THRISSUR: The volatile political situation prevailing in Sri Lanka did not affect the functioning and growth of theatre in that country, said theatre director Lalita Sarachchandra. She is the wife of the late Ediriweera Sarachchandra, an eminent theatre personality.
In a post performance interaction between the Sri Lankan troupe, which staged the drama ‘ Sinhabahu ’ at the International Theatre Festival here on Sunday, and drama lovers here on Monday, she said that the government interference in the theatre in Sri Lanka is the least.
In fact, the government encourages the theatre in many ways. However, the political theatre in that country continues to be outside the mainstream theatre.
Run mainly by NGOs and individual groups, the political theatre in Sri Lanka still remained an amateur theatre.
Lalita said that public response to theatre in Sri Lanka is highly encouraging.
She said that her troupe Ediriweera Sarachchandra Research and Activation Foundation is overbooked at present.
She pointed out that the foundation stages over 35 scripts written by her late husband.
Basically, the plays of Sarachchandra searched the indigenous route and the national theatrical identity of Sri Lanka.
She said that today social and political issues are dealt with mainly by the political theatre groups functioning parallel to the traditional mainstream theatre.
Later presenting a paper on ‘Nepal Modernities’, Dr Sanjeev Upreti of Nepal said that the Nepali theatre today presents a simultaneous presence of both tradition and modernity.
He said that although the theatre in Nepal was totally traditional earlier, with the influence of modernity, the theatre started projecting issues concerning the common man and contemporary issues.
Dwelling on the theory aspect of the theatre he said that it is a medium, which brings out a negotiation between tradition and modernity and create space for alternative imagination to the viewers. He said that the process of negotiation between the two is continuous and generates a continuous change in the theatre.
Later in the evening, LEEV II Theater Group from Iran presented the drama ‘Jocasta’.The drama was an adaptation of the Greek masterpiece ‘Oedipus’ of Sophocles. It was an attempt to redefine the concepts of `sin’, `taboo’ and `human will’ in the traditional myth and to juxtapose them against contemporary ethos in man’s search for building a new world.
