Helen O’Grady at Schoolkutti Children’s Library

Children at Schoolkutti Library seemed more confident and enjoying themselves than in the first two weeks of the Helen O’Grady Drama class. When they are asked to act upon a situation, their confidence can be seen in the way they deliver the dialogue by making improvements to their voice modulations and acting approaches. The last week of speech and theatre class was about acting out a real-life scenario called “Who invited you?” Children were given the role of a father, mother, and child enjoying a beach trip when seagulls disrupted them as they began to have their snacks, and they were asking the seagulls who invited these filthy birds. Amazingly, the children who played seagulls managed to catch a seagull’s head movement while perched on a tree. They provided excellent sound modulations for the seagulls. The major drama named “Ashoka, The Great,” which will be performed as the final drama sequence of the Helen O’Grady Drama class was also discussed in the last lesson, along with its plot and main characters. Children were captivated and inquired about the character’s significance in the narrative. Everyone wished to be King Ashoka in the end, and others wished to be the monk. The children were thrilled to hear about the battle of Kalinga, in which a large number of innocent people were killed and King Ashoka realized that he was not the Greatest King at all. Children were asked to give suggestions on how Ashoka might become the greatest king he desires. At the end of theatre class, the students said their goodbyes and promised to meet each other again in the next session as characters from “Ashoka, The Great.”