Children are often told to think ‘out of the box,’ but sometimes the box is lined with parameters of what is acceptable and what is not.
As times change, educational institutions, educational facilitators, and parents themselves are trying to expand the child’s imagination to one that has no boundaries. An important tool to build imagination and express sometimes difficult emotions and ideas is: theatre.
Now in its third year, the Tifli International Festival of Theatre for Young Audiences is being held in the city for the first time (previously held in Delhi in 2014 and then in New Delhi and Hyderabad in 2015) to expose children to international as well as Indian theatre.
Tifli — the Persian word for ‘childhood’ — is the brainchild of ASSITEJ (International theatre network of theatre for children and young people), which was founded in 2005 and specialises in theatre for young audiences. Five theatre groups that are members of the foundation — Kalsootri, Tram Arts Trust, Swangwale, Gillo Repertory Theatre and Theatre Professionals — have collaborated to promote the the art form.
Festival director Shaili Sathyu says, “Every play has been designed to be age-specific, which ensures that each child connects with the topic area and brings a certain kind of energy in the audience.”
Inclusive and diverse
The festival is also actively inclusive. Sathy says they are encouraging inclusion by opening up entry to kids sent by NGOs free of charge. “With efforts by the Akshara Foundation, we’re determined to attract more children to partake in the festival.”
What makes the festival so diverse is the fact that all five members of ASSITEJ focus on various core topics related to theatre. Kalsootri, the puppetry and children’s theatre wing of Sahitya Kala Mandal, has presented numerous puppet shows and children’s plays since 1992 across the world; Tram Arts Trust, based out of Mumbai and New Delhi, is dedicated to developing, practicing and popularising object theatre in India.; Swangvale Performing Arts focuses on creative expressionism through cinema; Gillo Repertory Theatre and Theatre Professionals both encourage the use of drama as a method for learning across subjects and curriculums.
Sathyu says, “With workshops designed for Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) practitioners, teachers, as well as parents, we’re looking to create a community that participates in a year-long project to understand theatre and its impact on the young.”
Workshops by the French troupe Cie La Boîte à sel will explore space, movement, and sound through material-based stimuli for toddlers. Mexican theatre group Triciclo Rojo weaves dance and clowns (a warning for all those who suffer from coulrophobia) to narrate various stories for children.
Other participants include the Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust who will teach parents and teachers how to incorporate shadow puppets in learning, and educate kids on how to use paper in storytelling activities.
From the shadows
There is no larger theme that binds the plays together, but non-verbal acts seems to be a popular choice.
Four out of the six acts deal with object, puppetry and mime and explore topics such as child abuse, alienation, loneliness, finding happiness, and acceptance.
Meena Naik, vice-president of ASSITEJ and director of Kalsootri, says, “These topics are often pushed into the shadows, but since 2000 I’ve been encouraging stories that touch-upon child abuse and have even heard 70–80-year-olds coming forth with their own experiences.”
The use of non-verbal theatre overcomes language limitations, and encourages children to interpret stories in their own way. One of the festival favourites, Cie La Boîte à sel’s Play (see Editor’s Picks below) uses quirky toys mixed with coloured tape, and sounds in a story for three-year-olds.
An actor and a musician invent a variety of universes using scotch tapes, shapes, action figures and toy cars that catch the child’s often wandering attention to stimulate something larger. And eventually, that’s all that theatre strives to be.
The author is a freelance writer
The Tifli International Festival, December 7 to 9. Schedule, registration at assitejindia.org
