(From top) Patalbabu Filmstar and Bonku Babur Bandhu, staged at Natyasapnakalpa. Pictures by Pasupati Rudra Pal.Anubhav, presented by Nehru Children?s Museum at Academy of Fine Arts, on January 5. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

?Ma eta ki hochhe? Majantali Sarkar kothai?? demands a sulky eight-year old halfway through a production at Natyasapnakalpa, organised by Anya Theatre. With Upendrakishore Roychowdhury, Sukumar Roy and Satyajit Ray as the theme, the year-end festival had turned into a children?s event. And the play in question, Runu Chowdhury?s rendering of Upendrakishore?s tale of the wily Majantali Sarkar, could have hardly appealed to the little ones with its political overtones and free use of expletives.

So, what should a play meant for children be like? The event was a good opportunity to find out. The opening play, directed and adapted to stage by Ramaprasad Banik, was Satyajit Ray?s bittersweet sci-fi tale Anukul. A story few would brand as staple food for a child?s thought, but it did manage to touch quite a few young hearts and minds in the audience.

The production lacked polish and there were no add-ons in terms of dance, music or special effects. But children in the eight-14 age bracket had felt the tension and greeted the android Anukul with loud applause. So are we underestimating our young audience?

According to Ramaprasad Banik, we definitely are. ?As children, we had the luxury of flitting in and out of fantasy worlds, steeping ourselves in fairy tales. But today?s children live in a more difficult world where they have to fight every day to keep up their ranks and grades. So they are different, more aware of grim social realities. All the same, it is never right to load children?s productions with too many serious and complex concepts and emotions,? says Banik.

Having worked with numerous children over the years and launched productions like Ekla Pagol, Jodiyo Shondha and Anubhav with Nehru Children?s Museum, Banik is aware that many a deep and dark thought clouds their world. ?Adults in most cases are totally unaware or treat them lightly; I have made it my business to make the guardians sit up and listen,? he asserts. In Anukul, Banik deliberately keeps violence out so that there is ?nothing to cause a psychological setback?.

When Anukul says that in a house where he used to work before, a child used to cry a lot because the parents were always squabbling, Banik doesn?t explain these squabbles ?because divorce, separation etc, are things with which a child?s mind need not be burdened?.

With Bhalo Rakhosher Galpo still running to packed houses in and around Calcutta, Kaushik Sen launched Bonku Babur Bandhu, easily the most successful presentation at Natyasapnakalpa. ?It is generally thought that plays for children are simple and easily done. This is not true. Children today are so well informed and sensitive that there is no reason not to treat them with the same respect we reserve for adult actors and audiences. In any case, most children?s stories are not simplistic, so it is okay to put across complex ideas as long as we keep our language of expression simple,? says Sen.

Instead of the 13 child actors of Bhalo Rakhosh? there is just one actor (Kaushik?s son Ridhi) in Bonku Babur Bandhu. In adapting Satyajit Ray?s sci-fi tale about a timid village schoolmaster who gains inspiration from an Ang from outer space, Sen depends on ?theatrical technique and imagination?, rather than special effects. ?We grown-ups always want everything shown clearly, but children have a wonderful power of imagination so they only need a few suggestive lights, props and music,? feels Kaushik, while clarifying that Bonku Babur Bandhu is not ?a children?s play, it is child friendly?.

Many other major groups like Nandikar and Rangakarmee have children?s wings where youngsters, often from deprived and marginalised communities, script and stage their own plays. These plays largely reflect social issues and problems of the young. Nandikar?s presentation at the Natyasapnakalpa, Patalbabu Filmstar, was again not really a children?s play but it evoked plenty of laughs. Maybe because the play had that quality Goutam Haldar says is essential for children?s plays. ?While doing children?s plays I think back to my own childhood and try to regain that special way of looking at things. Children?s plays should be about relationships and offer new insights and perspectives, but the presentation should be different,? says Goutam.