Look beyond the Harry Potters, Red Riding Hoods, Artemis Fowls and Percy Jacksons and you are sure to find a plethora of Indian folktales and local heroes who are equally powerful and entertaining. The success of The Devil’s Tree, a children’s play based on a folk tale from Central India is a case in point.
The play written, conceived and directed by well known theatre and film personality Padmavati Rao, is fast gaining popularity among Bangalore school children. The Devil’s Tree is just not an initiative to revive folk tales but also reinforce human values in children.
“The play examines the norms and notions of friendship. Are appearances and similarities in attitudes the criteria for becoming friends or can friendship be celebrated despite the differences? Can friends agree to disagree? The play seeks answers to these questions,” says Padmavati.
The play is a colourful combination of puppets, light and shadow and powerful performances by professional actors. But would having children perform a play for their counterparts work as a better idea? “ I feel it is lovely for adults to perform for children. That way at least adults get to bring out the child in them. Such plays also help them keep in touch with their soul,” reasons Padmavati. And one cannot complain much given the response the cast has been generating among kids.
“After watching the play children are coming up with amazing insights. They have been observing subtle nuisances that many a adult in the audience has missed,” adds the director. Does she then feel that children should be often exposed to plays and story telling sessions to help themselves express better and develop their thought processes?
“It is good to have more and plays. They help in adding substance to our lives. And when it comes to the content of plays or stories, we need to fall back more on Indian material. Then again one must not narrow down local material to just Panchatantra and Jataka Tales. We need to look into our backyards for stories,” she feels.
Lastly, given the impact of plays, would it be a good idea to include theatre in education? “I am definitely not for making it another subject for which children will have to write an exam. Theatre is something that should be enjoyed. Having said that, plays and songs for sure make it easy for languages to be taught. Language learning should not be an exercise but a joyous process. So, it’s always good to find a different way of teaching and keeping a language alive,” she concludes.
The Devil’s Tree is the joint initiative of Concern India Foundation and Aantarya Film and Theatre House and will be staged in the city on March 22 and 23.
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