LITTLE MERMAID  - Slick presentation

HARRYJOE visits the sets of the Little Mermaid
Hindustan Times, May

On the sets of the Little Mermaid

But the two zestful and talented ladies, Lushin and Bubbles, have taken the onus of taking school children seriously by channelising their energy and talent through theatre. They are convinced that "theatre is a powerful medium through which children interact with a sense of fun and increasing self confidence". Both of them have themselves been involved with theatre since school days.

Kidsworld stages plays with children from age 4 to 19. The children are picked up from different schools and diverse cultures and backgrounds for the cast. They go through an intense training programme in the theatre workshops in which they are familiarised with mime, movements, music, voice speech and other areas of theatre. "Our aim is to come up with first rate products", the two directors say.

Watching the children at rehearsals one can vouch for their "professionalism". They were not only going by the dictats of the directors but also willing to improvise. The directors seemed to be fully versed with the art of handling kids. They were both friendly and stern with them. And handling a cast of 70 kids of different age groups is no joke. "We feel we are aging with every new presentation", they said indicating the amount of extra hard work they put in each new presentation to make it more slick.

With hits like Jungle Book, Peter Pan and Oliver to their credit, the group has now come up with a bigger and better presentation, Little Mermaid.

It is the inimitable light design by R. K. Dhingra, which will really recreate the fantasy world. And, of course, assistance in sets and costume design by Satyavrat Raut, which will complete this world.