The stage is set. Charlie has gone to bring back his parents and grandparents. But just as everything seems hunky-dory, things go awry and Charlie is shot into space. The U.S. government gets involved and much confusion prevails. With A to Zee Creativity’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator , the city is in for a visual and audio treat. Directed by Shaan Katari Libby, the play has a cast aged between five and 17, with the youngest ones playing the Knids and Oompa Loompas.
An adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic, the play promises to be different from the rest. Says Shaan, “This play is a little different, because it is offbeat; very Roald Dahl with a whacky sense of humour running through it. It has pace and it involves space. There’s lots to look forward to.”
For Shaan, who last year staged Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the same production team, Roald Dahl is timeless. “I personally find him fascinating — the tragic personal life he had, and the dry twisted humour that his adult books portray. He is a man who is always on the children’s side, and, in particular, on the side of good, well-mannered ones. Adapting his books for the stage is fairly straightforward, except that you don’t want to cut out anything because he puts things so beautifully. Basically, you would end up with a mighty long play, so you have to be ruthless,” she says.
Interestingly, the production, which will be staged over two days, will feature a different cast at each of the performances. According to Shaan, this was a conscious decision to give more children a chance to perform on stage. “Last year, when we did Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , we had substitutes for all the main characters, and these children had learnt all the lines, but never got to play the part. I knew that this had to be rectified somehow, and I realised we had the talent to pull off two complete casts.”
This has been an interesting experience for Shaan, in terms of watching a character being developed by two different students. “Also, sometimes, you want to blend the casts and create a really interesting mix, but we don’t have time to play around with a production such as this. There is comfort in knowing that one has a ready substitute, though. It also serves as a useful threat at rehearsals, underlining that nobody is indispensable,” laughs Shaan. The only exception here are the 30 children between the ages of five and seven, who will act on both days as Knids and Oompa Loompas.
Managing this mammoth cast came with its own set of challenges. “Rehearsing with children is always a challenge, because they are so busy with various classes and exams that they tend to be quite hard to pin down for the sustained practice that is required,” she explains. That said, Shaan insists that nothing parallels the joy of working with children. “When I am with them, I sometimes feel like I never really grew up properly, because I end up giggling at their stupid jokes and I really enjoy their company.”
