Look out – trouble will hit the Punchi Theatre sometime this December. But the kids are sure to love it! When Kids @ Play present ‘Trouble in Tooth Fairy Kingdom’ two weeks from now, you’ll find them a very happy bunch indeed. Director and writer, Professor Neluka Silva’s idea of a good children’s production is one that’s very much in tandem with theirs, for every single little actor and actress will take on characters tailor-made to their fantasies.

Neluka Silva

This, of course, means you will find a couple of jaguars, penguins, fairies, goblins and teddy bears (among others!) all squeezed into one very Enchanted Forest. Neluka has a very simple system of writing a play for her young thespians-she’ll simply ask them who they want to be, and then pen a script incorporating everyone’s preferences. After all, the story is set in an Enchanted Forest so it’s only apt that she fulfils some wishes along the way. “And it means I have a lot less trouble when giving out characters,” she laughs.

Having founded and directed Kids @ Play for almost a decade (she started out in 2004, mainly for her own daughters), Neluka finds working with young children extremely rewarding. But it’s also quite tricky-she spends her days at the University of Colombo as the Head of the English Department and juggles a busy schedule of academics, theatre and family. The director works mainly with the youngest of them all, taking on kids aged 6-12 for this production. “I’ve loved working with kids for the past nine years,” she tells us. “And you know, it can be quite challenging at times. But it’s always fantastic to see some of my past students on stage at the Inter-School Shakespeare competition or taking part in big productions-you feel like you were able to chip in and give them the confidence to follow their dreams, to do something they love.”

It’s a responsibility Neluka takes very seriously. Equipped with specialized training from The Pegasus Youth Theatre in Oxford, she uses a devised theatre system where she collaborates with her young students in whatever they do. In Trouble in Tooth Fairy Kingdom, a significant bit of the plot comes from ideas her students chip in with during rehearsals, and characters and dialogue have changed accordingly. It’s very much the students’ production as it is her own, she says. Even though they’ve been rehearsing-once every week or so-for six months, the energy and enthusiasm apparent during rehearsals is all the encouragement Neluka needs to keep going. “It’s very rewarding.”

The story begins when Trouble, a tooth fairy rather tired of being so boringly good all the time, decides to make off with little children’s offerings to the tooth fairies left under their pillows. This puts the Tooth Fairy Kingdom in a dilemma because these aren’t mere teeth-it’s the very matter used by the fairies to create ‘goodness’ in the world. The Fairy Queen, played by Ashwini Wijepala, and her team of fairies are in hot pursuit behind Trouble (played by Neluka’s daughter Seravi) when they are joined by sisters Shalini and Sonali (played by Janithi Jayatilleke and Anika Mendis).

Accompanied by a lively assortment of creatures from Fairyland, they travel to the Enchanted Forest-but will they get past the fierce kung-fu trained Jaguar protectors of the forest? Will Trouble’s supporters, the Goblins, resort to battle? Or will Trouble see sense and give in? Find out on December 11 and 12 when ‘Trouble in Tooth Fairy Kindom’ goes on the boards at the Punchi Theatre at 7 pm. Programmes for the event can be obtained from the venue.