A still from Giant’s Table
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“Everything in life is a performance, right?” laughs Ranga Shankara’s founder, Arundhati Nag, who believes that children absorb everything they encounter, starting from infancy. “You are setting the arena, really; that is the huge mantle of responsibility, parents should wake up to and be aware of,” she says.This is something Ranga Shankara’s AHA! International Theatre Festival for Children, now in its 16th edition, seeks to tap into, hoping that by exposing a child to theatre early on, “we are doing our bit to bring up a generation of children who are sentient, caring and empathetic.” .Theatre, in Arundhati’s view, is the best tool for this, “because it triggers the imagination of a child who sees a real human being enacting a play. It is not on a phone, tablet or television, but real blood, sweat and tears talking to you,” she says, comparing the effect of theatre to a mother telling a child a story. “This is why we keep trying, even though it is not easy.” This year’s lineup, as always, includes theatre groups from all over the world, with eight plays being performed from July 18 to 25. These include Giant’s Table from South Korea, Chifumi from Switzerland, Sortilegio (Alchemist) from Argentina, Jonathan & The Blue Table from France and Moon’s Magic & Sapling from India.
