Adults need to be more sensitive towards little ones. They need to be caring and be careful about their language. This was emphasised in an artistic way by Bubbles Sabharwal and Lushin Dubey in their play Oye Matilda! Tu Hai Ustaad!, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic tale, which was staged at DLF Promenade Vasant Kunj over the weekend.
In the play, knowledge played second fiddle to the whims and fancies of the dominating and egoistic Principal, who said: “Why do children grow up so fast? They should be kept in match boxes”.
Matilda, (Amaira Solomn), was presented as a precocious girl who believes in speaking her mind. A bookworm, she is all for knowledge acquisition. The protagonist stands up for her rights and has the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
The play, which was first staged at Kamani Auditorium, has been made in a way that it would give today’s children of Delhi a good idea on which trajectory they need to move and how it would benefit them in the long run. And like Matilda they too need to be assertive and speak up for their rights.
Addressing adults
Lushin Dubey says the play taught adults that it was important to address children in a certain way. “Normally children go to very good educational institutions but sometimes they are addressed by their elders in a harsh way which gets registered in their psyche. This was dealt in the play.”
In an implicit way, the play instilled in kids the joy of reading good old books rather than being hooked on to the Internet. And follow the example of Matilda, who excels in school as she is a voracious reader and has better grasp of what is being taught.
Artificial intelligence
“Nowadays, children are surrounded by artificial intelligence and social media. Our old fashioned way of learning is compromised. So here we showed how Matilda likes reading books and attending her school. Therefore, message is that you can gain from reading books,” says Dubey.
Having done social, issue based theatre, she says: “In 1998, when we started theatre there was nobody to back us up. We keep hearing about reshaping society but don’t want to invest and put money on the youth. We are happy investing crores in cricket, fashion and make-up.”
To keep the audience regaled, the play has many hilarious moments. There is one song where the father of Matilda, sings, “Main hoon Ustad. It is gaddi (car) that I am after and neither women nor wine.” He remodels old cars, puts spurious parts and makes a killing out of them.
Shedding light on the characters, Sabharwal says: “All of them are very materialistic. Therefore, Matilda wants to move out of this materialistic world. She wants to gain knowledge in the upside world where people comsume junk food and culture. She is always carrying books and wants to study. It emphasises the fact that child is the father of man.”
On the father-daughter relationship, Dubey says: “The work weaves in an important message, written in a fun way. This play always has unusual characters. So here the father takes second hand cars and makes them shiny and sells them. His child (Matilda) points out to him that this is not honest money. There are pointed lines in this play. She is not submissive and thinks like an adult and shows mirror to them. This is the crux.”
To make it resonate with Delhiites, Sabharwal says: “We have made the family very West Delhi type. It has Matilda’s dad who like Delhiites is a man who can get things done.”
Pointing out that across the globe the human condition is still the same, Sabharwal says: “There is dominance over the child’s world in today’s consumer-driven society. It doesn’t matter whether you are Korean, Japanese or American.”
