This afternoon, at the ongoing Prithvi Festival in Juhu, Mumbai, there will be a show of Dastan Alice Ki. If the title sounds curious, it is a happy coincidence because the show, written and directed by Mahmood Farooqui, is based on Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland which imparted a delightful dimension to the word ‘curious’ with its young protagonist tumbling from one curious incident to another and her famously exclaiming “Curiouser and curiouser!”, good English forgotten.
Farooqui, who is a historian, writer, director and actor, revived the ancient Persian, oral art of story-telling, Dastangoi, in India in 2005, after it had virtually died out in 1928. Over the years, he has put up many dastans with wide-ranging subjects, including Dastan-E-Mahabharat and Dastan-E-Ramji Ki. His venues have been wide-ranging as well. From the steps of the Jama Masjid where he regaled children from Spastics Society of India, to schools, colleges, plush auditoriums and festival sites—he has taken this centuries’ old form of entertainment to many cities, within and outside India.
At Prithvi Theatre today, his adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s popular children’s book will be narrated in Hindi and Urdu by dastangos Poonam Girdhani and Nusrat Ansari before a houseful of children.
Mahmood Farooqui
What made Farooqui choose a western story for an oriental form of story-telling for children? “I chose Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland for two reasons,” replies Farooqui. “First, because it is tilismi in nature, enchanting, and so is very close to the style of traditional dastangoi. Second, it is not didactic. It does not claim to teach or preach anything. I think children appreciate that.”
Undoubtedly, the non-preachy approach is what makes Carroll’s book absolutely delightful. Its characters are allowed to get angry, squabble and even act rude, without being reprimanded by disapproving adults. In fact, adult readers, too, chuckle through their quarrelsome interactions. The other aspect of the book is its element of fantasy… nothing is too absurd. Alice can shrink in size or grow unnaturally tall just by nibbling at pieces of mushroom; or a grinning Cheshire cat can vanish, leaving only its grin behind, a dormouse can narrate a story about three sisters living in a treacle-well… the adventures of Alice after she tumbles into a rabbit-hole chasing a very harried rabbit, who pulls out a watch from his waistcoat pocket and mutters ‘Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late’, are the stuff of pure fantasy.
Poonam and Nusrat
Since dastans are narrated without props, costumes or a multitude of actors, how will Farooqui depict Alice’s fantastical adventures, populated with angry queens, Mad Hatters and other quaint characters? “The story is written in such a picturesque manner, that all it requires is a skilled narration,” explains the writer-director. “The actresses modulate their voices to create different characters, different scenes in a manner that transports the audience into a wonderland. An intrinsic part of dastangoi is to bring alive a variety of characters through the art of narrating. Dastangos Poonam and Nusrat, who are narrating Dastan Alice Ki have a good command over the language and are able to convey the magic of Carroll’s story very well. We have received a very good response from youngsters at all our previous shows.”
Poonam Girdhani, one of the narrators, points out with a laugh, “Kids are the toughest audience to please. They are very smart, more receptive, unbiased and even borderline cruel when it comes to their likes and dislikes.”
So how do they entertain such a demanding audience? “The key is to not try too hard,” says Poonam. “The real challenge lies in selecting the right dastan and getting the sur (tone) right when narrating. We should be able to bypass all our adult anxieties and uncertainties about life and present fantasy in its purest form and intention. Children enjoy stories that have no sermons or hidden agenda. The fact that we are able to hold their attention despite their fondness for video games and cartoon networks makes us very happy.”
Adding to that, Nusrat points out, “One of the biggest challenges for us is holding the attention of children whose attention span is shrinking with their exposure to the digital world. It is a big achievement for us when we succeed in making them sit in one place and enjoy a live performance for 60 minutes.
“The wit and humour of Dastan Alice Ki engages our young audience in a very proactive manner. As we narrate, each child imagines the story vividly, creating individual versions of the characters in their very own wonderland. A lot of preparation goes into our narration; and we also improvise and adapt on stage, according to the responses we receive from the children, so as to keep them totally engrossed.”
Could there be a better story than that of the curious Alice in wonderland to compete with those who emerge from Disneyland? This afternoon at Prithvi will tell.