Just be yourself

Conceptualised and directed by children, the two English plays Amnesia and Let's Dig In questions society and adults about the grey area between right and wrong

Just be yourself

Conceptualised and directed by children, the two English plays Amnesia and Let's Dig In questions society and adults about the grey area between right and wrong

For the last one year, a group of students from Head Start Educational Academy, a city-based montessori, have been collecting various objects from the streets for a story. While this group was busy collecting objects from the junkyard, another set of students were trying to understand the difference between memory and knowledge through a series of questions and answers.

The search of both the groups is at last complete and their findings have led to the English plays Amnesia and let's Dig In that will be staged at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore this week. Vivek Vijaykumaran and Samta Vij, the facilitators of Amnesia and Let's Dig In respectively, share that both the plays are conceptualised, written and directed by children aged between seven to nine years.

Describing Amnesia as a subtle message that stresses on the importance of individuality, Vijaykumaran says, "The play asks you to be yourself. There will be video clips of these children doing some work that bring out the perspective of being oneself."

The play begins with a plain little boy in school. He is neither brilliant nor popular. The boy wishes for somebody else's brain if he could have a sharper memory to show everyone how good he can be. And then one day, someone advises him to steal a good boy's memory. With the new memory, the boy goes to a new school but things don't change for him. Vijaykumaran says that Amnesia shows how memory is only to remember what one knows and what one knows solely depends on an individual's knowledge.u00a0u00a0

Let's Dig In revolves around a magnifying glass and a stone mermaid statue that a few children found in the course of their year-long search. Samta shares that she conducted workshops where children were taken for walks to junkyards where they picked up interesting objects for the story. The magnifying glass shows things in a bigger manner and unnoticeable objects also come in view while the statue is the symbol of what is discarded by the society and dumped, reveals Samta. Most of the children play themselves while some play characters like postman, husband and wife among others.

Let's Dig In is a complete work by the children but is relevant for adults as well since the characters of the play ask questions relevant to contemporary society. She says, "The play questions issues like why we don't have coconut water at parties? Does Google know everything? Why can't we choose our own God and more."

Where: Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, Vasanthnagar
Amnesia
On: August 24, 4 and 7.30 pm
Let's Dig In
On: August 25, 4 and 7.30 pm
Call: 9980799613 For Rs 150