Our Young Voices Panel Review Child of the Divide

Over the past month, our very own Young Voices Panel has visited the rehearsal room for Child of the Divide, and then watched and reviewed the full production. Here are some snippets of their thoughts on the play:

“Child of the Divide is a deeply moving play, as it recounts the heartbreaking story of a young child struggling to know who he really is. It is a tale about showing compassion and love, even in the face of violence and adversity. But, it is also a tale about being forced into an alien culture and religion.  

I think that 10 should be the minimum age watching the show, because there were a few moments in the play that I thought were quite upsetting.  

The actress acting as Pali’s Mataaji (Pali’s Hindu mother) impressed me with her ability to cry simply because it was part of the show.  

I think that the moment when Pali’s Mataaji wept was a very powerful and touching moment, as it arose in me great feelings of sympathy towards her.  

I already had some knowledge about the partition of India prior to watching the play, but viewing the play made the events more real in my mind.”

By Aryan

“Although I didn’t know anything about the partition of India before the show, it didn’t matter because the story was so powerful I was still able to understand the plot. The story focuses on a nine-year-old boy who accidently gets separated from his parents. The most emotional moment is when he gets left behind in his home country while his parents flee on a lorry. The most interesting part was when each character shared their sad story about their life – for instance, one girl had been left in a refugee camp by her auntie. I would recommend the show for ages eight plus because it’s quite a complex story. This powerful tale is exciting, moving and unforgettable.”  

By Tallulah

“Child of the Divide was amazing. The performance was impressive because of how the writing on the wall (map in the background) helped me (the audience) understand the timeline and where they were (which country). The big red line on the map to show the divide was useful.  I think how they used the same actors to play the different characters, changing from adults to children was very clever. Being able to change the scenes from outside (when they were playing marbles) to inside (by putting a table on the stage) was good. The scene where one of the friends was drowning in the water was also very good. The moment I thought was powerful was when Pali let go of his dad’s hand when they were going on the lorry to leave India to Pakistan. I also think it was good that Pali had something (the quilt he always carried) from his real parents that he could keep after he had lost them. I think it would be hard going back (to being a Hindu) after so many years of being a Muslim.  The only criticism I have is that I think it would have been better to use an actual child instead of an adult pretending to be one and them over time, would turn into a teenager. Apart from that, it was amazing!!! I got to learn a bit of History without being in a classroom. I also learnt that that Muslims say ‘my ammi’ and Hindu’s say ‘my mataji’ for their mums…” 

By Jaeden