Not a Child’s Play

Enacted by children,the play is a work of art for all age groups. Along with its environmental stance,it gives a bold social message against the bane of social conditioning and biases that are passed from a generation to another. It begins with Tunni,the 12-year-old protagonist,reading a book before sleeping and in her dreams getting transported to the book’s magical landscape,which is divided into three territories — Red,Green and Blue lands — each hostile to the other. “These symbolically represent the self-inflicted seclusion man experiences on the basis of race,creed,ethnicity,geography and politics,” says Panigrahy.

Illustrating the point he shares a scene from the play when Tunni visits Red land and befriends a girl named Lalli. Tunni suggests they transgress Red land’s boundaries and visit Green land. Lalli isn’t supportive of the idea,reiterating the bad relations with Green land and also the dangers of a solitary tiger that guards the forest mediating Red and Green land. But Tunni says she’ll reason with the tiger and convinces Lalli. On entering the forest,the tiger roars to scare the children away. Tunni rebukes the tiger by proclaiming his cowardice for roaring at children. The tiger breaks down in tears and says that he is the only tiger left in the little patch of forest caught between human territories on both sides.

“The play seeks to give a message on the urgent need for human solidarity,beyond the myopia of borders and nations. The fight for nature is a cause for which all of humanity must unite,” says Dutt,the director,playwright and composer of this production. He shares that Red,Green and Blue lands are eventually attacked by Smoky,the queen of destruction: symbolically a conglomeration of environmental hazards. Tunni instils sense into the inhabitants by telling them that solidarity is the only way to tackle an enemy. The territories mobilise to defeat Smoky in an exhilarating climax.

“We are seeking to create awareness through art. We want the viewers to think. We want parents to question their pre-conceived notions. We want children to question their parents on why we are divided,” says Panigrahy.

Tunni Ki Kahani will be staged on Wednesday at 7 pm in Jyotsna Bhole Sabhagruha