Press Release
Kids from France, Sri Lanka reached National School of Drama
to perform at 13th Jashne Bachpan· Online ticket sales are higher than the counter sales due to demonetization
New Delhi, November 21, 2016: The 13th edition of Jashne Bachpan completed successful one week with packed audience including underprivileged children from various NGOs. National School of Drama is hopeful that the same enthusiasm and response will receive from the children audience in the last phase of 13th Jashne Bachpan which will be on till 25th November, 2016. Online booking has seen a high rise due to demonetization. Around 70 percent tickets have been sold till date, are through online.
There are nine plays remaining, out of which three plays are from Sri Lanka and France. Children from both the countries have already reached New Delhi. They are quite excited to be a part of the theatre festival which has become international for the first time.
On 22 November two plays from Sri Lanka, Laughing Dreams directed by Sachithra Rahubadda, group Red Apple Theatre Gathering and Samanola Photha directed by Harshani Rathnayake, Haritha Team of Drama group will be performed at Sammukh and Bahuukh of NSD. On 23 November a play from France Play directed by Dinaïg Stall & Céline Garnavault, La Boîte à sel Company will be performed at Bahumukh, NSD.
Sachithra Rahubadda, Director, Laughing Dreams said, “The play was created to provide a new perspective to the children and youth. It is categorically different in terms of ideology and structure. It was first staged at the National Children Drama Festival Sri Lanka, 2015, in which it gained recognition. It was rated the best production of the festival and received 14 awards.”
Harshani Rathnayake, Director of Samanola Photha said, “Our children are the future, and we are duty-bound towards them. As elders in the present world, we should guide them towards a peaceful and happy world. We need to give them a holistic education so that they take-over the future with responsibility. Their food, clothes, books, and other needs like creativity should be taken care of, and made special for them. Drama is an effective means to build a more human world, since theatre has a universal language – the body, its movement and expression. It helps in sensitising the children and youth to various issues of global concern. As a teacher, an elder, a writer and a director of drama I appreciate the effort and initiative of TIE and NSD, Delhi for giving us a platform like Jashn-e-Bachpan.”
Dinaïg Stall & Céline Garnavault, Director, PLay said, “Children’s theatre is far from being a lesser version of the other forms of theatre, it simply adheres to its own rules. That’s what is at the heart of Play - inventing our own game rules with things and music, playing and discovering through the game, creating through the game, and growing-up through the game. It is also a lovely parable for the art of puppetry, where anything can come to life with a look, by a gesture from the puppet master by a desire to believe.”
Tickets for 13th Jashne Bachpan are available online at www.eticket.nsd.gov.in. Ticket prices are Rupees 20 for children and Rupees 50 for adults. There are four venues where the plays will be performed i.e. Sammukh (3.30pm), Bahumukh (3.30pm), Abhimanch (6pm) at NSD and LTG (5pm). Tickets are also available at NSD premise from between 11 am and 5pm.
The festival was started in 1998 by T.I.E Co., NSD in order to contribute to the growth and development of children’s theatre across the country, and has now come to be regarded as one of the largest and most important theatre festivals in India for Children.
About National School of Drama
The National School of Drama is one of the foremost theatre training institutions in the world and the only one of its kind in India. It was set up by the Sangeet Natak Akademi as one of its constituent units in 1959. In 1975, it became an independent entity and was registered as an autonomous organization under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860, fully financed by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Training in the School is highly intensive and is based on a thorough, comprehensive, carefully planned syllabus which covers every aspect of theatre and in which theory is related to practice. As a part of their training, students are required to produce plays which are then performed before the public.
About T.I.E. Co.
Sanskar Rang Toli (T.I.E. Co.) of NSD was established on October 16, 1989, and completed 27 years of its existence. Sanskaar Rang Toli is the only theatre education resource centers in the country and has worked with more than 15 thousand children till date in various workshops. It consists of a group of actor-teachers working with and performing for children. The major focus of the TIE Company is to perform creative, curriculum-based and participatory plays in schools, specially designed and prepared for children of different age groups. The major thrust of the plays is to create an atmosphere that encourages children to raise questions, take decisions and make choices with an awareness of themselves within the larger social context.
The TIE Company has done more than 2000 performances in various parts of the country. More than 10 lakh children, apart from college students, teachers, parents and theatre lovers, have witnessed these plays in approximately all the states in the country and Poland, China, Philippines and Japan.
The Toli began with an objective of bridging the gap between passive education and an active method of learning by doing through its performances of varied plays, Summer Workshops on self development and social integration, Sunday Club for devising original performances with children, workshops with teachers on effective teaching-learning process. All these activities are practiced round the year as per the children annual school calendar in Delhi and other parts of the country.
For further media query please contact:
Anuj Kumar Boruah/ Shakti Raj VidyarthiYoung Monk Communications
A.K. Barua
Public Relations Officer
National School of Drama