Students of Shaktigarh Vidyapith perform a play. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, Sept. 2: Two minutes. That is all Munni Poddar and Abhaya Das have to get into the character of “mother and son”, come up with ideas, write a script and get their act together.

The school-level workshop, which the duo from Shaktigarh Vidyapith is a part of, is being organised by Mukta Mancha, an association of seven local theatre groups. The workshop is conducted in five Siliguri schools and classes are held after school every Saturday. From conceiving an idea, set designing, children will be taught all aspects of theatre at the workshop.

The aim: to wean schoolchildren from the idiot box.

The occasion: to commemorate 25 years of “sustained theatrical performances”.

The seven theatre groups — Damama, Rittick Natya Sanstha, Theatre Academy, Uttal, Balaka, Darpan and Sangsaptak — came up with the idea of sensitising schoolchildren during a brainstorming session aimed at “breathing new life into local theatre”.

“Children, who are fed on soaps and serials aired on TV, do not realise that theatre is a different form of art. They find little difference between a theatrical performance and a TV serial,” said Partha Choudhury, director of Damama theatre group and joint general secretary of Mukta Mancha.

Two minutes over, Munni and Abhaya begin their performance. “Good, but not natural. You must imagine yourself in a real-life situation. Only then will you be able to create good drama,” Choudhury explained to the children.

The five schools that have been chosen for the workshop are Shaktigarh Vidyapith, Valmiki Vidyapith, Netaji High School, Ghughumali High School and Buddhabharati High School.

“That children are willingly staying back to learn the finer points of theatre is proof of their interest to learn this performing art,” Choudhury said.

Forty to 45 children have been chosen from the high school section of each institution.

“Two months of classes are already over. By January, these children will produce one drama each. Five plays will be staged at a theatre festival in January to mark the silver jubilee of Mukta Mancha,” said convener Malay Ghosh.