The magic of theatre extends far beyond the stage lights and applause. For children, attending live performances can be a transformative experience that teaches invaluable life lessons about collaboration, empathy, and creative thinking. While many parents focus on theatre as a performance activity, the real education often happens in the audience seats.
The Collective Experience of Theatre
Remember that foggy winter morning in 2011 when dedicated theatre enthusiasts queued outside the National School of Drama for Bharat Rang Mahotsav tickets? The atmosphere was electric with discussions about legendary productions like Vijay Tendulkar's Sakharam Binder and Gidhade, and anticipation for innovative performances like Miranda, where Bharatanatyam met contemporary theatre. This sense of community among audience members created an educational environment where knowledge was shared as passionately as the performances themselves.
Today, while tickets for festivals like Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards or India Habitat Theatre Festival might be available online, that unique camaraderie persists. Recently, outside Siri Fort Auditorium before Naseeruddin Shah's Einstein, conversations buzzed about Motley Productions' past works and emerging spaces like Oddbird Theatre and Prakash Raj's Nirdigantha in Karnataka.
Beyond Children's Theatre: Expanding Young Minds
Research by psychologists and educators consistently shows that theatre contributes significantly to children's emotional and cognitive development. However, the benefits extend beyond academic studies to the intangible magic of shared experience. As author Philip Pullman noted, theatre audiences are never passive - they contribute their attention, laughter, applause, and most importantly, their imagination to the collective experience.
When we think of theatre activities, we typically imagine children performing on stage. But there's profound learning in being part of the audience. Children absorb collective energy, witness experimental approaches, and observe how actors transform mistakes into opportunities. They learn to transcend language barriers and connect with stories on a human level.
Practical Lessons from the Audience
A group of 13-year-olds watching Mehroon, a musical about longing directed by Amitesh Grover, recognized how six to seven actors moved as a cohesive whole. One girl remarked, This is the kind of teamwork we need - instead of one person trying to shine, everyone needs to come together to make a project a success. This realization directly influenced her approach to a group science project.
During Pankaj Kapur's Dreamz, the same children noticed how two characters sitting silently with newspapers added tension to the scene. Another 13-year-old reflected, I always wanted to play the protagonist and fought with my classmate for the main role. But I now see how every character matters.
The flexibility of theatre became apparent when a mother and daughter watched Glitch in the Myth at both Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai and Serendipity Arts Festival in Panjim. Seeing how Anoushka Zaveri's solo performance about sisterhood adapted to different venues taught them that each dramatic piece is a pulsating, flexible entity that reconfigures to space and time.
Endless Possibilities for Engagement
Theatre continually breaks boundaries - ancient art forms speak to contemporary times in productions like Ankur Bahl's Miranda, while props become central characters in Vidya Thirunarayan's Lives of Clay. Shakespeare's Tempest finds new life in Bharatanatyam, addressing gender and decolonization. Historical events connect to present times in plays like Einstein and Lillette Dubey's award-winning Sammy.
As director Jyoti Dogra said about Mezok: You begin with nothing and stay in the nothingness till the end. That allows things to change. This philosophy offers one of theatre's greatest life lessons - we start with empty space to tell stories, then return to emptiness, recognizing the ephemeral nature of creation while having the freedom to retell stories without the regrets of what might have been.
Theatre teaches children that collaboration triumphs over individual glory, that every role has significance, and that creativity flourishes within structure yet adapts to circumstance. These lessons, learned not through lectures but through lived experience, stay with young audience members long after the final curtain falls.
