Scene 1:
Swiftly checking her watch, Anusree looks at the door, waiting for her turn. The classroom is quiet, and students are occupied with revision questions. A loud knock and everyone looks up. Manjula ma’am enters with a smile and says it’s time for practise. Anusree stands up from her teacher’s chair and gives a faint smile of excitement, then dashes off…
Exit
When teachers began slipping out of classrooms for rehearsals, the role reversal felt almost surreal. At Vidyodaya School, teaching briefly moved beyond chalkboards onto the stage, one where learning unfolded through performance.
A group of 59, including the principal, vice principal, teachers and non-teaching staff, came together to recreate a century-old historical moment — the meeting between Mahatma Gandhi and Sree Narayana Guru.
Their conversation at the Sivagiri Mutt in Varkala on March 12, 1925, was a significant encounter in the fight against discrimination and untouchability.
With limited resources to stage a one-hour theatre production, the team relied on careful research and collective enthusiasm to bring the story to life. And thus was born their production, Rishi Sangamam.
Assigning roles and shaping dialogues suited to each teacher’s strengths was handled by theatre teacher and director Rema K Nair. The Malayalam department HOD, Jayasree P, helmed the script.
The limited attention given to Kerala’s social history in school curricula was what motivated the project, says Rema. “We wanted to introduce students to this important chapter of our history in a form that would engage and inspire them,” she smiles.
However, writing scenes and engagingly presenting historical facts proved demanding. Throughout the process, the team often received encouragement from the school’s executive trustee, Dr P Sreekumar, who first proposed the idea.
“Teachers are more mischievous than students,” laughs principal Geetha Rajeev while recalling the rehearsal days. According to her, when teachers forget the dialogues, they often become more creative than students while giving excuses.
“I saw teachers step out of their comfort zones, face their stage fears and grow more confident. What they learned here will certainly reflect in their classrooms,” says Geetha, who herself had to play two roles on stage and manage behind the scenes. The experience, she adds, also offered teachers a glimpse into what students feel while performing, and why creative children sometimes struggle with rigid classroom norms.
Whenever the group gathered for rehearsals, the room buzzed — sessions were filled with laughter, confusion and shared excitement. One memorable moment involved a junior staff member, who was playing a police officer, striking down the vice principal who was acting as a protester. Each time the scene came up, the staff member nervously apologised before the action.
In another scene, a group of 13 teachers portrayed traditional Kalari moves. The Kalari master who trained the school children also guided the teachers. On days when he arrived late, fifth- and sixth-grade students stepped in to teach their teachers. For the educators, learning from their own pupils became an unexpected but memorable reversal of roles.
Like any live performance, rehearsals came with their share of chaos. During brief blackouts between scenes, props sometimes went missing, and actors occasionally walked into the wrong scene. In one instance, a chair meant for the character of Sree Narayana Guru, played by Dipin A K, failed to appear on stage, forcing the actors to continue without breaking character.
Watching teachers embrace childlike curiosity and learning something new became one of the most striking aspects of the process.
According to one teacher, the experience went far beyond acting. “This is our second production. It helped gain insights into theatre elements such as stage setting and character placement. Overcoming stage fear and performing before an audience helped build confidence. It also strengthened teamwork, understanding and empathy,” the teacher says.
The play also required the largely female team to portray several male characters. Teachers carefully studied body language, voice and appearance to make their performances convincing. “Teachers are the best observers,” one remarked when asked how they managed the transformation. Many studied archival photographs of the historical figures they portrayed, even debating the correct type of moustache to complete the look.
Voices for male characters were dubbed with help from people around them, including husbands, parents, the school’s gatekeeper and other volunteers. With a total of 65 characters in the production, the effort turned into an exercise that extended well beyond the staff room.