Beyond entertainment: children’s theatre essential for mental growth

Karachi- March 15: Theatre for children, while an integral part of theatre anywhere in the world, holds a special position — it is not very easy to accomplish successfully, because it caters to a younger age group. Apart from entertainment, a number of factors, such as education and mental stimulation, need to be kept in mind while making theatre aimed at children.

Despite being of such importance, children’s theatre remained low on the priority list in Karachi for a long time — that is, until it was brought back by The Citizen’s Foundation (TCF) theatre festival and Katha, whose children’s play, “Ek Sae Badh Ke Ek,” kicked off the TCF festival. The play revolved around a jungle where the fox tries to take over the throne by corrupting every other animal; and the only kind-hearted animal, the monkey, has to suffer for his honesty. In the end, however, the whole jungle stands united against the common enemy: the human being.

Shahid Shafaat, the writer and director of the play, maintained that children’s theatre was especially needed in Pakistan, where 60 per cent of the population is young. “Theatre should be designed, written and manoeuvred to hit the mind of the youth, because they are the torch-bearers of tomorrow,” Shafaat told The News.

He believes that theatre is the most effective medium for sending messages across to young people, because it is a direct relation with the individual. Anything which is told in the form of a story, poetry or painting ends up making a greater connection with the audience. Shafaat was of the opinion that theatre can play a pivotal role in changing standards of education in Pakistan, where rote-learning not only makes education boring, it also narrows the thinking horizon of the child. “In countries such as Israel, watching theatre is a prerequisite for admissions in school. Theatre is such a strong medium that instead of teaching history and science through books in Pakistan, if we perform a play giving life to a lot of national heroes, or a play about Galileo’s life by recreating a Galileo himself, it would stay in the child’s mind for a longer period of time and won’t seem like studying,” Shafaat said.

He was, however, is not very happy with the feedback that he received this time around for “Ek Sae Badh Ke Ek”, as compared to the feedback in1992 when the play was first performed in front of a live audience. He believed that although the play was primarily meant for children, the politically-relevant subtext and metaphors used in it made it suitable for all ages — a fact that, he said, the current audience was unable to register.

“In 1992, when people saw this play, they were able to read in between the lines and were able to understand things in a larger context. This time around, however, children liked and hated a lot of characters in the jungle, but sadly, only a handful could get the underlying meaning. This tells us how much our imagination has been inhabited in the past decade — instead of progressing, we are regressing,” Shafaat maintained.

Children’s theatre can thus be of great help in mental development, but only if it is taken seriously. “Children’s theatre completely falls within the criterion of healthy entertainment, but only if the parents take it seriously. Educational, interactive and colourful displays of living characters, conveying the message of unity or tolerance, are the best modes of learning, especially in times of social disparity,” Dr Fouzia Khan, a psychiatrist and an educationist, told The News.

Supporting Katha’s initiative, Dr Khan said that parents in Pakistan should start taking children’s theatre seriously, and “instead of relying on free passes, they should see it as something important for their child’s future.”

Published in daily News on March 15