The ‘Little Theatre’ that transcends big boundaries

CHENNAI: The third floor of a four-decade old building is full of fun and frolic. We could hear the laughter even as we climbed to the second floor. We open the door and the cast of The Little Theatre-- a non-profit children’s theatre company is rehearsing for their upcoming show, The Kooks. Sunny Side Up! in full swing. This 12th edition of the little festival—an International Theatre Festival for the young audience, is also their third show since pandemic.

The founder of The Little Theatre Aysha Rau says, “My actors feel at home here and this is where we have created some of the memorable productions for kids over the years. We will be performing a brand new musical. This is the first time the troupe will be traveling within India. We will perform in Bengaluru later. The show is called The Kooks and revolves around chefs.”

On the rehearsal floor, actor and artistic director Krishnakumar Balasubramanian aka KK is at the helm of things. The actors are dressed like chefs and are seen discussing the lines and performing them. “The main motive behind the festival is that our children are able to understand and embrace different cultures. Theatre is the best way to do that by telling them stories and how their cultures are different from ours and also to show the similarities between each culture, especially Asian countries,” he says.

Theatre artists from South Korea will be in town next week to perform and KK divulges on the performance. “There will be shadow puppets show and even puppeteering will be a part of it. It is going to be exciting. We also wanted to bring in performers from Spain and Germany, but we couldn’t because of the global recession. I hope that they can join us next year,” he tells us. He reveals to us about bringing in a brand new cast and presenting a new show.

“From 2016, we had our show called The Garage Gang. Now, we have roped in new actors from the Christmas Pantomime show last year. I believe that I reached an end point with The Garage Gang and should be offering chances to new actors to express themselves. That way, I believe, we can stay relevant,” adds KK. He points out to the actors-- Anand, Aravindan, Santhosh, Abirami and Hari Shankar and explains. “Their humour is great and is on the same page with today’s audience. The Kooks will have a great mix of action, humour and musical elements with some live audience interaction. Our shows cater to the whole family,” KK remarks.

The actor divulges a bit on the storyline. He says, “It is about chefs in a kitchen of infinite possibilities, who will cater the food that will save the world. They have one hour’s time to do that.” The Kooks. Sunny Side Up! will be staged in the Anna Centenary Library from July 2 to 4. Passes for the show are available on https:// thelittletheatre.explara. com/