As you walk into the room, eight-year-old Sita is telling nine-year-old Hanuman to eat something before leaving Lanka. And when Hanuman forgets his lines, Rama, Sita and even Ravan prompt him.
The practise session starts at 5 pm and goes on till 7 as Vaishali Bisht’s crew of 10 kids prepare for their Ram Lila show. The energy is infectious and it takes Vaishali’s “strict” voice to get the kids to remember their dialogues.
Vaishali needs no introduction in the field of theatre. She’s been doing workshops and plays for a long time now, but the Ram Lila workshop is being organised after 10 long years. “The break was more personal, this year I felt like celebrating Dasara and I also had the bandwidth so I decided to go ahead with a show,” says Vaishali.
It seems that the kids have been practising for weeks now but Vaishali says, “The workshop started on October 15 and we stage the play on 25. It’s a really short workshop but as you can see the kids are doing well.”
As the cast takes a five minute break from rehearsing Act 2, Scene 6, Vaishali tells them that she will have to “cancel the scene” because everyone seems to be forgetting their dialogues, prompting the kids to huddle in a corner and start practicing their dialogues seriously.
Nine-year old Abhyas Manne, who plays Hanuman, is taking help from his friend to rehearse. “I’m very excited to play Hanuman. This will be one of the major roles I’ve ever played,” he says.
Among the group it is tough to miss twins Keya and Tara. Between the two they play the roles of Sita, Vali, Surpanakha and Courtier 1. “This will be our second play. The first time we played a Rose and a Jasmine at school,” says Keya.
Pranav A. Jethwani, 12, plays Ravan. “I’m not nervous. I’m very excited to play such an important role,” he says.
At the workshop, the kids are asked to choose the roles they want to play and then based on their dialogue delivery etc., the roles are assigned to them.
Having worked with children for years now, Vaishali says that there is just one difference she has spotted. “Children these days have a small vocabulary, that’s one of the major differences,” she says.
