Arts

Denial of youth in the name of education

Vikurthi (Distortion) as a social critique:

by Indeewara Thilakarathne and Ranga Chandrarathne

As the much-awaited Colombo Youth Theatre Festival concluded, the issue of meaningful theatre has, once again, come to the fore. After the country went through a series of social changes and adoption of fast moving life styles, Sri Lankan theatre has also been affected adversely deteriorating the quality of Sinhala theatre.

Youth and Children's aspects in theatre has been completely neglected giving way to the rise of cheap pieces of theatre with not only comedy of errors in the text but also on the part of actors and actresses who have been played with the rather hilarious characters? Absence of bi-lingualism from Sri Lankan theatre has also contributed to the present decline and crisis in the theatre.

Against this backdrop, Colombo Youth Theatre Festival provided much-needed impetus for Sri Lankan theatre to get out of the present quagmire that the Sinhala theatre is plunged into.

Theatre Festival was marked for its outstanding productions which are both rich in content and performances on the part of dedicated cast. The festival consisted of four dramas including 'Vikurthi' (Distortion), Me Hineta Namak Denna, Sadalaga Maranaya (Blood Wedding) and Asina Mali.

The crust of the seminal production of Somalatha Subasinghe's 'Vikurthi' (Distortion) is the erosion of values and ideal of education. In the rate race, most parents have conveniently forgotten the overall objective of education which is citizen-building rather than producing professionals (preferred professions being engineer and doctor).

In the eye of most of the middle class parents, education for their children is a means by which to achieve their failed life objectives through their children.

In the process, child's natural aptitudes, willingness or unwillingness have completely been disregarded and on some occasions, children are being sent to four tuition classes for the same subject, at the expense of other vital extra-curricular activities such as sports, music and drama which would in the long rung help build a balanced personality.

The drama is based on a middle class family. The mother is ambitious of making her only daughter a doctor while the down-to-earth father is more realistic and holds progressive ideas.

Following daughter's inability to enter the university to follow a course in medicine, the infuriated mother who is more concerned about how she would face her colleagues at office who are fake-white trying to imitate the supper rich than the happiness of her child, ordered her daughter to stop classes for dancing which she loved most.

She is also banned from associating with her friends and given a heavy dose of tuition throughout the week.

In addition to providing tuition, the ambitious mother also seeks divine intervention in securing a place for her daughter in the Medical Faculty and goes to unscrupulous bogus priest. The drama ends in tragedy with daughter driven off her mind by the sheer pressure.

Though examination fever has died down, the pressure exerted on children is still enormous given the lack of opportunities for higher education in Sri Lanka resulting in fierce competition. Situation was worse in 1980's the time when the drama was produced.

It was a period where kith and kin questioned about the A/L results with the intention of comparing the performance of their children with those of their neighbours and colleagues at work place.

The preferred streams were Medicine, Engineering and Sciences and the parents entertained extreme attitudes considering the humanities as absolutely useless subjects.

Some of them preferred their children to study in the science stream irrespective of the aptitude on the part of children and failed at the examination rather than securing A passes in the Art stream. It is obvious that the objective is of making children doctors or engineers not to serve the nation but to amass wealth and lead a luxurious life.

The present cast include Chamila Pieris/Nadee Kammellaweera (Priyangani), Kaushalya Fernando/Sharmaine Gunaratne (Hilda), Wishvajith Gunasekera/Prasannajith Abeysuriya (Priyangani's father) and Wickrema Seneviratne (Teacher, Kapuwa and Uncle).

All in all, drama offers a meaningful entertainment at a time where films and dramas have deteriorated to meaningless entertainment. Portrayal of the characters of Priyangani, her mother and father are outstanding.

All other actors and actresses have also immensely contributed to make Vikurthi a success. Director Somalatha Subasinghe and Dr.Chandana Aluthge who did manage the stage should also be commended for offering a drama of lasting value to Sri Lankan theatre goers. Vikurthi was staged recently as part of the Youth Theatre Festival held at the Lionel Wendt Theatre Colombo.

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Into the realms of the insect world

Kumbi Kathawa:

by Ranga Chandrarathne

Master production of Children ballet Kumbi Kathawa by Chitrasena Kalayathanaya will be held at the Bishop College Auditorium on September 7, 8 and 9, 2007.

Apart from its rich essence, the ballet will be marked for its elegantly designed costumes while depicting extreme detail. The ballet is indeed a feast for the eye to behold that performers achieved precision in action which is hitherto unseen in Sri Lankan theatre.

It is obvious that hard work would have gone into the production given the high standard of the ballet. It should be mentioned here that ballet was rehearsed for.

Inspired by the Russian Children's story, the Ant Story, the ballet depicted many qualities that would stand firm ground against heavy odds. Qualities such as strength in unity, working for the greater good for the community, staying positive and not succumbing to despair have been highlighted in the ballet, which is the Basic Life Style of Ants.

With the fairy-tale like sets and costumes, the audience will be taken to the realms of the insect world and in addition to ants, butterflies, ladybirds, grasshoppers; fireflies and even mosquitoes are depicted.

Chithrasena Kalayathanaya is instrumental in inventing the medium of Sinhala ballet and path breaking works such as Karadiya, Kinkini Kolam, and Nala Damayanthi and children's ballet Hapana and Rankirili have already become part and parcel of cultural heritage of Sri Lanka.

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Renowned piano duo to perform at Sunera gala charity dinner

British pianists Nettle and Markham, perhaps, the world's most distinguished piano duo, will perform at one of Sri Lanka's charity fund raising nights of the year-The Sunera Foundation's Gala Charity Dinner at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo on the 9th of September 2007.

Nettle and Markham's repertoire has been specifically selected and tailored for this high profile evening, with their music to range from classical to popular and destined to titillate and satisfy all musical tastes.

This is the duo's second visit to Sri Lanka, after performing in 1985 with the Symphony Orchestra of Colombo. Their distinguished career spanning over 30 years has provided them accolades across all continents of the world and their vast output of recordings are consistently hailed by critics as "must haves" by the most discerning music fans.

The Sunera Foundation plays a critical role in helping differently abled Sri Lankans from all ethnic groups and religions, helping them integrate into society via the performing arts. It aims to build on the success of the last two years' gala charity dinners, to support their vital charitable work.

R.C.