Tomorrow is the day to celebrate theatre, the National Theatre Day, and this group of young boys and girls are preparing to bring many layers into the celebration with a notion of peace and reconciliation attached to it.
This theatre in reconciliation performance will be staged at Ape Gama, Battaramulla at 6.30pm. The traditional Sri Lankan flavours in dancing, music and drama are presented in solo and fusion performances that indeed sends a message of unity, harmony and peace.
The patron of the project, Chairman, Western Region Megapolis Project, Ajita de Costa said, the inception of the idea came from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe when he suggested the Ape Gama theatre to be developed into a cultural centre, open for tourists as well, to watch performances of traditional dance, drama and music in Sri Lanka. Theatre doesn’t discriminate, nor should those pioneering it in the country. “Our target is children who are at home because they got a mark or two less than the cut off mark, and missed university entrance in Sri Lanka. From a large pile of applications that we received, we auditioned and selected this group of about 50 for the training,” de Costa said. However, he adds that the Ape Gama premises are no longer available for training; therefore they are hiring different venues for rehearsals.
“Even though the PM supported it, and everybody who saw the plays loved it, including former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, we lost the state support, but, since it was such a good initiative I didn’t want it to go waste, therefore, I started to support it financially, personally,” de Costa said. It was a quick decision to find an alternate venue and continue with the training.
The youth engaged in the program have left an impression on him. “I have never come across a group of young adults who are so dedicated to get something done.”
The young performers, school leavers, girls and boys below the age of 25, were chosen from all over the country and have been training for the event for a period of six months, and intend to go further. Days before the main concert is to be held on March 27 at the Ape Gama theatre, this writer got the opportunity to meet some of the performers, while they were at a rehearsal at St. Mathews Church premises in Battaramulla. Shamila, who has been studying Bharatha Natyam since the age of four, is now not reluctant to call herself a good Kandyan or Low Country dancer. It was a milestone for Samuthiraja Shamila, 23, when she performed Kandyan dancing in Bihar, India, while on a personal project, backed by the training and confidence she had gained at this program. “I always wanted to study other dancing traditions but never got the opportunity,” she said, with the hope of becoming a fully qualified dancing teacher.
Shakthivel Dineshkumar has had no background experience in dancing or music. His head was set on cinema and drama. But, after six months of training, he has gained confidence in his voice and even agrees to take part in dancing items. He extends his gratitude to the teachers and to his friends at the program. “I have many friends at the program who are like family to me. It is different from a school or an office because we are always together and we support each other in everything,” for example, getting over one’s shyness for dancing,” he says. The project, though it began as a pilot project on theatre performances, has expanded into a strong message of unity. The participants have created close bonds, visiting each other’s homes, and travelling around the country when they are free. They had just returned from Welimada last week, visiting the house of a participant, before the last minute rehearsals for the play. Training and performing together has taught them that their own cultures can be preserved while supporting social integration.
Saranga Alagiyawanna, specializing in music said that they go beyond school education and teach all kinds of music, e.g. Karnataka, chorus and so forth. “It strikes a good balance,” he said.
The items listed for the performance tomorrow include a ballet titled, “Why we kill ourselves”, and another performance on Nurthi, Nadagam songs, Tamil drama presentation as well as a Sabaragamuwa dance.
These performers have built a confidence in merging the two cultures, while preserving their identities, and their distinct voices. They appreciated the opportunity it provided for them to mingle with people of their own age from other areas and other ethnicities, giving them an exposure to know the people without the shady glasses of racism and separatism. It takes a flexible body to perform a perfect Shiva Thandava, but it was clear that they had flexibility in their personalities too since this message of unity and art has been imbibed into them. De Costa and his team are determined to give their best to the group, and to ensure that they get university level education at the program. Most of the lecturers are attached to local universities. Ranjith Balasuriya, Lionel Bentharage, A.G.P. Atapattu, Shirani Jayanthimala, Khema de Costa, Subhashini Pathmanathan, Dharmajith Punarjeewa, as well as traditional musician Gunaratna Banda from Kandy and many others are committed to do their best for the participants.
The original artistes of Maname including, Jayalath Manoratne, Patrick Ratnayake, Nadeeka Guruge, and Anthony Surendra have met with the participants to engage in academic discussions.
The performances scheduled for tomorrow speaks of commitment to quality, identity and interdependency, giving a strong message to today’s Sri Lanka.
Pix: Mahinda Withanachchi