‘Khilona’, theatre for Children, will be presenting Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, a musical adaptation in Hindi for children above 10 years of age. To be premiered at Shri Ram Centre on November 28, 29 and 30 at 6.30 pm daily, Khilona will also have special shows for school children on November 29 and 30 at 10.00 am.
Khilona is India’s first company of adults performing for children founded in 1987 by Mr. V.K. Sharma, a graduate from National School of Drama (NSD). Starting with a musical adaptation of Pushkin’s ‘The Golden Fish’, Khilona has done over 15 professional plays by adults for children and given over 3000 performances in over 300 hundred schools, in 24 towns, catering to an audience of over a million children, teachers and parents. Some of the other popular plays by Khilona include The Clown’s Cry for The Moon, City without Love, Grehon Ki Kahani Grehon Ki Zubani, The Rabbit King, Ek Kahani Panchtantra and The Chalk Circle, among others.
Khilona also works with children to help them discover their hidden talents and have conducted over 50 workshops with different schools/organizations.
Peer Gynt is a character from the Norwegian folk-lore, in which Ibsen added quite a few aspects of his own life while writing the play. Escaping the situation rather than facing it, not wanting to take-up any responsibility, dreaming big but doing nothing to realize one’s dreams, striving to figure out one’s true self are some of the traits of this character, that are quite relevant for children of all times.
The production is designed by Robin Das, Associate Professor of Design at the NSD, who is also a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Theatre Design. With music by Chittranjan Tripathy, an NSD graduate and a leading exponent of theatre music in India, Peer Gynt boasts of a cast of trained artistes from NSD and other institutions.
The project is funded by The Royal Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi as part of the world-wide celebrations of International Ibsen Year 2006, to commemorate Henrik Ibsen’s Death Centenary, a great Norwegian playwright who is the acknowledged master of modern drama in the world and is often compared with the all-time classic Shakespeare.