It is clear to every thinking person that our society is in a flux and whenever that happens, the first thing that comes under attack is freedom of expression. More often than not, people buckle under either draconian laws or threat of violence and conform to even unreasonable diktats. So, it’s heartening to watch a play by children, who find a way to fight against the powers that be. The play titled The Wall of Colours, written by Akash Mohimen and directed by Abhishek Saha was done under the Dramabaazi programme of Thespo, which is an annual festival of plays by youngsters under the age of 25. The play is set in a fictional country in the near future, in an Art Academy funded by the government.

The four students on whom the play is focused are taught by a young teacher, who encourages them to freely express their ideas on canvas. So when they get an order to stop using colour in their paintings and only use black, they baulk against it. Instead of just whining about it, they find a way to go ‘underground’ and paint in colour. They are willing to risk their future to resist a meaningless rule that impinges on their creativity. It is little pockets of rebellion that keep the flame of freedom alive whenever there is a threat. The play is provocative; the children acting it all serious and earnest. This is not the kind of play usually picked for children to perform, but one can imagine the process of putting it together has given them a lot to think about.

On another level, humour is the way to cope when the world is going crazy and stand-up comics are having a field day taking potshots at people and happenings, with due caution, of course. They could never guess what would offend whom, and what the repercussions would be—from lawsuits to violence to bans.

Still Vir Das and his two cohorts Kavi Shastri and Amogh Ranadive, lampoon every deserving target in the comedy show, Potcast. They sit on commodes on stage and in between making fun of Bollywood actors (soft targets) and social quirks (the people in the front rows are fair game), they take quiet (relatively) digs at Modi, his bhakts, blunders like demonetisation (which have comedians material for an unimaginably large number of gags), and the biases people have against what they consider the ‘other’. A stand-up comedian as successful as Vir Das has a following and he can reach a large number of people through his ‘Potcasts’ on the net and the live show with which he intends to travel.

The laughter that follows is tinged with amusement as well as relief. Audiences, living in an atmosphere of anxiety and uncertainty, find a way to laugh away their troubles and perhaps go back with the thought that if something can be laughed at, it need not be feared…at least not too much. There will always be kids and comedians to point out that the emperor has no clothes.