A world of dreams alive on stage

A THEATRE performance presented by children’s theatre company The Jumping Jellybeans at The Annexe in Central Market in June of 2007 reminds one that the imagination is indeed limitless.

The play Terra Arata promised the flyer, would take the audience to “a world of dreams”. It was supposed to take the audience through a journey filled with tales from near and far where birds and bulls and fishes would come alive before their eyes.

A mermaid would turn into a spider, a flamenco dancer into an injured goose, and a Cambrian golden snail from the Indian Ocean would come and grant wishes to other animals with his golden scales.

The journey begins: Sukania starting off the show as a dancing emcee in her flapper costume. The working gramophone was another point of interest with the kids.

What came on stage, however, disappointed this writer, who was expecting a circus show of high-tech special stage effects and over-the top costumes. Instead, there were three ladies in black leotards, prancing on a minimally decorated stage draped with yards of white cloth, with a slide show of weird animal images as a background. This writer wanted to leave.

Her four-year-old, on the other hand, did not share the same sentiment. Sitting on a cushion-strewn carpeted floor, the children were transfixed as Sukania and Shantini Venugopal and Cinzia Ciaramicoli skipped, spat, squatted, squawked, staggered and generally jiggled and jabbered with abandon.

Lessons on the importance of following instructions were imparted in the tale of a tail-less dog that went against the Cambrian snail’s advice.

A murmur of excitement rippled through the children when live goldfish came into the act. Laughter would give way to horror when Ciaramicoli swallowed what seemed to be a live goldfish in a skit where a cheating gamer makes off with her prize at a funfair. Later, she reveals that the “live goldfish” was actually a carrot.

With minimal props and barelythere lighting on the set, these ladies compensated with boundless energy which had the children transfixed from beginning to end. The interaction was remarkable. They gasped as Ciaramicoli, as a bull burdened by its yoke, appeared to stumble and collapse near where they sat. They “oohed” and “aahed” as Shantini come on stage as the golden Cambrian snail and they tittered at Sukania as she played the tail-less dog and the mystical lizard which insisted on payment to perform her magic tricks.

To have an audience of children sit through a play is no easy task and the three ladies were visibly sweating from their efforts at the end of it.

Farming scene: A farmer sows his seeds in ‘Terra Arata’. Leave it to the imagination and be transported to a tilled field in a farm somewhere in a sunny countryside.

Watching Tera Arata requires a sense of childlikeness where fantastical imagination rules. Remember when fantasy games of make-believe served to entertain during dull afternoons and rainy days? Those were the days when one was transformed into Buck Rogers by Gran’s silver belt or Ms Universe with Mummy’s high heels.

It is too bad that as we grow up to be sensible adults, we lose this sense of imagination. Thus, we cheer the children and the ladies from Jumping Jellybeans to remind this so-called sensible adult that once in a while, it is good to let one’s imagination go.

Life would be so much happier this way….

Inspired by a surreal painting by Spanish Catalan painter Joan Miro, Terra Arata stars Cinzia Ciaramicoli, Sukania Venugopal and Shanthini Venugopal. The play is directed by Zahim Albakri with costumes by Dominique Devorsine and projected animation by Octagon Creative. For info on other Jumping Jellybeans productions, email thejumpingjellybeans@ yahoo.com.