Feel the beat of a different drum at play Woodbeat this Tuesday in Mumbaiq

How do you write a script for an audience that's still picking up basic vocabulary? You substitute words with actions that leave them wide-eyed. This Tuesday, German puppeteer Michael Lurse and percussionist Marko Werner will take children between two and seven years on a journey of all things wooden in a play aptly called Woodbeat. A co-production by Helios Theater, Hamm, Germany and Theatre Jeune Public, Strasbourg, France, the play has been directed by Barbara Kölling, while theatre pedagogue Matthias Damberg has created artistic concepts suitable for the age group. It has been brought to India by the Goethe Institut and will tour four more cities.

"It's fascinating how they take something universal and present it in its diverse forms without resorting to lofty concepts," says Dr Martin Wälde, director of Goethe Institut, Mumbai. For Woodbeat, Lurse will create figures, objects and tools to help children grasp what wood can become in surprisingly new ways. Werner, on the other hand, will explore the myriad sounds of wood, starting with a wind chime and moving on to the djembe. The duo will get kids involved in the course of the play to help them get a feel of what they are watching. Earlier, the theatre group put up a similar production called H2O, where kids were introduced to all forms of water in a hands-on manner.

Marko Werner and Michael Lurse in a performance of Woodbeat

Ruchira Das, founder of Kolkata-based ThinkArts, has also produced an Indian version of the play with local artistes. "A foreign production on an Indian tour usually has the possibility of reaching only a limited number of children. But with an Indian version, the reach could be multiplied many times over," she says. While the adaptation will premiere in Kolkata, a tour within the country is expected to follow soon.

ON: October 24, 6 pm
AT: G5A Laxmi Mills Lane, Mahalaxmi.
REGISTER: mum-praktikant1@mumbai.goethe.org
CALL: 24909393