MUMBAI, December 16: He said: "Frog Mama sing a song for me / She sang a little opera, a touch off-key." With this delightful verse, Grahame Gavin, writer and director of Frog Opera, opens up a whole world of children's theatre. Barking Gecko, an Australian children's theatre company - that roams the planet from Tokyo to Thailand, Turkey to Canada - may soon descend on Indian soil with tales of the tiger. After meeting Gavin and Lou Westbury (designer/production manager) I'm convinced that if they do, it will give a fillip to our flagging theatre for children, which despite the dedication of the likes of Rael Padamsee, Sanjna Kapoor and Mohan Agashe has yet to find a sustained voice. Talking with Gavin, it becomes evident that apart from commitment, success comes from having regular state funding from the Australian Council for the Arts. Such support being practically non-existent here, workshops rather than full-fledged productions have become the order of the day. In such a scenario, collaborations assume more importance. And Barking Gecko certainly hopes to work with Indian Performing artists in its Living with the Tiger production, planned for mid-1999, in time for the World Congress Theatre for Children, to be held in Norway. Incidentally, the thrust will be on Asian plays and perhaps some Indian companies will participate, though I think it's highly unlikely because of economic reasons.With children's television in the doldrums, I think we can develop a market for theatre if, as Gavin points out, the plays interest not only children but the whole family. Dolphin Talk, which enjoyed worldwide attention was based on true stories with opposing viewpoints - one of the fisherman and the other of an American research assistant, - were both painstakingly developed to provide a total theatrical experience..And old talesIf old age be a second childhood, then surely plays about the elderly are as difficult to stage, and appreciate, as those for the youth. More so with a cast of two and few scene changes, audience attention tends to wander.The Gin Game, the Pulitzer prize-winning comedy by D L Coburn directed by Anahita Uberoi, was presented as a reading at the sunken garden of the NCPA, managed to hold its own in a tug-of-war game of paranoia, suspicion and hate. In some ways it was predictable - the old age home scenario with its inhabitants trapped in more ways than one - but, nevertheless, universal concerns such as loneliness and alienation remain issues. These are likely to magnify as our family structures disintegrate. I still recall the haunting paintings that emerged from Anjana Mehra's brush as she observed men in rocking chairs endless hours of staring into space, an activity certainly more prevalent here than the card game. Studying artStudent festivals have been dominating the scene with a wide range of literary and cultural activities. Writers are often invited to participate and as I interacted with some of the students at St Andrews College, it become evident that there's a bunch of theatre enthusiasts out there. And they're a thinking lot as the questions just kept coming! Having an auditorium in the college itself perhaps inspires them to see a lot of plays - some of them are even acting in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and there is talk of putting up a student's play next year. St Xavier's College has been doing it year after year with much applause. Besides catering to commercial circuit, upto six inter-collegiate competitions are held at St Andrews with one on Western music to be added in the coming year. Pity that these same youngsters forget all about the arts as they climb corporate ladders.The last wordSaid Ms Vulture to Ms Culture:Politics is `hard' reporting, food and fashion `soft'.When women in the media argue about that is, what's not, who dare ask where culture fits in - hopefully it rises above the din.
