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A group of the participants decided to do a play about the hotel in which they were staying. As with many other small hotels in Nepal, the guesthouse employs children as servants and in the kitchen. The participants wanted to expose the situation of these children, the fact that almost none of them went to school.

As they went to do their pre-play research in the hotel, they had some problems. The owner was kind and responsive to their questions himself, but was very reluctant to have them speak to the boys. Whenever they seemed to get one of them alone, the owner would have something important for them to do. Clean the rooms! Get the lunch ready! The boys for their part were shy of speaking in front of their employer. Eventually one of the participants managed to get into the kitchen where she found an 11-year old boy next to pile of dishes that literally dwarfed him. The participants had not even seen his face over the past week. It seems he was never let out of the kitchen.

The group now had good material, but the problem was how to present it in a way that would spark honest discussion, rather than simply anger the owner. Many of the boys had requested the participants to be careful in how they did they play. They were afraid of loosing their jobs. The children receive room and board and some small salary, most of which is sent to their families. Most come from desperately poor families. They accept working long hours and very low wages as an improvement over what they otherwise would have had. The participants wanted both the owner and all the staff to see the play. Somehow their situation had to be presented in an open ended way.

In the end the participants decided to present a drama showing simply what had happened when they went to collect information. The play starts with the facilitator asking the training participants to go and find a “problem” at the hotel about which to make a story. The participants try their level best, but the owner keeps interrupting their conversations with the staff. There is some comedy here, with the participants parodying themselves and mimicking the owner’s mannerisms. Eventually, one manages to enter the kitchen and finds the child dishwasher there. He speaks softly of his hardship and we see how even the older boys never help out, but only seem to pile more work in front of him. The interviewer asks if he would like to go school, and the child says, “Yes, of course, but what can I do? My family is too poor.” The participants return to the training hall with the owner saying that there really are no problems in the Chandani Guest House. They repeat this to their trainer: “We couldn’t find any problems in the hotel. What should our play be about?” The play freezes here and the animator comes out on stage. He explains that they have a real problem here - they have to make a play, but they can find the conflict. Perhaps the audience could help?

Both the boys working in the hotel and the owner had a deeply emotional response after we showed the play. The atmosphere was tense at first. Eventually as they began to come with suggestions for the play and see their ideas acted out, the tension gave way to a kind of tender interest. One of the boys had tears rolling down his cheeks; others actually had to leave the room. The owner himself spoke in very personal terms about his situation. The suggestions they came with for the play revolved around what expectations they two sides had for each other, and what kind of solution was realistic. Some of the suggestions that the actors showed included:

1. The older boys ask the owner if the child could go to school.

2. The child speaks to the owner himself

3. First, the boy proves himself, shows that he will stay and work, then broaches the subject of school with the owner

4. The other older children help the boy when there is too much work for him

5. The owner expresses an interest in the future of the older boys who have worked in the hotel for years.

It became clear to us, that the play actually changed something in the relationship between the owner and the boys working there and between the boys themselves. They had seen themselves through other eyes and had a conversation where they could hear their own voices. Previously we had never seen the face of the young dishwasher. In the days following the performance, we began to see the boy in our training hall and around the hotel. The owner and the boys rearranged the shifts to allow him to spend part of the day out of the kitchen. Some weeks after the training had ended, the boy himself approached the owner and asked if he could get to go to school - just as he had done in the play. Currently he is receiving tutoring from the other boys. The owner has said he will try to get him enrolled in the coming months.

An important lesson the actors learned was the role of comedy in easing tension in the audience. At times in the play, when confrontations were laid bare, it was very difficult to watch for some. Particular the hotel owner felt exposed to the whole room. His character was played expertly a woman who managed to give bring out laughs at key times, through mimicking his sayings and small mannerisms - playing with his cap, swinging the key-chain, making cracks about when the boys would marry, etc. This ability to pull and release the rubber band of tension with the audience is very important to keep them identifying with the play.

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