They may not walk as yet, but toddlers aren’t too young for theatre. A new play, Bends and Flows, gives babies their first experience of theatre. Director Subhashim Goswami, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, takes time off from rehearsing with actors Samta Shikhar and Bikram Ghosh to talk about the challenges of making a “full-fledged production, devised over three months” for toddlers that must appeal to parents as well. Edited excerpts from an interview with the director: This Play isn’t a Game: Toddlers are not allowed anywhere and definitely not welcome into a theatre space. Yet, children between 18 months and three years have the power to retain images and enjoy a visual and aural experience. Theatre for Toddlers is a new concept in India, and our actor Samta Shikhar was introduced to it at a workshop with a theatre pedagogue from Germany, Marcela Herrera-Oleas, who specialises in creating Theatre for Toddlers. This was organised by the Ranga Shankara Theatre and Max Mueller Bhavan in Bangalore. In 2012, we premiered Bends and Flows at the Aha International Theatre Festival for Children in Bangalore. Listen, There’s No Story: Adults may be able to construct a narrative from the sounds and sights, but this play does not have a linear narrative, with a beginning and an end, unlike the fast-moving and colourful cartoon programming that arrests their attention, but does not engage with toddlers. Bends and Flows has two actors on stage who create a series of images, sounds and movements with their bodies and props such as kala chana, a grinding stone and sieves. Using 30-35kg of chana, they make a winding road on which they walk and which transforms into a river, allowing actors to catch fish and ride a boat. The music is made by the grinding stone as it changes the seeds into powder or when one actor pours the chana onto a sieve held up by another so that it sounds like the falling rain. Take a Ringside Seat: Theatre for Toddlers cannot be staged in a large hall with hundreds of people in the audience. It needs an intimate setting, where children sit on the same level as the stage or around the performance area. Moreover, there are no aggressive movements and no black-outs.
