Friday, August 22, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Snow White and the seven little boys
School days come and school days go... but we wanted to make this one special for the children and theit parents. So we, the staff of this little school in a remote corner of India decided to stage "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"
One of the most challenging and delightful roles of a teacher is to prepare the children for a play...especially if the children are in Junior school... The experience of training and getting them to practice defies description.
Snow White and the rest of the cast were from grade 5 or less. A pretty and talented third grader became Snow White more so because she was relatively less naughty. The role of the wicked queen went to a smart 5Th grader who was really good at acting.
The seven dwarfs were chosen for their bright eyes, exuberance and general optimism about everything.. as you will soon see... The prince, who appeared only in the last scene was a quiet boy who learned his lines and recited them when asked to, a redeeming quality... as you will soon see.....
With minimum and minor hitches we managed to get the children word perfect for the play. They emoted well, even the seven little boys... as they just had to be themselves, funny and in high spirits.
The great day arrived... All were excited. The children were angels as far as punctuality and dress rehearsals were concerned. With the play scheduled at 7pm, the kids were brought to the green room at half past five, to get ready.
As the dwarfs' costume was uncomplicated they got ready first, their beards and whiskers and wigs fitted on and they were marched out to stand in a line, waiting for their great moment.....This was a great mistake....
They waited, 10 minutes... like good little boys, silent and happy... The next 10 minutes they looked around, and attracted others' attention to their costume.. Some posed for pictures... They started talking ... softly, louder.. louder until they were commanded to stand with fingers on lips.
It was then that the tallest of the boys noticed a lovely pit dug just behind the green room. he gestured silently to the other boys and said "Let's see who jumps in and comes out first?"
Those that couldn't jump just slithered in, shouted in victory and then clambered back to level ground. This seemed to be a nice game to pass the time... By the time they were missed and spotted, each dwarf could be credited with at least 3 attempts in jumping in and clambering out....
Their attire bore faithful testimony to this fact... The costumes were terribly muddied, the whiskers and beards were askance, there was no trace of make up and little fights of one up-manship had erupted...Of course they were lucky to have the pretty silver cardboard axes we had made for them, to begin their skirmishes. "Bang! Clash!" they mouthed to simulate a well fought axe duel....
However, the axes had not been designed for this eventuality and thus bore the brunt of the fights... all axes drooped and then came apart....
The whiskers were stuck back, the clothes were dusted clean, spare axes given, and make-up was applied again.....
The play began..The queen, king, Snow White and the queen's henchman were unbelievably good... Now our little boys were sent up on the stage...All got ready with their axes on shoulders and a happy grin.on their faces.. except one.. This little boy did not want his whiskers... they were tickling his nose! He cried for his mother and kept twitching his nose and sneezing until it fell away... he now looked what he was... a third grader...
Though he went on stage un-whiskered, he played his part well, as did the other six boys... We were almost getting complacent when the other shocks in store for us were revealed...
It was the scene of Snow White's happy domesticity in the dwarf's' hut... She sang and danced and dusted and cleaned... The parents of the girl playing the part were so proud of her that her dad decided she should be photographed/videographed/captured on mobile right then... So like any loving father he asked his other daughter (aged three years) to get up on stage and pose with her famous Snow White sister..
Snow White loved all the attention, stopped singing and started posing for the pictures... I mean.. how often would this moment repeat for her? She made the best of it...
Play commenced after 10 minutes when one of us lifted the three-year old away from the stage and told her dad that people were waiting to see the play go on... Being magnanimous of heart he complied and settled back in his seat to watch the rest of the drama....
A real drama it was now... the wicked queen came with the pretty laces and bows .. she was applauded for her acting prowess by the parents while children watched her wickedness open-mouthed...Then the step mother disappeared...
It was the scene when she had to give Snow White the poisoned apple... Well... Snow White sang and knitted and danced and cleaned, waiting for the queen to appear, so did we... there seemed to be some commotion backstage...
What actually had happened was... the basket of shining red apples (five of them) tipped and the apples had rolled away... not one could be traced...A first grader wanted to help find it... he looked all around and then came running back to the director.. "Is this ok?" he asked... he had a melon sized red ball in his hand, which he had found somewhere.. It had bright wide stripes on it too..
I will not dwell on the director's plight, nor will I pause to consider whether he considered using the huge plastic ball..for the apple..... because at that moment one apple was traced.. It had rolled onto the stage and settled below Snow White's chair...
One enterprising 4Th grader, who was the presenter for the evening skipped onto the stage merrily, said "Hi Snow White! How are you? I'll just be back.." and adroitly picked up the apple and went back stage....
There were no hitches after that... The prince brought Snow White back to life and the dwarfs cheered and the curtains came down......
Much later, while the Chief Guests and the School Management warmly appreciated the teachers' efforts in making the play a success... I wondered whether we would be game enough to direct another play next year.... Maybe ..."Aladdin and the wonderful lamp".... Want to help us direct it anyone?
