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| Sunday, 7 August 2005 |
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Magazine |  |
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Sri Lankan tsunami-hit children to perform at
Edinburgh Theatre Festival :
Dancing your cares away by Ranga Chandrarathne
Fourteen Sri Lankan children who participated in workshops conducted by the ABHINA, Academy of Performing Arts in different parts of the island and who are affected by the tsunami and the fighting between the LTTE and the Government have been selected to perform in a drama titled Children of the Sea, at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival. The Drama will be directed by British Director, Toby Gough. The play, based on a Shakespeare play and travails of tsunami-hit children, is aimed at empowering the lives of children and to equip them with skills through active participation in the performing Arts to build up their self-image and boost their independence and self-direction.
Pericles has endured three storms and he becomes a victim of the great force of nature which is the protagonist in the play. The play opens in an IDP camp, where children are living in temporary accommodation. In the end, Pericles emerges victorious regaining all that he lost. Thus conveying a positive message to all who were affected by the protracted war or the tsunami. The performance will consist of a poetic narrative story, telling historical and mythical events of the past and present an eyewitness account of tsunami and conflict experiences. The play will feature Sri Lankan and Shakespearean themes as stories from Mahavamsa and Pericles carrying strong messages of lives changed by the intervention of the sea. "After working with children affected by the tsunami and war, I found out that they were talented in many ways and I thought that I can groom these talents and then I started residential workshops in Colombo to expose their inborn talents through the performing Arts" says the Chairperson of the Foundation, Anoja Weerasinghe.
"My name is Amali and I study at Threesinghala Maha Vidyalaya in Trincomalee. I grew up with the war. We were badly affected by the war and one day I learnt through my teacher Mr. Welikala that Miss Anoja conducted a workshop at the school. I must thank Mr. Welikala and Miss Anoja for providing me an opportunity to realize my talents and I hope that Miss Anoja would conduct such workshops in other remote areas," said a participant at the workshop. "I was traumatised by the tsunami and could not even look at sea but now I even bathe in the sea. This is due to the good work of ABHINA. I can now face any challenge in life," said Rasika Manori Hitetiya of the Hitetiya camp. "I came to know of ABHINA through flyers distributed in Galle. We lost everything in the tsunami. My father escaped from the tsunami with great difficulty. At the time I joined the workshop I was frustrated and I could not imagine what I could do with my education. I sit for the A/Ls examination next year. Miss Anoja treated us like a mother. I got an opportunity to realize my hidden potential and what I valued most is not this opportunity but the opportunity for me to build my self-confidence," said Chamila Thilani, another participant who benefited from ABHINA. "We were caught up in the war. This workshop helped us to get out of the mental trauma we underwent during the war. I feel free now, and I could also start my work in the field of art. Earlier I engaged in Tamil theatre, but here I observed a vast difference. I learnt a lot of things for life from these workshops," Pubalasingham Pradeepan from Trincomalee said. |
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The purpose of the play is to convey a positive message of the sea in
post-tsunami Sri Lanka and in the Indian context. It is based on a story
where a man who loses everything at sea, his wife, daughter, his faith and
the power of speech. 
"On seeing their talent the Director, Toby Gough selected 14 ABHINA
children. Of them 11 were Tsunami and war victims. This is the first time,
that a Sri Lankan group of children will perform in Edinburgh. We were
working since 1990, but the Foundation started off last June. The
speciality of our Foundation is that we are working on Theatre and the
Performing Arts to improve the mind-set of tsunami and war affected
children," she further said. 
