Lushin Dubey, after finishing her Masters in history from Delhi University, got
married and spent five years in Europe and the U.S. In the U.S. she finished a Masters
in Childhood and Special Education………… and from there began a long association with
children ! She continued wording with children on coming back to India, starting
out with teaching Special Education at the American Embassy School and soon started,
'Kids World' with her cousin Bubbles. She believes that all children have a lot
to 'give' of themselves and this energy can be expressed and harnessed beautifully
through the medium of 'theatre' - be it dancing, singing, mime or acting! She and
'theatre' started when she acted in several TAQ plays in its days. Now after many
years of directing “Kids World” plays, she has gone back to acting on the stage
once again.
Four years back she was instrumental in starting work with a group (United Players
Guild) staging Shakespearean plays. She has acted in the lead as “Isabella” in “Measure
for Measure; ‘Lady Macbeth in ‘Macbeth', 'Portia' in 'The Merchant of Venice' and
most recently as 'Desdemona' in 'Othello' She co-produced this production which
has recently returned from 'Edinburgh', winning the Edinburgh Fringe First.
For her theatre is a never ending process-her dream is to face theatre with formal
education………. a process where children imbibe formal concepts in theatre without
being pressurized………. and to continue doing productions which bring alive our own
Indian heritage to the fore.
Bubbles Sabharwal
I am a Delhite, graduated from C.J.M. and then LSR with English (Honours). I did
a course in French and then joined Air France briefly before working with British
Airways and travelled extensively to Europe, the far East and North America. In
the mid-70's flying was a luxury and travel had a sense of destination attached
to it like first class baggage. In the early 80's, I ran a boutique with my cousin
in Delhi called 'Girl' and simultaneously did a one year course in Business Management.
In 1954 I married Biren Sabharwal and moved to Calcutta. Biren is an industrialist
and started a pilfer proof unit in Calcutta that came across in 1957 to Delhi and
then we opened a Crown Line in 1997, supplying Fosters, Seagrams, United Distillers,
Pepsi……..
In Delhi around 1957, my cousin Lushin Dubey and I started 'Kids World' spearheading
the movement of theatre with kids. A two woman army did everything from casting,
set design, choreography, direction and produced evergreen favourites like Jungle
Book, Peter Pan, Jesus Christ Superstar, Les fiserables……
Then branched into originals like Jungle Booke Le Aage, Matilda and now the epic
'Buddha'. Original theatre has an excitement and challenge all its own !!
If 1998 the desire to forage new grounds arose and I started a Book Club with friends
at the India Habitat Centre. We have done tie ups with publishers and the idea is
to promote reading, a retro habit evaporating in today's T.V. blitz !
In the summer of 1999 the urge to combine theatre and writing got fused. I wrote
four plays, one of which a comedy crawled off the pages and found its feet on stage.
If I were to say I am today a Director in Kids World that would be incorrect - as
we are the sum of our parts. A part of me is wife, mother, a Director in our company
'Integrated Caps', and another part is still searching. What we do in life is only
a reflexion of what we are and what we are keeps evolving……
Director Notes
For us the desire to stage a production, such as Gautama Buddha. is a very personal
one………especially since we close in on the second millennium and start the third.
This giant ancestor was perhaps the only man in recorded history who fully confronted
the riddle of existence and illuminated it.
In a world where the materialistic juggernaut continues to gather momentum and to
alienate us from the core of our beings, the message of the Buddha has become even
more urgent.
For he taught us not to escape into irrelevance of mysticism or metaphysics……but
to transform our real lives here and now…….and to create a calm and compassionate
world.
Our story of ‘The Life of Gautama Buddha’ – deals simply with his life. His early
years as the princely youth where in spite of the ‘utopian’ life thrust on him,
he constantly questioned and felt an emptiness from within….where in spite of a
loving, beautiful, intelligent wife Yashodhara and his little son, Rahula, doting
parents, Queen Gotami and King Shudhodana, he felt a call from within- a destined
path he followed, unshaken. The poor, suffering humanity he saw around himself was
enough to convince him that ‘he’ was ‘them’ and they were ‘in him’.
His simple message of the four noble truths and the eight fold path have brought
solace to millions. It is with homage to him that we present this production.
Rashmi Nandkeolyar