One of the most challenging and delightful roles of a teacher is to prepare the children for a play...especially if the children are in Junior school... The experience of training and getting them to practice defies description.
Snow White and the rest of the cast were from grade 5 or less. A pretty and talented third grader became Snow White more so because she was relatively less naughty. The role of the wicked queen went to a smart 5Th grader who was really good at acting.
The seven dwarfs were chosen for their bright eyes, exuberance and general optimism about everything.. as you will soon see... The prince, who appeared only in the last scene was a quiet boy who learned his lines and recited them when asked to, a redeeming quality... as you will soon see.....
With minimum and minor hitches we managed to get the children word perfect for the play. They emoted well, even the seven little boys... as they just had to be themselves, funny and in high spirits.
The great day arrived... All were excited. The children were angels as far as punctuality and dress rehearsals were concerned. With the play scheduled at 7pm, the kids were brought to the green room at half past five, to get ready.
As the dwarfs' costume was uncomplicated they got ready first, their beards and whiskers and wigs fitted on and they were marched out to stand in a line, waiting for their great moment.....This was a great mistake....
They waited, 10 minutes... like good little boys, silent and happy... The next 10 minutes they looked around, and attracted others' attention to their costume.. Some posed for pictures... They started talking ... softly, louder.. louder until they were commanded to stand with fingers on lips.
It was then that the tallest of the boys noticed a lovely pit dug just behind the green room. he gestured silently to the other boys and said "Let's see who jumps in and comes out first?"
Those that couldn't jump just slithered in, shouted in victory and then clambered back to level ground. This seemed to be a nice game to pass the time... By the time they were missed and spotted, each dwarf could be credited with at least 3 attempts in jumping in and clambering out....
Their attire bore faithful testimony to this fact... The costumes were terribly muddied, the whiskers and beards were askance, there was no trace of make up and little fights of one up-manship had erupted...Of course they were lucky to have the pretty silver cardboard axes we had made for them, to begin their skirmishes. "Bang! Clash!" they mouthed to simulate a well fought axe duel....
However, the axes had not been designed for this eventuality and thus bore the brunt of the fights... all axes drooped and then came apart....
The whiskers were stuck back, the clothes were dusted clean, spare axes given, and make-up was applied again.....
The play began..The queen, king, Snow White and the queen's henchman were unbelievably good... Now our little boys were sent up on the stage...All got ready with their axes on shoulders and a happy grin.on their faces.. except one.. This little boy did not want his whiskers... they were tickling his nose! He cried for his mother and kept twitching his nose and sneezing until it fell away... he now looked what he was... a third grader...
Though he went on stage un-whiskered, he played his part well, as did the other six boys... We were almost getting complacent when the other shocks in store for us were revealed...
It was the scene of Snow White's happy domesticity in the dwarf's' hut... She sang and danced and dusted and cleaned... The parents of the girl playing the part were so proud of her that her dad decided she should be photographed/videographed/captured on mobile right then... So like any loving father he asked his other daughter (aged three years) to get up on stage and pose with her famous Snow White sister..
Snow White loved all the attention, stopped singing and started posing for the pictures... I mean.. how often would this moment repeat for her? She made the best of it...
Play commenced after 10 minutes when one of us lifted the three-year old away from the stage and told her dad that people were waiting to see the play go on... Being magnanimous of heart he complied and settled back in his seat to watch the rest of the drama....
A real drama it was now... the wicked queen came with the pretty laces and bows .. she was applauded for her acting prowess by the parents while children watched her wickedness open-mouthed...Then the step mother disappeared...
It was the scene when she had to give Snow White the poisoned apple... Well... Snow White sang and knitted and danced and cleaned, waiting for the queen to appear, so did we... there seemed to be some commotion backstage...
What actually had happened was... the basket of shining red apples (five of them) tipped and the apples had rolled away... not one could be traced...A first grader wanted to help find it... he looked all around and then came running back to the director.. "Is this ok?" he asked... he had a melon sized red ball in his hand, which he had found somewhere.. It had bright wide stripes on it too..
I will not dwell on the director's plight, nor will I pause to consider whether he considered using the huge plastic ball..for the apple..... because at that moment one apple was traced.. It had rolled onto the stage and settled below Snow White's chair...
One enterprising 4Th grader, who was the presenter for the evening skipped onto the stage merrily, said "Hi Snow White! How are you? I'll just be back.." and adroitly picked up the apple and went back stage....
There were no hitches after that... The prince brought Snow White back to life and the dwarfs cheered and the curtains came down......
Much later, while the Chief Guests and the School Management warmly appreciated the teachers' efforts in making the play a success... I wondered whether we would be game enough to direct another play next year.... Maybe ..."Aladdin and the wonderful lamp".... Want to help us direct it anyone?
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