Jujubee, a Play for Children, by Adisakti Theatre Arts

If you are not familiar with Adisakti Theatre Arts, it is a performing arts company located at Auroville, Pondicherry. They create theatre performances with contemporary visions. Adisakti is organizing a festival presently until the end of February 2017, during weekends, in memory of their late founder Veenapani Chawla. We were fortunate to have attended one of the plays in the first weekend.

Jujubee, a play for children was performed on Sunday, the 5th of February 2017. We were just in time, a few minutes before 7 PM, when the play was scheduled to begin. The hall was packed with audience with kids taking the first few rows followed by adults, all seated cross-legged on the floor. Due to the overflow of people, we had to adjust ourselves in a little space at the side of the stage. Nevertheless, it didn’t change our experience in anyway.

They were all just two musicians and three artists who rocked the stage. Jujubee was the story of a kingdom called Rulampettai where new rules were framed on every full moon day by Raja Idiminnal. How the king causes distress to the citizens and how Jujubee rescues the kingdom finally were what were performed in the one-hour play.

I have never witnessed a live performance with this full of life before. The performance was a mix of story-telling, masks and puppet shows, dance performances with live background music throughout the play. The energy and enthusiasm of the artists were remarkable. There was never a time during the show when they paused or took a break. It was all flowing through them – that’s what I felt.

In addition, they made the play interactive by making the children answer to fun questions and by creating action-oriented scenes. We could see the joy and fun that children had during the play.

I was impressed with the simple, hand-made props the artists used. They meticulously changed masks and props in a moment’s time behind a small wooden divider across the stage.

Here are a few glimpses from the play:

The performances by Adisakti are scheduled untill the end of this month. Here’s a list of scheduled shows. If you get to visit Pondicherry in one of the coming weekends, you shouldn’t miss them.

Providing free entry to such shows is greatness, I would say. I appreciate the entire team for all their efforts and dedication. I am sure their founder, Veenapani would rest in peace. As a way to encourage and support the artists, theatre and art lovers, please make a donation to the Adisakti group here.

I am only a guest audience who happened to watch their play for the first time. The energy of the artists left me spell-binding that I had to write this post and I am in no way related to Adisaki group or the artists.