Theatre

HSEA presents BETTER THAN THE REAL

Theatre Production

BETTER THAN THE REAL
By the students of Grade Eleven
(A play in English based on Slawomir Mrozek’s short story 'The Elephant')
Direction: Samta Shikhar & Ashwini Kumar Chakre

Suitable for an audience above the age of seven

Synopsis
This play encapsulates the nature of human existence and is set in a zoo, where animals are caged for display. Inspired by the story “THE ELEPHANT” by Slawomir Mrozek, it seeks for us to collectively reflect on the structures of existence that we as human beings occupy.

Using the trope of a zoo both comically and metaphorically, the play comments on the very nature of human evolution from animals to humans. We may have evolved from primitive animals to the thinking mind, but as thinking minds are we constantly carrying the burden of our own existence? Have we evolved as animals with bent backs rather than human beings capable of owning our decisions? Keeping this question as its central thrust, the play is entirely devised by our 11th graders, in conversation with the story “The Elephant”.

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Arts & Education – Process versus Outcome

Theatre Production

Arts & Education – Process versus Outcome

Literature, music and the arts, all are necessary for the development and flowering of a student to form an integrated total personality.- Rabindranath Tagore

THE BMTC
I got an opportunity to attend a play that was presented by the Head Start school children in Cubbon Park, Bangalore. The multilingual (Kannada, Hindi and English) play was about the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses enacted by a young group of children called ‘The BMTC’. This play is directed by Samta and Ashwini, theater facilitators of the school. A synopsis of the play can be viewed on the following link as that shall not be part of this piece: https://headstarteducationalacademy.edu.in/?p=4130

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The Bus Play

Theatre Production

The Bus Play

Making a play or any work of art often begins with a series of questions. Encouraging children to ask and engage with questions about their reality and the world they live in, makes them aware and empathetic towards their surroundings. Some important factors are the socio-political environment we live in, the ability to question different perspectives and ideas, all leading to the scripting of original plays from stories that children want to tell.

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The God Play

Theatre Production

The God Play

headstartposter

The God Play has been created after a year's devising and research process by the performers and facilitators of this play. It started with a series of questions around what the idea of 'God’ is; where this idea came from; what the need for it was and where it stands now.

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The BMTC

Theatre Production

The BMTC

Synopsis
Bus - a public bus, mundane and regular, used by many, day in and day out.

Fills the road, blocks the lanes, stops suddenly, stops frequently, and drives off without even stopping, noisy heavy vehicle…these buses! We see buses, next to us, beside us, ahead of us, following us every day driving in our cars. What makes a bus special; special enough for us to think about it, to make a play around it?

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