For the cause of kids
ROMESH CHANDER
|
“Vivartan” was one of the best presentations to come out of Sahitya Kala Parishad’s Children’s Workshops.
|
Only this past week, after watching Sahitya Kala Parishad’s Children’s Theatre Workshops, one hoped something better would follow.
But unfortunately, of the remaining productions that one saw, only one came up to the mark.
It was “Vivartan” presented by 22 children in the 8-15 age group and directed by Swapan Kumar Sarkar as a pantomime.
For the first few days the children in the workshops were a little disappointed for they had a different concept of theatre. After a week or so they realised that this too was theatre but of a different kind. And if what was seen on the stage is any indication, each one of these children had not only picked up the basics of the art of pantomime in a short period, but also gave an excellent collective performance.
As the lights come on the stage, 10 children majestically move in as lions in different moods changing in split second from playful cubs to ferocious animals.
Enter 10 actors dressed as butterflies; the change over is brief and the stage is soon filled with 15 birds flapping their wings and diving, as it were, in the sky.
As the butterflies fly out, about 10 monkeys come on the stage and with their usual tricks. It keeps the children among the audience, amused. The scene then changes over to a pack of deer just playing about or lazing in the sun.
Enter some shikaris with guns and shoot down a deer, a protected animal and we are reminded of a court case in which a film star was hauled up for doing the same.
The scene is deliberately kept a little long to emphasize how even the protected species of animals are not spared by some.
The scene changes and brings us to everyday life in the countryside – ploughing, sowing of paddy and then harvesting, exploitation of farmers by the landlords and on to the life in the age of industrialisation. It shows how human beings are turning into robots, forests are being destroyed by mankind, and oxygen is getting depleted in the atmosphere. “Vivartan” is one of the best presentations we have seen in this year’s festival.
Long journey
In the last 25 years Children’s Theatre in SKP’s Annual Bal Utsav has came a long way.
To organise 18 workshops covering over a thousand children in the 6-7 years age group and culminating it in theatrical performances, is a gigantic task. Over the years lot of activities on children’s theatre have been going on. It has provided some impetuous to it but to sustain the momentum and maintain a certain standard we need a large number of trained theatre directors.
Delhi today has about 15-20 professionally trained directors working with children. They are so much in demand during the season that it is impossible for SKP to get them. It is obvious from the standard seen in this year’s presentations. In some cases the productions overshot by 30 minutes! Unless some immediate corrective steps are taken by SKP, there is a serious danger of numbers overtaking quality.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
