Theatre director Barry John holds drama workshops with spastic children

Children from the Spastics school: Gearing up to face the world outsideShe moved about on her crutches with amazing speed, chasing the little boy round and round the room. Just a few years ago Aruna Prashar, now seven years old, was a child who knew only how to crawl, inching her way over the floor with enormous effort. Although she had no speech defects, Aruna spoke little and had difficulty in expressing herself. Within the last two years, she has progressed remarkably from crawling to rolla-tors and finally to crutches.For Aruna, who now talks endlessly, it was a challenge which she could fulfil without the unnecessary help of either pity or sympathy. It was a feat that needed love and encouragement and above all the feeling of being normal. To Aruna, condescension is the real handicap, and not her own disability.Aruna is a spastic child, one of many at Delhi's Centre For Special Education. A spastic child suffers from a disorder of movement and posture, and becomes a spastic before, during or after birth. The symptoms appear in the early years of life. The impaired movement is because of damage to that part of the brain which controls the motor or physical functions. Some spastics may be very mildly handicapped, just clumsy with their movement.Alok Sikka at rehearsals: I made a lot of friendsOthers may have associated sensory handicaps such as deafness, blindness or mental retardation. But all spastics have in common some degree of motor disfunction. About 50 per cent of spastic children are of average or normal intelligence.The school, apart from training the physically handicapped to cope with themselves, has also set itself the task of integrating them into ordinary class-room situations, so that they can derive satisfaction from taking part in ordinary activities, including drama.On the basis of an experiment, the school found out that involving the children in drama could take the focus off the physical handicap, an approach similar to using non-verbal communication with the child who has a speech impairment.Drama Experiment: Last July, the spastics school invited theatre director Barry John to do a series of drama workshops with a selected group of students. By February this year, the workshops were concluded and the group launched into a play. This was no ordinary play.Children from the play: A feeling of tremendous confidenceIt was specially designed to give the more progressive spastic children an entry point into the normal academic stream. Six children from New Delhi's Sardar Patel Vidyalaya volunteered to participate in a unique experiment of an "integration play".As soon as the plan was finalised, John, who claims that his experience in the field of specialised drama is limited, took some time to look for an appropriate play script. "I did not want to choose a moralistic or serious play", said John, "It just had to be funny... with a sense of humour to match that of the kids."Ideally John wanted to work with the children for a longer period so that they would create their own script. "But," he sighed, "there just wasn't any time. So in a sense we have fallen short of the ideal experiment."Finally, John stumbled on the play Old King Cole in his well-stocked library. He immediately set about adapting it - shortening the dialogue, leaving enough room for ad libbing, and of course rendering into Hindi.The play was eventually a slapstick comedy titled Ulti Shadi. Two conmen, Sher Singh and Buddhu Ram, plot together to win the hand of the fair and wealthy Princess Tun Tun, who is besieged by countless admirers. Finally, with sleevefuls of tricks, Buddhu Ram not only manages to win her hand but also makes her fall in love with him.Aruna Prashar (centre) with her 'normal' friends: An experience worth repeatingWith the easily comprehensible story line, the sporting audience comprising school children, as well as adults, sat in rapt attention, amused, proud and some even astonished at the capabilities of the spastic children.The theme offered much scope for constant rapport with the audience, and at intervals, there were screams and shouts from them, sending the children on stage into wild raptures.Exciting Challenge: John had reduced the script to an easily memorised one-line question-answer format so that it would be easier for the children with speech defects to speak their lines. Said John: "I deliberately gave the normal children 'stupid' roles to do and the disabled children were given roles with authority and possession."Alok Sikka, one of the children in the group, plays the central character of the play, Sher Singh, In spite of his speech defects, the 10-year-old managed to convey this character with amazing ironical clarity.Said Alok, painstakingly pronouncing each word: "I enjoyed the play thoroughly. I made a lot of friends from the Sardar Patel school. I would love to do another play with them."For the children chosen from the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, it was equally a challenge. They were prepared in advance for the encounter with the spastic children through film and slide shows and question-and-answer sessions.After the initial embarrassment at their first drama workshop encounter, the children gave way to giggling bonhomie. It was only after some time that the "normal" children realised that the disabled children were in fact very intelligent, responsive individuals.The cast line up to say 'cheese': Thrilled with the responseSaid Rishad Patel, 10, one of the students from Sardar Patel: "I just found out that it is more exciting to work with disabled people than with normal children. It is so dull and boring to act with normal children. I used to think that disabled people were all on crutches, incapable of doing anything. But through this encounter I have found out that they are much more intelligent than me. Now I find myself speaking to them like I would speak to a normal person."The play, which was staged at the Shri Ram Centre, entertained packed houses over two evenings. The performance was then repeated at the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya. There was the usual backstage panic, and an apparent nervousness in the air. But, for everybody it was a challenge not only of getting onto the stage and delivering their lines but also of facing the eager audience.As the children stepped into their colourful costumes, they stepped into a world of make-believe, a world of fun and games and role-playing, a world loved by any child, whether normal or disabled.Experience: In spite of a few forgotten lines, wrong cues, wrong exits and a lot of ad fibbing, the children seemed to enjoy every moment of the play. For Bhanu Dubey, a child with severe speech impairment, it was an exhilarating experience. His eyes lit up in rapturous delight as he watched the action taking place on stage.Speaking about Bhanu, John said: "Before we started on the play, Bhanu was a closed, introverted and antisocial child. But as we progressed, I noticed that he was actively contributing towards the making of the play. He began to come out of himself, and was visibly thrilled at the attention he was getting as the audience clapped and applauded."For soft-spoken Rajul Bhandari, a teacher at the Spastics School, and the producer of the play, it was an equally thrilling experience. Said she: "It has given the children tremendous confidence. It has also helped them physically. They are much more confident in facing the normal children now. For the normal children it has been an experience that they would like to repeat."At one of the local parks, a venue chosen for the cast party of the group, there was absolute bedlam, and hugs and kisses all around as the two groups came together before going their own way. But it was obvious that the goodbyes weren't in the least final.Said John: "If people continue to use scientific approaches to help the disabled then nothing will happen; they will be locked away from the rest of us for ever. We're so thrilled with the response to this play that we intend to take the experiment many steps ahead."PHOTO FEATURE by Lavlin TEXT by Anita Kaul Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 22, 2013 16:20 IST--- ENDS ---

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Theatre director Barry John holds drama workshops with spastic children

Delhi's Centre For Special Education found out that involving the children in drama could take the focus off the physical handicap, an approach similar to using non-verbal communication with the child who has a speech impairment.

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