It’s a welcome trend. Many prominent Bengali theatre groups are waking up to the reality that there is precious little on offer by way of quality children’ theatre and staging productions for kids. Shaonli Mitra’s theatre group, Pancham Vaidic is among them. For its foray into the genre of children’s theatre, it has chosen the works of two of 20th century Bengali children’s literature’s most well-loved authors ? Sukumar Ray’s ‘Hajabarala’ and Lila Majumder’s ‘Lanka Dahan Pala’ (Academy of Fine Arts, February 5). Part of the genius of these authors lies in their ability to steer clear of the kind of didacticism that mars a plethora of what is churned out in the name of children. Clearly, this is something that Arpita Ghosh, who directs the two plays, tries meticulously to achieve. The all-children cast is largely spontaneous and seems to be having a lot of fun on stage. Colourful costumes depicting the dream-world of Hajabarala and dazzling sets depicting forests on fire in Lanka Dahan Pala also add to the entertainment. However, while there is considerable attention to characterization ? Ghosh, for instance, successfully captures the comic irreverence of Majumdar’s Hanuman (played so competently and with so much energy by Gogol), who here is more a lively monkey than anything else ? when it comes to bringing out Ray’s dark satire, which lurks beneath such ostensibly innocuously comic characters as Kakeshwar Kuchkuche, the Crow, or Hijibijbij, the stage adaptation leaves much to be desired.

With ‘Megh’ (Rabindra Sadan, February 9) Shohan once again attempts to establish its commitment to explore and expose social evil through theatre. But if its earlier productions dwelt on the external manifestations of social ills, Megh tries to capture its psychological impact on the sensitive mind. Like any psychological drama, which depicts the blurring of reality and fantasy, the story grips ? but only initially. The protagonist Samiran Sanyal (played by Anish Ghosh, who is also the director), is a writer who is diagnosed with schizophrenia. In spite of the intriguing plot ? replete with murder, mystery and mental disorders ? and competent acting, the play fails to have any deep psychological impact. This is largely because of the shoddy ending which is marred by the inclusion of too many inconsequential details to the otherwise racy plot.