It all started with a six session workshop that took placeat Sunaparanta in January. The workshop was conducted by ArundhatiChattopadhyaya and it culminated with an interactive piece “ a moving theatre “that involved the actors and the audience. The story was about finding waterand involved the group of young actors moving around and performing their actat different allocated places within the premises of Sunaparanta.
Fuelled with her experience in Marathi theatre in Mumbai andBroadway shows production in New York, Chattopadhyaya decided to use herknowledge to lay the foundation of theatre in Goa for children who wereinterested. “The workshop in January gave me an idea to do something on alarger basis, to educate children on what is theatre. It is not just aboutcoming on the stage and performing. There is so much that happens backstage,with the sound, the lighting,” says Chattopadhyaya. Her idea materialised withthe beginning of theatre sessions on July 14 and ended on October 13 forchildren of seven to 12 years of age.
The theatre sessions of two and a half hours every Saturdaystart with warm-up exercises which are intended so children shed theirinhibitions and be free to act. Chattopadhyaya developed a curriculum along thelines of the workshops she had conducted in Mumbai with actors and theatrepersonalities such as Badal Sircar, Amol Palekar and Satyadev Dubey. “I knewthis would work and I worked out a pattern which ensures that kids learn and atthe same time are not bored. The sessions are not predictable,” she says.Chattopadhyaya also introduces theory in theatre such as important theatrepersonalities in India and abroad and weaves stories around this.
From basic theatre exercises, Chattopadhyaya introduced thechildren to sound and movement. She got them to move their bodies according toabstract sounds and she then got them to improvise with words and later withone-liners and group themes. Voice modulation and mime add to the alreadyinteresting platter. The sessions end with Chattopadhyaya getting the childrento wind down by making them lie down and taking them on a storytelling journey.One can see that learning lines by rote and reciting them on stage is far fromthe sensitivity to acting and being in the element that Chattopadhyaya aims toinculcate in the children.
