Oye Matilda, Tu Hai Ustaad! is not just another adaptation. It gives you a chance to dance to groovy beats while trying hard to control your laughter. In between, you catch the serious metaphors. By Team Viva
Is the adult world ideal or is it indeed upside downIJ Is the child’s imagination a flight of fancy into a fairytale world or a real possibilityIJ The children’s play director-producer team of lushin Dubey and Bubbles Sabharwal is attempting answers and encouraging fresh outlook with their toe-tapping, Hinglish musical, Oye Matilda, Tu Hai Ustaad. It is a preview of the world seen as upside down from the eyes of the children — they correct values and set the compass straight.
The actual story is inspired by Roald Dahl’s story, where the protagonist Matilda is born to consumer-driven parents who have no interest in bettering their lives. Neither do they have any interest in pursuing knowledge and enlightenment, which is Matilda’s sole goal.
In the adapted version, Matilda’s father Mr Fernandez lives in Karol Bagh. He has a “do numbari” car shop where he remodels old cars, puts spurious parts and sells “them for a profit” as he declares proudly. He calls himself an ustaad of jugaad and revels in extolling his questionable philosophy through the song, “Main hoon ustaad.” In his words, “Every purani Maruti that comes through my hands/ I strip down the engine and change the brand! Oye brand ! Oye brand!” And he revels in describing himself as “Ravan, choron ka ustaad,” a self-deification of evil incarnate, without realising that he could be an original creator instead.
The character you are bound to enjoy is the pizza-eating, movie-mad mother who also feeds into this image of the dad being the family’s deliverer, no matter what the means. The exaggeration in the characterisation is the spoof element, which one is bound to enjoy.
Knowledge continues to play second fiddle in Matilda’s school due to the whims and fancies of the dominating, power-driven ego maniac of a principal. A status quoist, he keeps off fresh winds of change. “Why do children grow up so fastIJ! They should be kept in match boxes,” he shrieks. At the morning assembly, he likes to keep the children on their toes, barking compliance orders like, “Feet forward! Ties forward! Nails forward! Tongue forward! Knee forward!!” His androgynous character, his military style of delivery are interesting tweaks, meant to evoke laughter and reduce him to a ridiculous entity. To engage the children in the audience, the principal, who doesn’t like long hair, takes a child’s plait, chops it off and throws it in the audience.
Stifled thus, Matilda awakens to her magic powers and through her tricks and adventures, makes her way in the selfish, self-driven adult world. It’s through the medium of laughter we journey along with Matilda as she helps us see the follies and failings of the adult world that we refuse to accept. In retaliatory mode, she resorts to pranks such as gluing her father’s hat to his head (a hat she knows is not well-earned), hiding a friend’s parrot in the chimney to simulate a burglar or ghost, and secretly bleaching her father’s hair.
Matilda uses her magic powers to “move” a glass on the table and “trick” the principal, who is surprised that the world is indeed not under her control. Encouraged by Matilda’s playful defiance, lavender, Matilda’s friend, puts a lizard in the principal’s drinking cup, her own little act of rebellion, and “makes her hair stand up.” And then she breaks into rock-n-roll, animatedly singing, “Stand up! Stand up!” With the music is composed by laura Joe Santana, lavender’s song is metaphorical, an exhortation to everybody to rise up to what is right.
Director lushin Dubey has worked intensely on the dialogues to make the play acceptable to all age groups and keep it everyday. “As a director of children’s plays, we improvise and rework on a daily basis. If a five-year-old forgets his lines or cannot mouth them, then it’s rewritten to suit his level of acceptance and absorption.” Dubey feels that language must sit comfortable on the tongue. “Though the base, the outer casing of the story is the same, the treatment, the language and the delivery is completely original. We have developed the spoken language as a contemporary mix of English and Hindi.”
Talking about the challenges of keeping kids engrossed, Dubey says, “We use entertainment as a glove to ‘teach.’ Workshops are only through games. If one wants to teach kids the spelling of ‘complicity,’ it’s easy. We break it up and sing it together. Mrs C, Mrs O Mrs M, Mrs P, Mrs l, Mrs I, Mrs C and so on. We make kids wave their hands and sing together.”
Both lushin and Bubbles find children a pure delight. “They could put any adult to shame with their versatility and talent. This play with a generation spanning five to 25 years has been a wonderful challenge. It’s what keeps us young, matching the energy of the kids.”
Talking about the various challenges the performers faced while portraying their character, Bernard (Mr Harry Wormwood) says, “The character is very challenging to perform as it is more out of the box, animated and has some freaky element to it, but yet it was fun to perform.” Meetika, who plays Matilda’s mother, says “representing a negative character was challenging but this gave me more liberty to perform it in my own unique way.” Dhruv Khurana, who plays the headmistress, says, “I have been performing theatre for over six years now but this role has been by far the most challenging to perform. To perform a female character while being a guy, to present the right persona, aura and body language of Trunchpull in an appropriate realistic manner was undoubtedly challenging.”
The play is on till December 17 at DlF Promenade.