Perhaps teachers and parents do not mind dull children so long as their report cards are full of As and 99.99 per cents. For if they did, they might take the adage “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” a lot more seriously. This is what some school students from Jaipur wanted to convey through their play ‘Padai Par Karo Chadai’ presented on Monday evening, the last day of the Multilingual Children’s Theatre Festival at the Rangaprabhath Theatre Complex in Venjaramoodu.
The play, written by their mentors Gagan and Priyadarshini Mishra, focuses on those parents who give undue importance to examinations, taking them as a question of status and prestige.
“The play gives the message that exams are a part of life but not bigger than life,” said Gagan. “While academic study is necessary to earn a living and satisfy basic needs, it should not dominate a child’s life. Rather it should be incorporated in such a way that it becomes interesting and easy and its impact could be long lasting.”
It was with this aim of holistic education by giving wings to the child’s imagination that he and his sister Priyadarshini started their children’s theatre group CURIO, which was started in 2007 with the motto ‘Theatre-in-Education’.
“It is easier to teach subjects like science and mathematics to children through the medium of drama,” said Gagan, who has also worked with Theatre In Education Company (TIE Company) of National School of Drama (NSD) New Delhi. Under this initiative, actor-teachers work with and perform for children and focus on creative, curriculum-based and participatory plays in schools.
“Our scripts are not rigid and we encourage the children to innovate and work their improvisations while we rehearse.”
CURIO, which is now active in four states - Rajasthan, New Delhi, Punjab and Haryana - conducts theatre productions, drama workshops, street plays and puppetry workshops among its activities.
“Our faculty also takes drama classes in various schools in these states and we help with preparing the syllabus and setting grades etc.,” he said, adding that each faculty member contributes a part of their earning to CURIO for its activities. “We also hope to expand our activities to Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.”
The ten students who came to take part in Rangaprabhat’s festival belong to classes 8 and 11 at Children’s Academy, Jaipur.
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