Arts / Drama

Thala Bawana: Unspoken words of incongruity

by Ranga Chandrarathne

Incongruities, mismatches, conflicts of interest and the age-old class gap form the flesh and blood of the Thala Bawana that shed light on myriads of problems in the present-day family.

Though conveyed through silent ballet that kept the audience spell-bound throughout the performance, the central theme was amply demonstrated that these problems in the institution of family, particularly, spring from incongruity of personalities.

Distinctive individual tastes and conflicts of interest are similar in character to those which existed in the past albeit they apparently differ in form and in their complexities in the present context. The story revolves around three characters, Isabella, Hamilton and Spartacus.

The chronicler appears from time to time to tell the story or to describe the scene to be unfolded on the stage. Apart from his appearances on the stage, the play moves on in a silent ballet form. Extemporised movements convey the feelings of the characters against the backdrop of apt sounds.

Though relatively new to the stage, the young talented troupe demonstrate a remarkable agility in portraying complex emotions. Spartacus and Isabella are contrasting characters both in terms of their appearance and social status.

Spartacus though from a high class family opts to marry Isabella, an unmatched beauty but a poor dancer at Sunday fair. Spartacus marries Isabella against mounting societal pressures.

It is much later that inherent incongruity begins to surface that eventually ruined their family life, despite the birth of a beautiful daughter. Hamilton who comes between them is, however, to some extent, physically matched to Isabella compared to her husband Spartacus who is not at all handsome.

Though Lanka and his talented troupe have a long way to march towards maturity in many aspects of the craft, it is a laudable attempt at focusing on a contemporary issue facing the institution of family.

Against the diverse temptations, it is indeed a Herculean task for the present-day young married couples to stick to wedlock and not to succumb to temptations that ultimately bring about misery to the family life resulting in painful separation.

"Lankan Karaoke", discuses night clubs and club-goers' attitudes towards society at large. It was based on a posh night club and rural background. Thala Bawana is about an ill-matched young couple's entry into wedlock and how their contrasting personalities clashed resulting in painful separation.

"Narration in this drama is being done through ballet as it would not cause any pain in the eyes of spectators.

Today's theatre-goers expect something aesthetic to watch in a theatre after a tiresome day's work. I hope this would fulfill that requirement," said Lanka Chamara, director of Academy of Dancing and Drama.

Lanka Chamara's new productions include Athma, an Opera and "Shadows" still waiting to go onboard. Ceylon Wind, a musical CD will be launched on December 31, 2006 at the Punchi Theatre.

Life's Spaner a teledrama and Guptha Dhari, a film are in store to be released soon.

'Life on Earth'

by Indeewara Thilakarathne

Human figures, animals and almost everything, both animate and inanimate objects of life are recreated on canvas in the form of hues and abstracts.

Preethi Hapuwatte's colours for the paintings are basically earthly colours. As she describes, the selected works she presents for this exhibition is all what she has encountered and seen during her numerous tours deep into far-flung areas of the country, as well as the travel experiences she gained by living in and visiting other countries on the globe.

'These paintings contain my experience of living for 51 years and what these paintings depict are the animals, landscapes, and humans that I encountered during my travels', says Preethi on her latest exhibition of paintings that was held at Barefoot Gallery.

Though she has inspired by miscellaneous drawings and artists including aboriginal drawings, over the years she has developed a unique diction that is distinguishable in almost all her paintings. She tries to give some depth to her paintings by scratching the inner layer of colours, particularly in contours of human figures.

Different landscapes and simple life-style in rural Sri Lanka are some of the themes she depicts in her paintings.

Diary of Anne Frank at Lumbini

The world renowned diary of the young, Jewish girl Anne Frank who suffered under the Nazi regime has been brought on stage by the veteran dramatist Ravindra Ranasinha as a Sinhala theatre adaptation under the title 'Sevanali' (Shadows) which will be performed at Lumbini Theatre on September 15 at 6.30 p.m. for the World Peace Day.

'Sevanali' (Shadows), is an anti-war-docu-drama, which depicts the psychological trauma caused by war on children, and will be a new theatrical experience as it presents multi-media images on the current war situation parallel to the story of Anne Frank.

This play, which shows the plight of civil society, minority groups, journalists and others who are affected by war, is presented by 'Subodhi', Institute of Integral Education in Piliyandala, with a view towards conflict resolution.