Navigating through a sea of actors outside Moonshine Studios, tucked away in a quaint nook of the otherwise bustling neighbourhood of Andheri West, we finally reach our destination for the rehearsals of Timeboy. A children’s play by Makarand Deshpande’s theatre troupe, Ansh, it tells the story of a curious seven-year-old penguin’s escapades with time. We almost second-guess our location as we are treated to an unusual surprise — no children in sight. First impressions can often deceive, we learn, as three actors soon break into an act from the play, seamlessly transitioning into the role of a child in the blink of an eye.

“There is a child inside all of us,” Nivedita Pohankar, writer, remarks, adding that it is channelling that child into performance that brings Timeboy to life. As she guides the actors towards acing it, Pohankar’s instructions sound seemingly simple, “Be free; think like a child. Live in the moment and don’t be afraid to be as expressive as you can be.” For what the child inside cannot teach, she shares, the troupe turns to children in the audience for feedback. “It is a constant learning process. We did a few shows with only children in the audience and asked them what they wished was done differently,” she adds.