Peter Pan - The stuff for kids' dreams

By Harry Joe
OLIVER, Hindustan Times Friday, October 1, 1993 

Rehearsing for OLIVER

With winter, Delhi's best season, in the offing-one can already feel the nip and mist in the air-the theatre persons are working at a furious pace to get their acts together. Kids World, the Capital's foremost children's theatre group, is ushering in the season with their latest presentation Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist from October 20 to 24 at the Sri Ram Centre. The presentation has been designed and directed by Lushin Dubey and Bubbles Sabharwal, the artistic directors of the group.

But no, it is not "child's play" or "kidstuff" as the grown-ups would call the Kids World. Two lively and talented ladies, Lushin Dubey and Bubbles Sabharwal bubbling with enthusiasm for theatre decided to channelise the energy and talent of children through theatre.

Both believe that "theatre is a powerful medium through which children can interact with a sense of fun and increasing self confidence". Both the ladies have been involved in theatre since their schooldays.

The children picked up from different schools and diverse cultures and backgrounds form the cast. The children go through an intensive training programme through drama workshops in which mime movements, music, voice, speech and expression are taught. In all this, say the directors, "professionalism is our motto. We do not want children only for fun and frolic and fobbing them of with third-rate products".

Indeed watching the crew at rehearsals, one can vouch for their "professionalism" which could be the envy of veteran theatre persons. One could see the two directors patting them for their fine performance and blasting them for blemishes but in good humour. Takes and retakes were on. The emphasis was on clarity of speech, movements and ofcourse, expressions.