Actor-director Naseeruddin Shah remembers seeing Arms & the Man, George Bernard Shaw’s satire on war and heroism, when he was six years old. “I was lucky enough to be exposed to a lot of theatre early enough in school,” said Shah. “I was studying at St Joseph in Nainital when I think I saw Shakespeareana [Geoffrey and Laura Kendal’s company] performing the play. Of course, I didn’t understand all of it, but I loved the funny bits and it stayed with me. It’s possible that it created my love of English language.” This fortnight, Shah will stage Arms & the Man at Summertime with Prithvi, the Juhu theatre’s annual kids festival.

For years, children’s play producers have been loosely defining their audience as ages three and above. But this year things are set to change. During this season of…