AHA!'s latest offering is T Vaidehi's sensitive adaptation of Shakespeare's Tempest, "Dhaam Dhoom Suntaragaali". Elements of magic and fun, simple language, lilting music and colourful costumes come together to paint a canvas that enthralls children and adults alike. Both Vaidehi and the director Jeevan Ram Sulya ensure that the underlying message of the play -- of colonisation and loss of language and identity of indigenous people, is driven home effortlessly.
Tempest is about a nobleman and his group who are caught in a storm, are shipwrecked and end up on an island inhabited by a tribe of people whose customs and language are strange and different. One does not understand the other.The play tells the story of Prospero the nobleman who is also a magician, Cabalis and Ariel, two completely different people who inhabit the island; one a cannibal, another a kind of fairy.
AHA! the universal expression of wonder is the name of our Theatre for Children programme. Ranga Shankara and Britannia embarked on this journey five years ago with a stated mission of providing children with the kind of theatre they deserve – created especially for them, embodying themes that reflect their hopes, aspirations and concerns, and most of all, world-class theatre with no compromises on quality. What began as a conviction then is a reality beyond our expectations today – theatre is endorsed as a necessary element by hundreds of schools who have signed up for AHA! We have touched the lives of more than 100,000 children so far.
