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It seemed like party time with kids – with no
adult in sight - scampering around on stage and in the school hall.
And talk to them and they are full of how they are ‘enjoying’
themselves. But in reality, the kids were practising in earnest for
the musical, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” to be staged
by Landing Stage on July 26, 27, 28 and 29 at Chinmaya Heritage
Hall, Chennai.
Cashing in on the craze for anything to do with
Harry Potter, Landing Stage, which is a theatre group run by
“youngsters for young people”, got permission from Warner Bros and J
K Rowling to do this adaptation, explains the director of the play,
Aruna Ganesh Ram who is the oldest in the group at 21.
Aruna confesses that she is not an ardent fan of Harry Potter
like script writer Manasi Subramaniam. It makes her take an
objective view of what needs to go into the play. Aruna and Manasi
have been together with Landing Stage from its inception.
Landing Stage youth theatre group was begun in 2003 in
association with Masquerade, and with the support, help and
encouragement of Krishna Kumar of Masquerade. But the troupe emerged
from the shadow of Masquerade to become an “independent theatre
group with links to other groups as well as various schools in
Chennai”. Now, LS, as the kids love to call their group, is an
independent partnership owned and run by Aruna and Manasi. And the
musical was their brainwave
“We wanted to do something contemporary. Something that would
attract people’s attention. So, we decided on Harry Potter.” But why
musical? “We had used music and dance to give life to our earlier
plays and found that it went down well with the audience. Not just
kids and youngsters but older people as well. So, we decided this
one would be a musical,” says Aruna.
Manasi, who has completed third year B A Literature from Stella
Maris, Chennai, pored over the book and was able to give life to the
characters. The musical is different from the movie which took
certain liberties with the story. “The book is our Bible,” confesses
the young director.
There will be 33 kids on stage and 15 backstage for the play. “We
get training in using props and lighting...the works...during our
summer workshops. So, it is easy for us to handle these departments
as we run the show ourselves,” said Aruna. They have let an adult –
Mitran Devanesan - design the sets and another adult – Muruganandam
- an artist from Valasaravakkam, make the sets for them.
Dance choreography is by Denver Nicholas, who runs his very own
Nicholas Dance Company and has nine years of experience as a dancer.
Music is by Ashwath, a final year electronics student from Anna
University.
The actors come from different schools and some have to appear
for their board exams this academic year. “We have been rehearsing
for the past two months. The whole atmosphere is a whole lot of fun
that we do not find the strain in juggling theatre work and home
work,” grins veteran Aashirwad who is into his plus-two. This is his
fourth play with LS and 10th in mainstream theatre.
There are quite a few like him in the group who have to make sure
that they do not miss out on class and find time for LS. Harsha, who
plays Harry, is in class-10; Drishya, who plays Hermione, is also in
class-10; while Shyam Sunder, who plays Ron, is in class-12.
‘Ron’ Shyam, who has been with LS for three years now, has to
divide time between stage and studies. He goes for tuition at 7 a.m.
and then to school (Bala Vidya Mandir). Since he is interested in
games, he has to find time to play a football match or two. After
that it is rehearsal at school for the LS play and then back to
studies. That is a lot of responsibility for a young adult!
“It is hard work but we enjoy putting in hard work. It is fun,”
says Vidyullekha, a class-11 student whose father is into acting in
TV serials. “We are used to dividing our time. I would continue to
act even when I am in class-12,” she exclaims.
How does it feel to be on your own, without the supervision of
adults? “It is great fun to make decisions on your own. So we enjoy
being on our own and running the show by ourselves. We get a kick
out of doing a play on our own for youngsters. I am proud of the
fact that we are the only youth-run theatre group,” says ‘Ron’ Shyam.
Since they work as a team, there is not much tension in the
group. They feel like family but sometimes Aruna has to assert
herself as the director of the play. The boys have absolutely no
problem working under a she-director. They have done it for their
past productions ‘Electra’ and ‘The Brave Little Tailor’ (2004),
‘The Adventures of Little Mouk’, ‘The Snow White Story’ and ‘Aladdin
and the Magic Lamp’ (2005), ‘Kingdom of Fools’ (2006)
The dates for ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ are July
26, 27, 28 and 29, 7 p.m. at Chinmaya Heritage Hall in Harrington
Road.
Donor passes are available at Landmark (Nungambakkam, Citi Centre
and Spencer Plaza) and will be priced at Rs 400, Rs 200 and Rs 100
(balcony). There will also be four special matinee shows for school
students (bulk booking must be done by the schools) at a subsidised
rate of Rs 100 per student for a minimum booking of 200 students.
For bulk booking and other information, please contact
9841302016.
R Chitra
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