BENGALURU: Most of us who have grown up reading and watching plays based on the children’s fairy tale The Pied Piper of Hamelin, will identify with The Pied Pipress, which will be staged close to Children’s Day this month. This play brings the childhood fairy tale closer home, with themes like corruption, pollution, greed and betrayal being portrayed by children and adults together.
The script is adapted and rewritten by Janardan Ghosh, and was previously performed for a school’s annual day programme in Kolkata. It was the performance by the school students that inspired the director, Devanand Mahakud, to take this play up. He says, “Who wouldn’t love to watch a story that’s been part of our childhood to come alive on stage? Besides, at Lebeda Productions, we always believe that theatre is the best way to learn life skills. With this play, we are using theatre to bring adults and children together on stage, which is also an attempt to bridge the generation gap that exists between them.”
Using elements of dance, movement, and music, the play uses comedy and humour to drive home message on issues that plague our society. Devanand says, “Children are our future, it is they who will take our world ahead, it is they who will build a stronger world. Today’s children are smart and they understand how societal hazards like pollution, corruption, laziness, poverty, lack of education, etc, are affecting the world.”
The element of humour lightens the tone of the film. “This play is a one-of-its-kind experimental work where we have parents and children, grown-ups and kids performing together, spreading a common social message. We need people’s support to make this experiment a success. On a lighter note, it’s amazing to watch children behave like adults and adults behave like kids. Working with children was challenging, but they lifted my spirits at each rehearsal too,” he adds.
A total of 22 performers are involved in this play. The special dances by children, who pose as cats, dogs and rats, are interspersed throughout the play, and have been choreographed by Kiran Bedi. Most of the actors, especially the children, are non-actors, who volunteered to be part of the production. The director claims that while it took some of them time to step out of their comfort zones, some also needed very little work. “We used various theatre exercises and techniques to make them free and comfortable to play the character they were given. It was a great experience for me as a director.”
The Pied Pipress will be staged at The Atelier, Sarjapur Road, on November 18 at 5.30 pm. Tickets are available on bookmyshow.com. For more details, contact 8884306788