Inside Kooks, five eccentric cooks race to protect a secret recipe believed to hold the fate of the world. The play moves through kitchens, storms, underwater sequences and slapstick disasters using clowning, mime, dance, and music. The physical theatre comedy returns this July as part of the 15th edition of The Little Festival, organised by The Little Theatre at the Museum Theatre from July 12 to 17. The festival, which focuses on theatre for young audiences, will feature productions from India and South Korea, along with workshops and school performances.
Krishnakumar Balasubramanian (KK), artistic director at The Little Theatre and creator of Kooks, says the production changes shape every year because the actors do not play fixed characters. They build clown personas drawn from their own instincts and physicality. He says, “When you discover your inner clown, somehow a lot of things change. The way the story goes changes everytime we perform the show. What is very tricky about the show is, as much as it has a structure, a lot of the show is improvisation.”
That unpredictability has helped the play travel. After its Chennai run, the play heads to Salem in August for what Aysha Rau, managing trustee of The Little Theatre, calls a milestone for the group. It will be the first time the company performs outside Chennai within India. Later that month, the production travels to Singapore for six performances at NADAGAMIC 2026, Singapore’s international Tamil theatre festival. Conversations are also underway for performances in Mumbai later this year.
For Aysha, the growing audience arrived through slow learning rather than sudden success. She says schools began booking earlier this year after the team opened registrations in May instead of waiting for the last minute. What began as a local theatre event for children now brings international productions into the city, placing Chennai audiences inside stories built through animation, puppetry, physical theatre, and live interaction.
This year’s international production is Giant’s Table from South Korea, an interactive performance that transforms an ordinary table into a giant projected landscape. The production has travelled through festivals in Japan, Taiwan, Turkey, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia.
KK says theatre for children often gets reduced to moral instruction or classroom entertainment. He says, “Children are often accompanied by adults, and oftentimes there is this feeling when you say this is a children’s show that adults automatically feel like this is only for kids. That is something we really want to break because this show speaks to the entire spectrum of your audience. In this age of AI, nothing will ever beat watching performers live, creating magic with their own bodies and connecting with the audiences.”
The 2026 production also arrives with a new director. Praveen Gunasekaran directed the play and also appears on stage in the role of Idli. The cast features Santhosh Kumar M as Chef Capsicum, Deepthie Orintelu as Soufflé, Loganathan J as Milo, and Dinesh Subbaiah SV as Macaroni.
Passes available on https://thelittletheatre.explara.com