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| Sunday, 12 January 2003 |
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Knowing it is unbearable they still say it with a smile to the world. It's finally first two words, 'Attention Please' (Karunawen Sawandenna) that speaks about the many goings on in their existence. 'Attention Please' is co-directed by M.Safeer and Dr. Asoka de Zoysa with the participation of a number of children (including youth) from the plantation areas, where normally dramas are not staged. Safeer and Asoka after their first joint effort of the awarded winning play 'Oya Dora Arinna," this year, brought "Attention Please" after a successful workshop of five months at Kotagala plantations. The new effort will open avenues of a world where one surely must have set foot, but never touched reality. And the ground situation bringing into focus the unspoken reality the life of people who live in line-rooms in the plantations. "When we planned to go to the Kotagala tea plantations between Hatton and Talawakele for a workshop, we had never planned to finish it with another play. Our prime effort was to give voice to those unheard narratives from the plantations. There, we got a chance of listening to a group of young people coming from different ethnic groups with varied experiences, hopes, dreams and many other things," the Co-Directors spelled out.
"They had a number of plots. Many of these were what they faced in day to day life. What we did was only to help them connect their plots in order. The most interesting thing was that these children spoke either Tamil or Sinhala, at no point of time did this become a barrier to express their ideas. They were so close to each other and had completely forgotten their nationalities or ethnic identity. The play is not based on a written script. Some scenes could be changed according to the social and cultural environments where the play is to be staged. The play introduces a presenter to connect the scenes and the audience is asked to converse with him on two or three occasions. "We bring problems which line-room inmates face in their day to day life and we give an opportunity for the hierarchy to decide what steps should be taken by society to stop these things," Safeer emphasised. At the workshop in Kotagala, Safeer and Asoka had given the actors a chance to create some plots depicting their own life. All the plots or incidents we see in the play are creations of these young people through their experiences. At the very beginning of the play, they bring us to 1870 and we are shown how innocent people were brought here from India as labourers in tea estates. They were given false promises in the past as well and is happening today too these innocent people in the plantations are cheated preventing them from being educated. Safeer and Asoka have tactfully guided the team to bring into the open some major problems they face every day and this is dramatically expressed on stage. Child marriages are still taking place in the plantations. They work dawn to dusk and drink at night. You will meet youngsters who do not have an address to give. However, many of them don't want to continue the same lifestyle of their parents. They are of the view that estate managements have even blocked them from getting national identity cards to prevent the leaving the estate and finding jobs elsewhere.
The Co-Directors also said that this will most probably be the first bilingual play in Sri Lanka and the language, however would not be an obstacle to share the experiences they tell you. Pay a little time to listen to these children. It will be something special for a peaceful country where war is no more! "Karunawen Sawandenna" will be staged on 14, January in Hatton and 15 January at Sarikkamulla, Panadura. by Deepal Warnakulasuriya |
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| Produced by Lake House |
They
had many things to tell and all they did was utter little bits of what
happened in their lives. Everyday of their lives they lived in sadness
with untold burdens. They do not want to complain about their lot.
The
hidden talent and creativity of these young people and their own genuine
experiences had guided Safeer and Asoka toward Attention Please. Only
three children out of 27 in the play had at least a little exposure to
live theatre. However, they had recognised the children's talents and
enough positive signs orgnaise a play.
The
most important message brought by co-directors is peace. They create an
atmosphere for three ethnic groups to work together. They try to over come
the problem of language. They make the sets, design costumes, write
lyrics, compose music and bring changes to the script to emphasize this.
They also show in the play the disaster of war and convey the necessity
for peace. The play brings a timely message and the voice to the message
is given by children. But, they speak to the adults' world to convince
them of peaceful co-existence.
