriate and an aesthetic understatement. A swing from a traditional frame, a picket fence that turned multi-functional and a throne were all made from waste wood - both economical and ecological! Natesh opened the museum theatre stage all the way to the back to three large doors and backlit the still brilliant old stained glass above the doors. It was beautiful and created character. The large blue crystal ball rain-seed was lovely and the children will remember it for long, every time the monsoon strikes. There was very good sound and music from Symphony. Rhythms were catchy and tempting to step in tune with.

There were some gaps as well in the production. The gypsies who opened the play had fabulous roles to play and could have energised the production with their traditional pluck and vivacity. Instead they portrayed it in such a way that it looked vapid and almost detached. In fact Usha herself saw them as `` ... projection of a strength. As adults we look for some support figure in our fantasy. Some of us women, in our transition to freedom did not have role models to look up to''.

One also wishes the role of the demon had been played otherwise. The wild filmy rendering of the demon disturbed the harmony of the stage and quite bounced off the fearless dignity of the young actors. Most of his lines were also lost in his breathless fury.

Usha's script ran much like a screenplay. The blackouts between the large numbers of short scenes disturbed and hampered the continuity on stage. If instead the scenes had flowed smoothly from one to another more like a traditional folk performance, the director could have got more out of her actors. Longer, more evolved scenes (and script) would have also helped.

Yet, what is important is that the production gave the children an opportunity (not often found in Chennai) to explore their creative potential and indulge in some value-based thinking.

ELIZABETH ROY

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