The first time I acted in a play was when I was in
Standard Three. Come to think of it, it was the only time I
acted in a play.
I was chosen to play the role of a farmer. Rathi, the
prettiest girl in class, played the role of the farmer's wife.
So I felt a little elated about my role.
We spent a whole week rehearsing the play. Learning the lines by heart was
tedious. The first rehearsal was a disaster as we
fumbled our lines again and again. After half a dozen rehearsals we
managed to get things right. It was all very tiring.
The script required me to climb up a mango tree to pluck some mangoes.
Obviously we could not put a mango tree in the classroom. So we
improvised by hanging a mango by a string
from the ceiling with a ladder below it. Those were the props, placed right in
front of the blackboard.
Finally the day of the play came. I went on stage, rather, in front of the
classroom, with my fellow actors and actresses and performed our parts.
Everything went smoothly. We never got stage-fright, thanks to our rehearsals and familiar audience of fifteen children. About
half the class were the performers, the rest audience.
Now, a few years later, I cannot remember a single
line of the play. The only thing I remember clearly is that I
enjoyed eating the mango during the play. |