A little fir swayed its branches in tune with the wind as it stood among the stately pine trees deep in the forest. Scampering around the fir tree were little bunnies, squirrels and mice.
A group of Class VIII students of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Ernakulam, brought alive the wonderous tale of The Fir Tree by Sergei Mikhailkov by turning into butterflies and bunnies.
The students enacted the story of the environmentally-conscious forest ranger and a little fir tree bringing the wintry beauty of the Northern hemisphere into the classroom.
This 25-minute theatrical presentation of the Russian author Mikhailkov’s children’s classic, which has been included in the Class VIII Malayalam-II of the general education department, is a novel method adopted by the Malayalam teacher C S Vishnuraj.
“The aim behind holding a theatrical representation was to ensure that the children understood the essence of the story,” explains Vishnuraj, who directed, wrote the script and dialogues of the play.
Experiencing the story is better than listening to it, he adds. “The children understand what is going through the mind of the little fir tree as it awaits its dreadful fate foretold by the naughty magpie,” he says.
Explaining the story, which features in Unit I of the textbook titled Adisthanapadavali, the teacher, who has directed and acted in many amateur and professional plays, says, “The story of the fir tree tries to instil many values. But as the Unit deals with the environment, the main message is about enjoying the fruits of nature without harming it.”
In the story, the little fir tree gets a rude shock one day. A magpie warns the tree that it won’t live to see the next year. Come December 30, it will be cut down, the bird warns.
And as as the winter came, the tree felt it escaped. But soon a forest ranger finds it among the snow and says it fits his idea of the festive tree.
The tree regains consciousness, but the little fir sees that it is still in the forest and very much alive. “However, there is something special about it now. The little fir tree was wearing festive decorations. The forest ranger tells his children that this is what is best instead of cutting the tree,” Vishnuraj says, explaining the story.
The students who practised the play, making the most of the free time that they had during school days, gave a good performance. The little fir tree isn’t the first production by this theatre enthusiast. Vishnuraj has been active in the theatre for the past 28 years and has directed 60 plays. “I plan to continue producing and directing more plays in the school as long as I am here,” he adds.