Aha! — theatre for children, is back. Three years on, the festival promises its little audience good and wholesome entertainment. “It is cool to see plays,” says Arundhati Nag to children about the theatre festival that begins on August 26th and will go on till September 6th. “You have to be lucky to watch a play. Anyone can watch a movie. But this is live, it is the real thing,” she adds.
This year, Aha! is marked as the International Theatre for Children festival, where children will get to see international plays like The Stones (Australia), Pirate's code (Argentina) and The Garbage Mouse (Germany), along with three Indian plays — Veriyattam, in the Kattaikuttu tradition by children of Kattaikuttu Gurukulam in Tamil Nadu and Yakshagana by Saligrama Makkala Mela from Kota.
Arundhati says, “It is for urban children to see when their peers are seeped in tradition, how good they can be.”
Children, parents, teachers — the fest has something for everyone. In fact, there will be platform performances i.e. performances before the actual play, where children from Aha! and Theatre Lab will entertain audience.
Also present at the press conference were playwright Girish Karnad and Vinita Bali, MD, Britannia industries.
Referring to the three witches scene that the children performed during the press conference, Karnad points out, “It is the visual appeal of the scene from Macbeth that makes it stand out.” He feels that theatre should be made enjoyable for children. “Make it pleasurable for children so that they absorb it.”
Vinita added that the theatre festival is a “wonderful opportunity for parents to bring their children to experience theatre”. She spoke of how “there is a whole sense of wonderment that makes children enjoy their surroundings”.
A seminar on theatre pedagogy will address key issues in India. Dr Wolfgang Schneider, president, ASSITEJ, a world-body of theatre for children practitioners will present a paper. 'Why Theatre for Children?', a talk by Dr Shekar Seshadri, will address parents. Another surprise in the basket is a special play for children between 18 months and three-and-a-half years.
Ranga Shankara produced, Zapperdockel and the Wock, directed by Wally and Paul Schmidt of Nurnberg, Germany will premiere at the festival.
Schools can send students to the morning “School only” shows. Interested schools can write to aha.rangashankara@gmail.com for bookings. For more details log on to www.rangashankara.org.
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