Ritanjali Hastir, Keekli Reporter, 17th January, 2014, Shimla
People of Shimla city got an opportunity to experience the magic of acting in the form of a play — Bargad — staged at the historic Gaiety Theatre.
Samanvya Theatre group in association with Sangeet Natal Akademi, New Delhi presented a Hindi play Bargad, which was enacted by the students of Children Theater Workshop held at Kasumpati. While informing about the show Chris, director of the play informed, “This theatre workshop is an annual event that is always organized by the government for honing the talent of young children. It was for first time that I have worked with young children and I feel that it was a wonderful experience as response comes naturally. When dealing with adult actors we can make their movements mechanical but here it was not possible and that was the beauty of our concept”.
In this workshop 30 students participated, from class one onwards. The play Bargad allowed all 30 of them to showcase their talent in front of a huge audience. The play depicted the story of trees and its relationship with mother nature and other elements including wind, water, plants and school children; to name some. They all live in harmony with each other and through the play the director depicted one day activity that is from dusk to dawn; Bargad is old, respected and loved by all. He is a wise council giving words of wisdom to all including plants and birds. One night there is a storm and unlike others he refuses to bend and surrender in front of the storm. The wicked storm uproots the tree and it dies.
The highlight of the play was children and their performances. Within a span of three weeks these children learnt a lot as during the workshop they actually saw a new side highlighted in them. As such the story of the play was simple without anything extraordinary elements but the set designing and other fine details made it a cute treat to watch.
While sharing about the experience all the students in one voice said that it was a new experience as they had a wonderful time. They made new friends and got confidence to step up on the stage. Some of them were so overwhelmed with their experience that they wished to continue with the classes during the next season too.
While commenting on the show Ashima one of the spectators said, “Kids are always a pleasure to watch and I am glad that parents are giving their children the opportunity to learn and grow rather than forcing them to become a bookworm. The act was cute and I would not like to point out to the mistakes. I was here to enjoy and I did to the maximum”.
On stage Divyanshu played Bargad; Divyansh played Murga; Himani – Jharni; Sakshi – Kamlini; lshita – Lily; Shriya – Suryamukhi; lshani – Champa; Himanshi – Chameli; Munish – Tota; Saiyam – Bhinda; Madhu – Koyal; Muskaan – Maina; Sambhav – Crow; Piyush Joshi – Peacock; Saransh – Papiha; Gungun – Gvalin; Ons and Upanshu – Gvala and Jupiter; Monika –Student – 1; Anurag – Student – 2 and Sameer; Chinmaya – Hansni and Badal-1; Piyush – Hans and Mangal; Harshit – Chand; Dhananjay – Surya and Badal 2; Aarya – Star one; Somya – Star 2; Priyanshi – Star 3; Sara – Star 4 and last but not the least Shivam as Toofan.
Other crew members included – Set Design: Prabhat Sharma; Assistant: Piyush Kanga; Costume: Neeraj Raghav; Assistant: Bharti Verma; Back Drop: Chaman Thakur; Painting : Dharmender Thakur; Lights: Chris; Music: Harsh Sharma; Song: Ketan Tomar; Production Assistant: D.S. Rawat and Assistant Director: Hemlata Rawat.
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