Coronovirus was the dominant theme at the Eastern India Science Drama Competition hosted by the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM) as the event returned after a two-year COVID break. Three of the five plays put up by school students from across eastern India on November 17 had different aspects of the pandemic as their subject.
The auditorium at the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM) was abuzz with children wearing colorful props, some discussing about the museum that they had visited for the first time in awe and general excitement about the Eastern India Science Drama Competition held on November 17. This BITM organized competition, which returned after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, was the zonal platform for qualifying to the National Science Drama competition to be staged in Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum, Bengaluru, due for January 5-6, 2023.
The theme for this year’s competition was ‘Science and Technology for the benefit of Mankind’. Five schools from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Odisha and Bihar qualified the district and state-level competitions to reach the zonal round held at BITM.
The teams were judged on scientific content, presentation and effectiveness.
“Theatre is a very impactful cultural tool and we introduced it as a medium of non-formal science education in 2001. It has turned out to be effective and popular,” BITM director Subhabrata Chaudhuri said.
Theatre actor and director Chandan Sen, the chief guest on the occasion, spoke about the history of theatre. “Theatre goes back to 1,52,000 years ago. Cavemen would go hunting and then come back and enact how they had hunted. Theatre started from that moment,” he said.
My Kolkata takes a look at the five plays:
Corona Bodh Pala by Gouradag High School (H.S.)
Corona Bodh Pala, Purulia, West Bengal
The play staged by students of Gouradag High School (H.S.) drew from Chhau, the traditional dance from Purulia. Using rural dialects and props, showcasing accessibility to information in rural areas and economic restrictions, the students portrayed the COVID-safety guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation.
Tools to Technology by Singhik Secondary School
Tools to Technology, north Sikkim
Students of Classes VI, IX and X of Singhik Secondary School depicted a science class. Classroom lecture, storytelling and field visits were used to underline the need for innovation in technology. The impact of science on society was outlined from tools used in the Stone Age to Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality.
Elisha Rai bagged the Best Actress award for playing the character of a science teacher.
Bhag Corona Bhag by Gandhiji Nodal Bidyapitha
Bhag Corona Bhag, Odisha
Drawing from real-life incidents of lockdown-induced rules and regulations, the plight of migrant workers who lost their livelihood, the ostracism faced by labourers when they return to their villages and the finally the breakthrough vaccine — the play by Gandhiji Nodal Bidyapitha, Gojabandha, was an account of all this and more.
Jay Prakash Swain, who played the character of Corona, said the play taught him how to fight COVID and the importance of sanitisation, wearing masks and social distancing.
Prakash Sahoo was declared the Best Director for the play.
Tika ki Kahani by Rajkiya Ucch Vidyalaya
Tika ki Kahani, Bihar
+2 Rajkiya Ucch Vidyalaya, Lakhisarai, students outlined the role of vaccines with focus on the COVID vaccine. Throughout the play, students of classes IX and X demarcated between innovation in medical science and technology and how they were driven by science and rationality unlike the traditional jhaar phuk.
Ankit Raj won the Best Script Writer award for the play.
A-G O-G Go-G by Upgraded High School
A-G O-G Go-G, Jharkhand
Portraying the ‘G’ culture of mobile network towers and the harm they cause to nature, Upgraded High School, Badalpur, dealt with how science is necessary.
The Best Drama award went to Bhag Corona Bhag, followed by Tika Ki Kahani and Tools to Technology. Bhag Corona Bhag and Tika Ki Kahani will be staged at the National Science Drama Festival 2022-23 at Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum, Bengaluru, due for January 5-6, 2023.
The plays were judged by Subhashis Halder, associate professor, Department of Drama, Rabindra Bharati University; Biswajit Mondal, Department of Drama, Rabindra Bharati University; and Nitin Chattopadhyay, professor, Department of Chemistry, Jadavpur University.