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| THE GARDEN |
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| THE INVITATION |
On 12th and 13th October, 2012, St.
Anthony’s High School and St. Joseph Nursery and Kindergarten, in association
with TTIS, presented their School Concert. The concert was held at Vidya Mandir
Auditorium. The first day was for the parents and guardians of the primary section
students. The chief guest on that day was His Grace Archbishop Thomas D’Souza.
The second day was for the parents and guardians of the secondary section
students. On that day the chief guest was Mrs. Molly Bhowmick (Gomes), the
Assistant DI of Secondary Schools. Other guests of honour present on the second
day were Bishop Ashoke Biswas, Rev. Fr. Moloy D’Costa and DJ Akash. The
programme also featured the launch of the school magazine The Anthonian 2012.
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| ARCHBISHOP FELICITATED |
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| HONOURABLE GUESTS |
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| MRS MOLLY BHOWMICK |
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| WELCOME SONG |
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| THE MAGAZINE | | |
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| DJ AKASH |
On both the days the programme started with a welcome song
and the felicitation of the guests. On the second day the Headmaster, Fr.
Devraj Fernandez, presented the school report. Boys from St. Joseph Nursery and
Kindergarten enacted their parts in garish costumes to the accompaniment of
Nursery Rhymes sung by the Children’s Choir. It was followed by Koli Dance
performed by the boys of Classes One and Two. The major attraction of the
concert, though, was the adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s ageless tale “The Selfish
Giant” into a musical called “The Garden”. There are several reasons why this
story, known to almost everyone, was chosen to be adapted to the stage for the
School Concert this year. Primarily, the story is rich in personification. In
today’s world people purport to do so much to conserve Nature. Acharya Jagadish
Chandra Bose had hypothesized years ago that plants can "feel pain,
understand affection etc.” In the play adapted from the story, Nature is a
character. When the giant is selfish, Nature has a role of its own to play. The
different aspects of Nature are given the ability to perform feats like
feeling, sleeping and dancing, almost like acting on their own free will. When
the giant is selfish, and closes up his garden winter and cold move into his
life. North Wind dances and says that they should invite Hail. This is
something the forces of Nature wouldn't do outside the human imagination, but
it creates a picture of nature having a life of its own. The flowers refuse to
come out of the ground because they feel sad for the children. The trees bend
as low as they can for the little boy who is too tiny to climb the tree. The
threat of global warming looms large owing to the selfishness of people. In
these actions Nature demonstrates a will of its own and becomes a judge of what
is good and what is not. Keeping this in mind the play was renamed “The
Garden”.
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| NURSERY RHYMES |
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| KOLI DANCE |
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| CHILDREN IN THE GARDEN |
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| HUMPHREY AND ADAM |
There are two larger than life characters in Wilde’s "The Selfish
Giant," the giant himself and the Cornish Ogre, who is converted into a
speaking character with a wife and children in the play. Far removed from
stereotypical perception, the ogre in the play is morally and filially
oriented. In folklore, the ogre is a bad creature who eats children. But this
ogre, Mr. Gustave Swamplouse is a softie at heart and is matched with a wife
who is driven by normal human motivations. The giant in the play symbolizes
post-modern man, who is self centered and greedy to the point of being self
destructive. In performing acts of will he often performs acts of negation. But
he is vulnerable at the core of his heart and his conversion in his state of
extreme loneliness and isolation is pretty dramatic. That is the reason the
giant in the play is given the name Humphrey, which means “peaceful warrior”.
The Giant battles his own narrowness and selfishness to realize the potential
that was always latent within him.
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| HUMPHREY AND BOB THE BUILDER |
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| SNOW QUEEN ADMINISTERS |
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| THE SWAMPLOUSES |
Whereas the spirit of the original story is preserved, the end
is changed. Eschewing the death scene of the Giant years after he reconciles
himself to the children and breaks down his wall, the play ends with a reunion
of sorts. The Giant is reunited by the children’s efforts with another
character who has been introduced to enhance the drama. Adam is the Giant’s
faithful servant who has served him for several years and who had looked after
the castle and the garden in his absence. The character is reminiscent of the
servant in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”. The Giant dismisses him from service
on the charge of disobedience when he discovers that the garden was open to
children when he was away. The first stage of estrangement from close ones is
followed by the next when the Giant has an altercation with the Swamplouses who
decide to pay him a surprise visit and inadvertently accuse him of having
boasted about his garden which looks nothing like what he had described
it. But when he realizes that the beauty
of the garden is on account of the children he comes to terms with his own
narrow mindedness. The children, who are the driving spirit of the play,
perform a catalytic role in converting the Giant. Not only do they exemplify
the goodness, cheerfulness and joy of children all around the world but they
also demonstrate a strong conscience, an element that is sadly getting eroded
in children in today’s materialistic existence. The child the Giant had helped
into the tree performs the same role as he does in the original story with the
difference that instead of years later the action takes place days later. Also,
the child, who symbolizes Jesus, appears not only to the Giant but to everyone
on the stage to make the message he extols universal in its reach.
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| THE TIME IS GREY |
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| THE GIANT AT THE WINDOW |
Of course, none of this would have ever been written had there
not been such a wonderful source material to work with. Oscar Wilde’s timeless
tale is pure magic. Equally, the two-hour long musical was made possible to
stage in a lavish scale because of the efforts of the students from class three
onwards, who acted in the play, and the teams of teachers of the school, who
took up various responsibilities to bring the project into fruition. The grand
project also required the help of a team of technical associates led by Ms.
Sangeeta Bapuli, Ms. Reeta Rohira, Mr. Baidyanath Chakraborty, dress designer
Hitesh and choreographers Raj and Vicky. The programme was a roaring success and
was greatly applauded. It also heralded the approach of the 150th
year of St. Anthony’s High School.
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| THE END |
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| TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES |
