Rehearsed through summer, youngsters aged five to 18 years, collectively render the fictional world of the Wizard of Oz. Today, the stage is alive with characters from the Land of Oz, directed to sing, dance and act by Dr. Zulfia Shaikh, founder of the Bangalore School of Speech and Drama.
Experienced in directing larger than life children’s productions for 14 years now, Dr. Zulfia says the Wizard of Oz is a dream story to adapt for the stage.
“It has all the elements you can hope for in a production. It is set in a fictional world, which is just amazing to work with because it gives you such phenomenal liberty to create with it, and its work with characters the way you want. You almost have complete creative freedom with the experience, which is a director’s dream,” she says.
But creative licence is bordered by restrictions, just as with the stage. “So we’ve re-imagined the Land of Oz to fit those limits. I love adapting a story like this because it forces you to create a world that is ever changing on a stage that is static,” says Dr. Zulfia, adding, “This limitation inspires some of our best work.”
Work, that’s been put together onstage and behind, by a crew of children. “Our productions span so much more than just the theatrics of the performers. We are lucky to have an incredible team that works tirelessly on coming up with ingenious ways to bring this story to life. So every year, we work on incorporating new, and often times - never before seen, techniques to tell a story that has become dear to everyone who views it,” says the director.
These noveau techniques are enhanced by music, costumes and special effects to befit a fictional universe. And young Dorothy, who is swept away from her Kansas home in a cyclone, begins her adventures in the Land of Oz.
Even as students of the Bangalore School of Speech and Drama travel to the Emerald City, replete with the wonders that Frank L. Baum, the author of Wizard of Oz planted in this fantasy, Dr. Zulfia, looks back at the time, when it all started. “That was 14 years ago,” she says, adding, “When we started, there was a dearth of children’s plays in English, and it was only natural that someone would fill that void.”
There is something beautiful about performing a play. It cannot adequately be captured on camera. The beauty of theatre exists in its fleeting nature. Once the actors have taken their bow, the play lives on, passed on from person to person. “That simplicity, in a world as torrid as ours, is something worth preserving.”
