Khatijabai of Karmali Terrace
Our longest running keeps giving us new experiences. In March, we performed for two extremes. The Udayan Cultural Organisation and a group of students from Jamnabai School. And they were poles apart.
While the Udayan crowd are very warm, most were able to identify with the story of the ageing matriarch. But the packed NGMA was silent through most of the performance. An audience listening intently. A few suppressed laughs were heard at the jokes, but by and large the audience sat still and quiet, only to erupt into thunderous applause at the end.
The children of Jamnabai, however were a different ball game. As the lights went to black out before the show, a loud cheer was heard, followed by the customary 'dark room' noises. And then the customary back benchers stayed distracted throughout the show. What was fantastic though was the responses. Being a JVPD school, the parts in Gujarati drew special attention from the young audience. On the whole it was a first time theatre experience for many of the students, and hopefully they will continue to visit the theatre... and perhaps learn to behave a little better as an audience.
While the Udayan crowd are very warm, most were able to identify with the story of the ageing matriarch. But the packed NGMA was silent through most of the performance. An audience listening intently. A few suppressed laughs were heard at the jokes, but by and large the audience sat still and quiet, only to erupt into thunderous applause at the end.
The children of Jamnabai, however were a different ball game. As the lights went to black out before the show, a loud cheer was heard, followed by the customary 'dark room' noises. And then the customary back benchers stayed distracted throughout the show. What was fantastic though was the responses. Being a JVPD school, the parts in Gujarati drew special attention from the young audience. On the whole it was a first time theatre experience for many of the students, and hopefully they will continue to visit the theatre... and perhaps learn to behave a little better as an audience.