Bengaluru: "After four months of rehearsal mayhem and three exhilarating shows, the predominant emotion I am left with is gratitude," is Nilanjan Choudhury's testimony of his experiences directing Animal Farm. which had a very successful run at Ranga Shankara earlier this month. A Centre for Film and Drama production, the caste includes five differently abled children from the Snehadhara Foundation, an NGO based here in Bengaluru. "One of the biggest compliments I received was from a member of the audience, who said that he had read the leaflet only after the show, until which time he hadn't even noticed that some of the children were differently abled," said Choudhury, as the team gears up for its next show on November 6.
Even so, this is a mammoth production, in terms of effort and working with a 27 member caste. Choudhury's version of George Orwell's classic, Animal Farm, is based on a musical adaptation by Peter Hall. "Working with differently abled kids wasn't an idea I had in my head when I started," Choudhury said. Having been in the theatre scene for a long time, as part of Prakash Belawadi's Centre for Film and Drama, Choudhury felt that theatre needed to expand its audiences. “You have the same crowd coming to plays, it's like preaching to a choir, almost,” he remarked.
Collaborating with the Snehadhara Foundation came after a chat with its founder, Gitanjali Sarangan. Choudhury's earlier plan had been to work with government school children, but this, he soon found, was a logistical impossibility. “I wanted to bring in government school kids so that their parents become the audience, we're reaching out to a whole new section of people, which is good, because theeatre spaces have become rather one-dimensional,” he said. “We agreed about bringing in inclusivity and diversity and also, Snehadhara had a rehearsal space of its own, where art-based therapy is a matter of course. Things just fell into place.”
Choudhury deliberately stayed away from learning about the children with whom he was to work - so everybody is treated equally. “There were no compromises on quality at any point,” he explained. “If something is done wrong, you do it over and over, until you get it right.” It meant dealing with a number of challenges - these children's ability to sense and respond, motor skills and communication skills were completely different from the other kids. “One boy, Naman, yawned repeatedly on stage, even though I kept telling him to stop. Finally, he asked me, 'I don't yawn even if I”m sleepy'?” That's when it dawned on him - the rules of this game were different.” Another little girl, who had remained staunchly impassive throughout the performances, cracked a smile and pumped her fist in the air during the curtain call for the final show. “It's satisfying to see these things happen,” said Choudhury.
WHAT: Animal Farm
WHEN: November 6, 7.30 pm
WHERE: ADA Rangamandira, J C Road
When neighbours got angry
The Animal Farm team was thrilled at having found a rehearsal space, but their excitement came to an abrupt end when angry neighbours arrived at their doorstep, demanding that they stop. Snehadhara has been having problems with hostile neighbours, Choudhury explained. “They are within their rights legally, because we were making some noise, but that doesn't justify them threatening to throw stones at us and break the windows!” Rehearsals, he added, took place for two hours over the weekend.
“There were even people who said 'God made the kids like this, why should our children be disturbed by them'?” Fighting the prejudice seemed futile, so the team was forced to find another rehearsal space, which they did, a week later. “We made it a point,” said Choudhury, “To give all the neighbours two free tickets for the show!”
