Tifli | Catch them young

Live Mint , Friday, February 14, 2014
Correspondent : Pooja Singh
Take a child to theatre today”—that’s the motto of Tifli, a theatre festival for young audiences in India. Organized by the International Association of Theatre for Children And Young People (Assitej) India, the festival, which will be open to public from Tuesday, aims to develop interest in dramas and musicals among children.

“Theatre is considered a mighty pedagogical tool. It is a medium that fulfils the edutainment needs of the growing generations and makes them more sensitive towards arts and aesthetics,” says Imran Khan, director of Tifli. The festival, for children aged 3 and above, will showcase 14 plays in six languages by performers from India, Germany, Denmark, Iran and Sri Lanka. Each performance will touch upon subjects as varied as love, fantasy, hatred and climate change in a different theatrical style. “We have musical, dance drama, puppetry, object theatre, mime and shadow theatre and much more. By using these forms, we want to introduce the idea and importance of theatre for young audiences in India,” says Khan.

On Tuesday, there will be a one-hour musical, Kyun Kyun Ladki—based on Mahasweta Devi’s book The Why-Why Girl—that tells the story of young Moyna, who loves questioning everything.

Based on Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice in Wonderland, Mumbai’s Tram Theatre will present a 65-minute play of the same name on Wednesday. Theatre group Swangvale’s Rang Rangila Gittu Girgit will address the issue of global warming on Thursday.

Another highlight of the festival is Cage, a dance-drama on how a man gets trapped in relationships and education. The production, by Sri Lanka’s Interact Act Art, will see 10 artistes performing to sounds created by themselves on stage on 21 February.

Explaining the importance of cultivating an interest in theatre among children, Assitej India president Ashish Ghosh says: “Being a holistic medium, theatre imparts knowledge in every form of creativity—be it writing, music, dance, drama, mime, puppetry, poetry, visual arts, fashion, architecture, design or graphics. This multidimensional nature of theatre makes it tough for us to find any other discipline which not only emphasizes the need to ‘play’ while learning but also makes learning non-didactic and fun.” Theatre encourages children towards self-learning and opens newer worlds to them without adding the pressures that the education system puts on them, he adds.

The festival will also hold workshops for children on voice modulation, storytelling, body movement, object theatre and improvisation.

 
SOURCE : http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/RLEpf7WZ8LarMEOEuBntpI/Tifli--Catch-them-young.html
 


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