As the studio bell rings, groups of children begin entering the black box space, each finding their preferred spot to sit with their friends. It’s a Sunday afternoon, the school is closed, and this is their time for play and fun. The lights dim, a spotlight shines on the performance floor, and there is silence.
Everyone is holding their breath, eager to witness the show, already dreaming and imagining what they will see. This is the Shadipur Natak Utsav—a children’s theatre festival curated by the Shadipur community in collaboration with Studio Safdar, bringing performances from all over the country.
Started in 2019, the festival was conceived with the idea that the choice of theatre plays should be in the hands of the audience. “In the 2022 edition of the festival, we realised that children make up most of our audience; they are the most enthusiastic to see natak. So, we decided to shift the focus from 2023 onwards and centre the festival around theatre for children,” says Priyanka, programmes manager, at Studio Safdar.
Not just funny
Last Sunday, Laugh Again, a theatre duo comprising Sagar Bhoir and Sheeram Chaudhari from Wada in Palghar, Maharashtra, performed their set Jobless Job. One might wonder what children have to do with jobs or joblessness, but the clown duet offered a hilarious narrative filled with absurd digressions that had both children and adults splitting with laughter.
The story revolves around two clown friends who are collecting and cleaning rubbish, and while doing the work, receive job letters—though they keep forgetting about them. Their performance spirals around the objects they discover in the rubbish bin, sparking acts of magic and comedy, with their physicality at the centre.
The rubbish bin, much like a magician’s hat, along with the objects within, serves as their only props, yet is more than enough to engage the audience in the clowns’ whimsical and playful antics. “The funny conflicts between the two clowns, with one acting smarter than the other, take you back to childhood and its trivial fights. The story is very important to us; without it, clowning is just a gag,” says Bhoir.
Bhoir and Chaudhari, graduates of Drama School Mumbai, began their theatre journey working with acclaimed actor Geetanjali Kulkarni, performing storytelling sessions and conducting clowning workshops for ashram schools in the tribal region of Palghar.
The clown or joker has been a popular transgressive figure in various traditional theatre cultures in India, such as Bidesia theatre from Bihar, Nautanki from Punjab, and the Special Drama of Tamil Nadu. Their interest in clowning deepened after participating in the ‘Clown Without Borders’ programme in Sweden.
“Storytelling is about conveying larger-than-life visions to children, but in clowning, it’s the exact opposite; clowning is about the real, about what you can see—our bodies. Initially, it was challenging for us too. There is no fourth wall; we must engage the spectators, making them question whether they are watching a performance or participating in it,” explains Chaudhari.
“The clown is a mirror; we are the joke, you are the joke—everyone is laughing at each other. The audience and the artist are bound to each other by a thread,” adds Bhoir. This engagement with the children makes the act particularly captivating for a young audience that is usually restless. This marks their third performance in Delhi at the Shadipur Natak Festival. “We enjoy performing for children; they are honest—so honest, in fact, that if a show is bad, they will say so,” says Bhoir.
The questions children asked after the performance were revealing, with one child inquiring where the actors got their clown noses, while another wanted to know how they made their costumes. These inquiries indicate that the materiality of the performance—the effort and labour involved—does not escape the young audience’s attention.
“Working with children and performing for them is challenging in its own ways. For instance, if there is a blackout during the performance, chaos can quickly ensue,” explains Bhoir. Muskan, a volunteer at the Shadipur Natak Utsav, adds,
“While the children wait outside for the bell to ring, part of our job is to introduce some basic codes of conduct for the performance space, encouraging them to be respectful towards the performers and their fellow audience members. We also sit among them during performances to ensure everything flows smoothly.”
The festival, curated by the people of Shadipur—including neighbourhood tea vendors, retired government workers, local tailors, school teachers, students, and theatre educators—has come together to bring this event to life. Sudhanva Deshpande, executive director at Studio Safdar, says: “This has been an education for us too, helping us understand what people want to see.” Rajni, an elementary school teacher, and Kamlesh, a retired MTNL government employee, are two of the many curators involved in this edition.
Kamlesh notes, “I have been part of the curatorial team since 2019, and what we are doing here is crucial, as it allows many people—especially children from the community—to get the chance to engage with theatre, which they otherwise might never have.” Rajni adds, “My experience working with children in school helps me understand what they might enjoy and provide them food for thought as well.”
This six-day festival serves as a rupture in the time and space of Shadipur, allowing new ideas, joy, and laughter to flourish while unleashing the imagination. Raghav and Afzal, filmmakers documenting the festival, are also shooting a documentary film that explores its connection with the diverse neighbourhood of Shadipur.
This Saturday, Kalabhi Theatre from Mangaluru will perform their play Pursana Pugge, while Ankur Rangmanch Samiti from Ujjain will close the festival with their play Tantiya Mama on Sunday. The festival was inaugurated with a short skit, School Mai Seekha Aur Sikhaya, an image theatre performance by the children of the Studio Safdar library, conceptualised by Nikhil Sharma, the library in charge.
Since its 2024 edition opening act on 20 September, the festival has been a transformative and delightful experience for young children. Deshpande says: “I see the Studio Safdar library programme on Sunday and the theatre festival as interconnected because both provide children with a sense of what the world of imagination can be.
We all feel it is crucial for children to have this exposure in the formative stages of their lives, as it stays with them for a long time. This is not to say that they all should become artists, but it is essential for them to develop an appreciation for the arts, which is often suppressed in our schooling systems.
Furthermore, as human beings, we are storytelling creatures; stories thrill our imagination and bring us joy. Children who grow up surrounded by stories tend to develop empathy towards others. I am not trying to reduce stories, art, and theatre to a utilitarian purpose, but rather to highlight the many possibilities the arts offer to excite our imagination, foster empathy, enable self-expression, and ultimately, bring us joy.”
Shadipur Natak Utsav is open for all at Studio Safdar, 2253E, Shadi Khampur till September 29