![]() ![]() So that makes it 25 people in the adult cast.”Īpart from the adults, 40 children who have been training with The Little Theatre are part of the young cast. “We also had people who wanted to do this as a course, so, we opened up five spots for residency, with stage experience. The cast is a motley crew: from a parkour trainer, to a singer part of the Berklee Indian Ensemble, and many aspirant and some popular actors, the musical had originally seen about 120 people audition, of which 20 were selected. It is like a child’s playground.”Īnd so, past, present and future collide, bringing even the Reel culture into a tale as old as time. And this universe is beyond any timeline, or any logical structure. As much as we are bringing characters that are eons old, we are still building our own little panto universe. That’s what brings the old tale to life, in my opinion. “The pantomime has always been a social commentary, a reflection of pop culture and what the young people today relate to. ![]() The play is back in the city after a pandemic-led hiatus of two years, and will address the same in a humorous way, says the director. Like how magic and action characterised previous pantomimes like Happy Potter and the Egg of Destiny and Prince of Persia- Pantomania, KK says that Dracula…will derive from Gothic elements. But in the end, it is still very much a comedy.” It tries to take the children into the unknown and bring them back into the light. This, I find, is the most efficient way to bring a theme like Dracula, to a young audience. ![]() “I wanted a narrative to explain what fear is all about, by bringing things from the darkness. “We do deal with elements of fear, but it’s also about how you face it,” says Krishnakumar. The pantomime is back in the city after a pandemic-led hiatus of two years What the team is building is a piece that derives from the fable, yet sticks tightly to the spirit of love, and giving, keeping to the unsaid tenets of a pantomime. In the end, Dracula is simply a love story,” says KK. “I have seen the movie many times, something which I shouldn’t have seen as a kid, but thoroughly enjoyed. The director, Krishnakumar B (KK) is a self-professed fan of the 1992 film, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The dramatic ‘We don’t talk about Bruno’ from Disney’s Encanto is heard from the farther end of the space.īut where does Count Dracula factor into all this, you ask? It is for us to find out. All we know is that he is in search of a diabolical weapon: The Blood Stone. In one corner, a group of children dance to Micheal Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ with an elf, while inside the pantry are stored skulls on stakes and a helmet with neon-coloured horns. A peek into The Little Theatre’s rehearsal space, Cheriana, currently populated by a strong 25-member cast preparing for its 26th Christmas pantomime - Dracula - Love at First Bite -leads one into a fantasy world-in-the-making. Spells are cast, evil is chased away, and beasts are defeated. What follows is a well-executed altercation between monsters, witches and fairies. The werewolf, albeit relentless, does a backflip and an upshot in quick succession to regain control. Armed with an elder wand, Madam Maleficent has a monstrous beast floored.
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