Kola Pata Bhut - The Hopscotch Ghost Poster
You’re in school, it’s break time! 20 minutes of freedom. Play a game, be a friend, be a winner, be a loser, be in charge… It’s your turn. But games are not quite as easy or innocent as they might seem on the surface.
We meet Shanaz – first into the playground, first at everything, and tantalising Maryiam with an invitation to the opening of her Uncle’s sweet emporium: a sweet shop beyond everyone’s dreams…
But then Razia comes on the scene: dazzling, bright and new, sweeping Shanaz away. And Maryiam is left – without an invitation after all – to play alone… Things are not what she had hoped. But while playing on her own, Maryiam stumbles upon a new friend Kola Pata – The Hopscotch Ghost… Will this provide a fairytale ending? Who will be going to the opening of the sweet emporium after all?
Through the use of games, rhymes, songs, humour and a strong playful narrative, this production cleverly wove an uplifting story of love, friendship and loyalty through the helpful medium of a ghost.
Kola Pata Bhut – The Hopscotch Ghost, was one of a series of bilingual plays presented by the company in English and Sylheti-Bengali. This production toured to schools.
Find out more about Sylheti-Bengali and English bilingual theatre
You can access the script of this play via the British Library’s MPS Modern Playscripts Collection.
Actor/teacher, Sandra Vacciana was in Half Moon Theatre’s young people’s company in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She talks about Kola Pata Bhut – The Hopscotch Ghost and how writer Mary Cooper worked with Shamim Azad on the script. Interviewed by Rosie Vincent.
Deborah Bestwick was Director of the Half Moon Theatre young people’s company in the late 1980s and became Director of Half Moon Young People’s Theatre in 1990. She talks about the development of Kola Pata Bhut – The Hopscotch Ghost which came out of a writers scheme for Bangladeshi women. Interviewed by Aimee Thompson.
Shamim Azad was Writer-in-Residence at Half Moon Young People’s Theatre in the early 1990s. She talks about working with her mentor, Mary Cooper on the development of the bilingual play, Kola Pata Bhut – The Hopscotch Ghost, and how pivotal playwrighting at Half Moon Theatre has been in her life. Interviewed by Georgina Da Silva.
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