Kaala chana
Bends & Flows
The bend of a road and the flow of a river: a visual and aural experience for toddlers, made from a material every one of us already knows.
- 18 months – 3 years
- 28 minutes
- 2 performers
- Non-verbal
- First performed 2012
Premiered 26 July 2012 at Ranga Shankara, Bengaluru, as part of the AHA! International Theatre Festival for Children.
The play
Everything is always in transformation.
The possibility of change is already built into that which exists.
Bends & Flows works through the metaphors of the bend of a road and the flow of a river. It uses a single tangible material (kaala chana, black chickpeas) to create a visual and aural experience for a very young audience, while allowing glimpses of the hidden narratives that accompany those rhythms and images. It is not a linear narrative with a beginning and an end.
Work on the play began with the material because the material was irresistible. We could never really hold ourselves back when confronted with a room full of chana. We found ourselves playing with it at all times, even when we were supposed to be clearing it away and putting it back in the bag. We decided to go with that instinct: engaging an audience as young as eighteen months could never be about anything else.
We hope they take back images, sounds and emotions, and construe it all into an experience as they would like it to be.
For the adults who bring them
What to expect.
Children from 18 months to 3 years. We ask that only children up to 3 attend.
One parent or guardian with each child. You sit together on the floor, close to the playing area.
Children may move, make noise, or turn away. None of that is a problem. The play does not depend on holding their attention by force.
The children are invited into the performance area to handle the chana. We take that as their feedback on the play.
Background
The first of its kind in India.
Theatre for toddlers (theatre created by adults for children between eighteen months and three years) was, when we began, a new idea in this country. It took shape for us through a workshop run by Ranga Shankara with the Max Mueller Bhavan in Bengaluru, which brought in a theatre pedagogue from Germany specialising in making work for the very young.
That workshop sowed the seed. Bends & Flows premiered on 26 July 2012 at Ranga Shankara, as part of the AHA! International Theatre Festival for Children, the first full-fledged theatre production for toddlers to be staged in India.
Made in collaboration with Ranga Shankara, the National School of Drama and the Max Mueller Bhavan.
For schools and venues
Technical
This is made for an audience that has not experienced theatre before, and does not behave like a general theatre audience. The staging conditions below are not preferences. They are what makes the play work.
| Age range | 18 months to 3 years. We ask that only children up to 3 attend. |
|---|---|
| Running time | 28 minutes, no interval |
| Language | Non-verbal |
| Cast | 2 performers |
| Company on the road | 5 in all: 2 performers, 1 director, 1 production manager, 1 technician |
| Audience capacity | 20–25 children, each with one parent or guardian, seated close to the performance area |
| After the play | The children are invited into the performance area to handle the material. We treat this as their feedback on the play, and ask for it to be scheduled in. |
| Performance space | 25 × 25 ft (7.6 × 7.6 m), on a suitable even floor. No stage required. |
| Get-in | 3–5 hours before the start of the event |
| Get-out | 1 hour after the performance |
| Lighting | The desirable scenario. The play itself is flexible, and has run with far less: 14 PC, 4 profiles, 6 fresnels; rigged FOH, top fly bars, stage-side ladders or at least 6 individual stands, plus floor light. 24 kW dimmer board; console with programming options. |
| Gels | 10 × LEE 105, 4 × LEE 200 |
In performance
Photographs and clips
Click any frame to open it. Clips open with the sound off. Turn it on once and the rest follow.
Credits
In collaboration with Ranga Shankara, the National School of Drama and the Max Mueller Bhavan.
| Direction | Subhashim Goswami |
|---|---|
| Cast | Samta Shikhar, Shrunga B.V. |
| Premiered | 26 July 2012, Ranga Shankara, Bengaluru (AHA! International Theatre Festival for Children) |
I want to bring children
Performances are arranged with venues, schools and early-years settings rather than sold to the public. Tell us who the children are and where you are.
I want to present the work
Running times, cast size, staging conditions and the full technical specification for all three plays. Where fees are a barrier, we seek funding to come anyway.