A play that travels through stagnation to a land of change

What happens when five teenagers embark on a journey from a land of stagnation to a place where

change

is a constant? Directed by Anushree Kini, Arati Sunawala and Priyanka Gurjar and written by Deepika Arwind, Every Inch Upstream, which will be staged this weekend, promises to be a visual treat for the

audience

. Arati says, “The idea of the play stems from the ideas and thoughts of the

children

, what they feel, what bothers them, at their age what they experience and so on. It’s about their journey, where they go from stagnation to a place of change. Through the play, you understand that change has to be internal and not external.”

Arati says that working with over 300 children on the play was a lot of fun and a great experience. “It is so nice to see these kids work on everything, right from the script to the

music

, shooting videos and being backstage as well; it’s basically the heart, soul and the brain of the kids that the

performance

is all about. Most of the times when children are involved in a play, they usually tend to play it safe and work on something that is already done. Every Inch Upstream is a fresh play of our times and it will resonate with us,” says Arati.

Was it a challenge to work with so many kids, we ask? “No not at all (laughs). The only thing is that there are so many people; it’s like a big machine. We have 170 performers so we had to have that many costumes, that many microphones and songs. We just had to make sure that everything we need is in place,” says Arati adding that the play is a lot of fun and has a lot of colour. “The content is very mature. There’s depth in the script and the performance uses elements from multi-media and traditional media,” she says.

Speaking about the children, who have participated in the play, Arati says, “I felt that they are of the caliber of a professional performer. Working with them was so nice, to see them come together as a family, they were so encouraging and supportive of each other. I think being around young people, I feel educated about the times. They make me feel more current and tell me what’s cool and what’s not. And that’s the beauty of the team spirit that I got to see.” Arati says that Every Inch Upstream will make the audience think. “It will make you talk and think, question and change the status quo,” Arati sums up.
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