Child8217;s play

A gaggle of children are sitting around Poonam Sareen's chair listening intently. Keeping 60 kids in kilter is a difficult task in itself, s...

A gaggle of children are sitting around Poonam Sareen8217;s chair listening intently. Keeping 60 kids in kilter is a difficult task in itself, so directing them in two plays 8212; which are being staged professionally 8212; is no easy task. But then her approach is entirely different too.

The founder of SPEED Speech and Personality Evolution through Educational Drama, she believes in harnessing human potential through performing arts. Instituted in 1985, SPEED holds regular classes and workshops to help children and teenagers cast aside inhibition and self doubt. And seeing the cast of God Is My Banker and Emperor8217;s New Clothes in their roles 8212; enacted without a trace of self-consciousness you know she has succeeded.

God Is My Banker is a tribute to Mother Teresa. Directed by Sareen, the play is in the form of a story told by a press reporter to his little daughter played by Henna Motwani. It starts from her life as a child in Yugoslavia as Gonhxa played by Tasneem Nashrulla to her life in Calcutta. The older Mother teresa is played by Nisha Sareen, a college student. The play uses audio visual effects and music 10 songs sung by the cast.

Emperor8217;s New Clothes, a half hour production, is an old fairy tale told with a new twist. Again a musical, it starts off with two narrators who couple up as courtiers telling the audience of the king8217;s weakness, in verse. The narrators, Veera Mistry and Tasneem Nashrullah, dole out their lines with professional ease and the two unscrupulous tailors, played by Tanvi Mehra and Vidhi Motwani, are very adept in their acting and dancing.

The rehearsals for the two plays have been going on for 20 days and in the last few days before the opening night tempers were running high at the Spastics Society in Bandra. But even then, the element of fun never disappeared and laughter flowed fast. There also seemed to be a bottomless stock of Cokes that flowed from a freezer installed in the foyer. The plays, which have a big budget, have been sponsored by HLL, Lipton and Sonora Tiles. But unlike most plays with a predominantly-child cast, Poonam is determined that these won8217;t be just one-show wonders. She plans to take them around the country and abroad as well.

At Sophiya Auditorium, Breach Candy from January 07 to January 10, 1998 at 7.30 pm. Tickets priced between Rs 100 and Rs 250 will be available at the venue.