By Kavya Arjun, Grade 12
It’s a tough task to simply capture the attention of one’s audience, but Kapil Pandey’s extraordinary performance had the audience absolutely enraptured. Starting out with a quick get-to-know-you session, the storyteller gave us a sneak-peek into the performance with a short vocal warm-up of ‘Lakdi Ki Kathi’, which transported the older members of the audience back to their childhood days. It was a fun way to start off the morning, to allow everyone in the audience to get an idea of what the performance was going to be like. Although the author primarily writes for young children, even the adults in the audience were able to tap into their inner child and interact with the performance.
It started off with a short question-and-answer session on what the word ‘folk’ meant to us. This gave the audience a sense of the story before the actual performance began. The performer also described how he personally felt connected to the story, because the tale originated from a story told to him in his childhood by his grandmother. This theme was noticeable throughout the performance as the storyteller switched seamlessly between Hindi and English when narrating the story. It really demonstrated how influential the stories of our childhood can be, even so many years later.
Pandey’s uncanny ability to keep a crowd hooked was displayed as he narrated the story. Not only did he teach the audience a rhyme to sing during the performance, he included younger children in the performance itself by giving them roles and creating questions for them within the story. His imitations of characters, whether it was evil-horned kings or frightened barbers, left the crowd rolling with laughter. The absolute ease with which he changed his voice to suit each character really allowed the audience to understand each character, adding a flair to the performance that made it all the more enjoyable.
What was really memorable about this particular performance was the musical element to the storytelling. It really highlighted the idea that different art forms go hand in hand and sometimes, by not sticking to the norm, the most unique and interesting art can be created. His performance was truly electrifying and enjoyable for people of all ages.
