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Huck Finn?s in town
In veteran theatreperson Feisal Alkazi new play the mischief of Tom Sawyer meets the irreverence of Huckleberry Finn.
The mischief of Tom Sawyer meets the irreverence of Huckleberry Finn. The twain domains of literature and theatre converge in veteran theatreperson Feisal Alkazi’s adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic.
When the curtain goes up on the production, Huckleberry Finn, at the Ashok’s Convention Hall this evening, 35 children from city schools will put together all they’ve learnt at Ruchika Theatre Group’s summer acting workshop. “Beginning with basics, we move on to theatre games, improvisation, creative writing and movement before exploring the story,” says Alkazi.
Stage fright, these effervescent kids don’t know what it is. “I play Huck Finn’s alcoholic father. I keep abusing my son till he runs away from home. I quite enjoyed the role,” says Revant Bhalla, a class VII student of Sanskriti School.
Adds the cherubic Vaibhav Manchanda, his classmate: “I play Tom Sawyer. I particularly enjoyed a scene where Huck and I attach fire-crackers to a lady’s skirt.”
Although it is only his second play, Manchanda is confident of pulling off a good performance. “I debuted in Around The World In Eighty Days,” he says. Feisal and Radhika’s son, Armaan Alkazi, a class VII student of Shriram School, is the chosen one for Huck Finn’s role. “I keep breaking rules and I run away from my dad. The best part about playing Huckleberry Finn is the element of fun,” he says.
After the kids’ production Alkazi moves to matters more mature. The director of one of the oldest amateur theatre groups in the city is, in fact, writing a play for the first time. “The play is about Noor Jehan. Although it is set in the Mughal era, the nuances are contemporary,” he says.
What drew him to the character? “Her story is a fascinating study in gender politics. She kills her first husband to marry Jehangir and become empress and then ensures that the next emperor marries her niece Mumtaz Mahal. The play has a sprinkling of sexual encounters and we’ll see how the Delhi audience reacts to that.” History meets histrionics, an act worth waiting for.
