"When you see Anjali, the lonely new kid at school, trade her mouth-watering lunch of samosas and chapatis for a Wonder Bread sandwich, to fit in, you know that the forces of conformity are powerful indeed. Don't do it, Anjali. Resist. In every possible way this country needs its immigrants to retain the variegated colours and tastes of home. That's one of the byproduct lessons of Beneath The Banyan Tree, an appealing...production for kids from Toronto's venerable Theatre Direct...On the surface, Emil Sher's play is about tolerance: will little Anjali, a gifted 12-year-old dancer from India, survive her move to a blandifying alien culture?...But that's not all Beneath The Banyan Tree is about. To be a kid set adrift, solo, in a foreign culture is to be a kid in need of stories. And like the emblematic tree of India, which puts down roots wherever its branches hit the ground, stories are always part of your luggage, no matter how far you travel. That's the central metaphor -- and in Lynda Hill's beautifully designed production, it dominates the stage."

"Have your kids ever come home from school making cryptic references to a play they've seen at in the gym that day and left you wishing you'd seen it too and could be part of this conversation? Here's your chance. Theatre Direct Canada... is offering families a rare opportunity to enjoy their production of Beneath the Banyan Tree this month and next. We had the opportunity to attend the first of a series of public performances. A thoroughly original production, the play uses a carefully measured blend of simple narrative and vibrant imagination, of schoolyard taunts and side trips into a fantasy storyland filled with puppets and dance to both entertain and educate. The story is familiar to any immigrant family: young Anjali, new to Canada from India, is desperate to fit in but secretly clinging to pieces of her culture that make her who she is. A cast of four versatile actors and dancers play both the school children and the creatures of Anjali's imagination. With bold bright puppets and costumes, plenty of dance and a length of just under an hour, Beneath the Banyan Tree easily keeps even young children engaged. Yet its themes of intolerance, culture clash and friendship are sophisticated enough to interest older kids as well."

"A gorgeous presentation of Indian dance and fable that's just so sumptuous in the presentation of it. It's really quite lovely, for adults, for kids, anyone that's interested in it."