British writer Ross Welford’s 2022 sci-fi adventure novel, The Kid Who Came from Space, explores complex yet essential themes of exclusion and coexistence through the eyes of children. Theatre director Vishnu Prasad was drawn to its gentle and nuanced treatment of these ideas while searching for a text to adapt for the summer theatre workshop organised by Navrang, a Palakkad-based children’s theatre group, in May 2025.

As rehearsals progressed, the team recognised the story’s visual possibilities and decided to stage it on a grand scale. Touted as Kerala’s first sci-fi adventure play, The Kid Who Came from Space departs from conventional children’s theatre.

“We wanted to make it appealing to today’s generation by using a visual language they recognise from comics and superhero films,” says Vishnu. “Our aim is to create a production that draws in children who are used to short-form content.”

Produced by film producer Gokulam Gopalan, the play will be staged at the Regional Theatre in Thrissur on June 27 and 28. The production marks Gopalan’s debut in theatre after producing more than 30 films, including L2: Empuraan and the upcoming Kathanar - The Wild Sorcerer.

“We approached him because we needed a producer who could help realise the project’s scale. He agreed after watching a live performance in Palakkad,” says Vishnu.

“There are very few science-fiction plays in Kerala’s children’s theatre history, let alone sci-fi adventures,” says Vishnu, who has co-written the production with Nayana RM. “The play has a cinematic visual grammar without compromising its dramatic core.” The production will also use videos projected on a custom-designed screen.

The Tamil-Malayalam bilingual play is set in a village in Palakkad on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. Malu is abducted by aliens from a planet called Anthalla to be exhibited in a human zoo. While the rest of the village believes she is dead, her twin brother Chandhu, is convinced she is alive.

His suspicions are confirmed when he encounters Hellyann, a young alien from Anthalla, a planet where no one experiences emotions. Unlike the others, however, Hellyann can feel. Moved by Chandhu’s grief, he takes Chandhu, his friend Iggy and Iggy’s pet chicken, Suzy, to Anthalla to rescue Malu. What happens to this unlikely group, and whether the twins return to Earth, forms the crux of the play.

An alumnus of the National School of Drama, Bengaluru, Vishnu says the production ultimately explores the idea of love.

“Do people have to be related by blood or even belong to the same species to love one another? We ask that question through a friendship between humans and an alien.”

The 27-member cast, aged between six and 26, includes eight actors from Tamil Nadu’s Erode Naadaga Kottagai troupe.

One of the twins speaks Malayalam on stage and the other Tamil. “We wanted to be inclusive and also convey that the differences between people on either side of the State border are trivial.”

At its heart, the play is a plea for coexistence.

“If an alien and a child can care so deeply for one another despite having nothing in common, why can’t we humans live together peacefully?” says Vishnu. “If the audience leaves with that question, it will be a huge win for us.”

The Kid Who Came from Space will be staged at Regional Theatre: Thrissur on June 27 and 28 at 7pm. Passes available from ₹299 on bookmyshow.com