T he four-day children’s drama festival at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra from July 28 to 31 provided ample scope to the child artistes to indulge in the different aspects of dramatics, besides helping them harness their positive thinking skills. A total of four children’s plays were staged, in which the young artistes participated wholeheartedly, showing keen interest in the art and played their parts beautifully.

The dramas staged were Bulbul, in Hindi, based on a story by Hans Christian Anderson, where the children learnt about the importance of the need for true human feelings, rather than the superficial that is given more importance by a section of people today. Directed by Kiran Deep Sarma, the artistes were between nine to twelve years of age. They were Akashi Hatibarua, Anindita Pathak, Kaushik Kashyap, Kabin Ahmed, Gangotri Gogoi, Zubin Das, Zebida Ahmed, Dhiraj Das, Pragyan Gautam, Pranjit Lahkar, Banashree Kalita, Binita Kalita, Mahalakshmi Dhruba, Manisha Devi, Murchana Hazarika, Ripunjoy Adhikary, Kumar Saptarshi Arandhara, Saurabh Baishya, Shristi Sarma, and Shruti Gogoi.

The second play was Hatmalar Sipare enacted by actors of 12 to 14 years of age. Based on the Bangla play Hatmalar Upare by Badal Sircar, the drama was directed by Abhishek Goswami. The play showed two sides of the world – the good and bad. The negatives prevailing in society are not found in the other side, where only the finer traits prevailed. The materialistic world full of negativities is also not found on the other side, where natural beauty abounds and people enjoy life working and producing their food together, a place where money has little value.

A virtual heaven, or rather a dreamland is shown to exist on the other side. The artistes were Pankaj Pradip Barua, Raktim Madhav Hazarika, Bishal Das, Debarshi Barthakur, Hemob Bora, Moinul Moran, Janmunu Saikia, Nandita Baishya, Namrata Gogoi, Dalimi Deka, Priyam Bharadwaj, Daisy Moran, Nilanjyoti Nath, Barasa Das, Chayanika Das, Rittik Pathak, Rupchanda Sarma, Sayeda Tanaj, Neha Moheb and Parineeta Chakraborty.

The third play, titled Jatnai Ratna emphasised the importance of hard work, dedication, devotion and discipline. The theme is depicted through the youngster named Raman, a rather lethargic type of boy, who, however, overcomes his bad habit and ultimately emerges a winner. Directed by Manish Saini, the artistes in the 14 to 16 age bracket included Manoj Talukdar, Prakriti Sarma, Rimjhimika Barua, Miki Borgohain, Ananya Borgohain, Jumiki Deka, Beauty Bhuyan, Monalisa Medhi, Jimlee Talukdar, Hamakshi Bharadwaj, Ratun Deka, Rupjyoti Deka, Himanka Kalita, Tiraj Moran, Neelkamal Bora, Jornal Dohotia, Rajdeep Saikia, Krishnav Jyoti Nath, Kukil Das and Priyam Raj Das.

The fourth play Path Herua Pathik, enacted by artistes of 16-18 years of age, depicts the extremists in negative light. A group of terrorists storms a theatre house mistakenly and runs into a hot argument with the actors of an ongoing play. It is a good commentary on the menace of terrorism, which is utterly relevant to contemporary Assam, rather the North East. Directed by Hafiz Khan, the artistes included Pori Gogoi, Karpan Moran, Nilotpal Kalita, Maharshi Kashyap, Shyamalima Das, Jumi Saikia, Simanta Talukdar, Uddipan Dutta, Ananya Parashar, Nurul Husain, Bhaswati Kalita, Harshita Nath, Alok Chakravorty, Devraj Bora, Biplabi Moran, Supriya Bora, Raktotpal Bharadwaj, Paragjyoti Kachari, Shandilya Gogoi and Shehnaj Ashraf.

The dramas were a culmination of a month-long workshop conducted by Theatre in Education Company (Sanskar Rang Tali), a wing of the National School of Drama. TIE consists of a group of actor-teachers working with and performing for children. The major focus of TIE Company is to perform creative, curriculum-based and participatory plays in schools, specially designed and prepared for children of different age groups. The main thrust of the plays is to create an atmosphere to encourage children to raise questions, make decisions and choices with an awareness of themselves within the larger society.

The workshop was a continuation of last year’s workshop, but a more detailed process of understanding and projecting the self, family, education and society through drama. The artistes engaged themselves in drawing their experiences, made charts, did improvisations et al with inputs from the NSD mentors who worked day and night with the children at Kalakshetra from July 3 to 31, imparting precious inputs in dramatics. Children’s theatre activist Manik Roy coordinated the entire event, while music composers Diganta Sarma, Bipin Kumar Barman, and Kabindra Das showed their class in the plays. Though the props were simple, the costumes were proper, with lavish designs that caught the attention of all.

Theatre in Education is an extension programme of NSD espousing the theme of society and self, family values and education among the children and grooming them up to create original plays through the process of improvisation and parade them on the stage. More precisely, it’s an education programme of NSD for children where they are taught to improvise through thinking, scripting and acting.

Simanta Bhagawati