As cruel as life
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The process of theatre helps children deal with terrible realities
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SLICE OF LIFE Children conceive and execute these plays based on experiences.
The stage is silent. The arc lights are red. Two young boys enact kidnapping, killing and slicing other children. This might seem macabre in normal times. But these children are merely enacting current affairs.
Children between the age of five and 15 express their fears and anger. Asks Jyoti, "Is naatak se, aap ke bolne se, mere bolne se kya hoga? Kuch nahi hoga?" ("Nothing is going to change through this play or through dialogue) Laxmi has a simple request, "When children get lost, the police should take notice." Other children assert that the accused should be hung.
Pandies, in collaboration with Saksham School, has been conducting theatre workshops in Nithari village, Noida since May. The results of the workshop took the form of "Child Looks", which was recently staged at India Habitat Centre. The provoking play ended with an insightful interaction between the children and audience.
Theatre here is a catharsis and a source of strength. Sanjay Kumar or Pandies explains, "We focus on strength rather than hope. Theatre is about collective formations and collective thinking, it helps children to believe in themselves."
The first five short skits deal with issues of gender and religion. The small skits portray everyday trials but also reveal optimism. For example, a young brother says he will educate his sister when their parents wish to marry her off. Hindu Muslim riots are enacted by screams of "Maro, Katto" but the children finally unite under the chant "Hum Sab Ek Hain". These situations have been conceptualised by the children. Adults help only with the scripting.
Injustice can be overcome. But what about situations that are perpetuated by the system and that defy humanity?
In cold fact a house-help is shown luring women into the house for his master's benefit. A young girl is lured on the promise of work only to be killed. Moni who plays a victim says, "I didn't like to play the part. It didn't feel good. But then I thought how bad that girl would really have felt."
In the final enactment of the Nithari case the short skit is enacted in complete silence. The accused and police are shown in cohorts. This small enactment is deeply disturbing. Aware that their own friends have gone missing and fed by the media and rumour the children act with chilling familiarity.
It is oppressive, in hopelessness, but more so because it is true. Kumar explains that hope and resolution could not be added to this scenario. "We have to face the hopelessness. I tell these children they have to bang their heads against the wall and maybe collective banging will break the wall."
The tragedy is that these children still blame themselves. They feel that greed led to death. Shivam says, "Hume hi lalchi nahi ban na chai ye. Bachche to chowmin khaane gaye the." (We should not be selfish; the children were lured by chow mein after all.)
If theatre succeeds in diminishing this guilt, it has played its role.
Saksham School can be contacted at saksham_future@rediffmail.com
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