Seeking solutions through drama

A lot has been written and said about the recently staged Forum Theatre by the Stages Theatre Group, some positive and some negative. Having watched one of the shows myself, I thought of adding my two cents to the debate even though my knowledge of the theatre is rather limited.

So, I’m not going to try to be a drama critic and give a brief explanation on how this kind of theatre works and the crux of the play I watched. Instead what I would like to highlight is how a seemingly travail matter that the actors ask the audience to help them resolve based on the country's ethnic problem, is an issue that we need to give a lot more thought to if we are to stop the ethnic divide in the country growing even wider.

What prompted me to watch this play was its novel concept of getting the audience involved in trying to solve a problem. (Maybe I was also enthused by the fact that two of the actors are friends). Forum Theatre actors are assigned a tough task because they have to come up with spontaneous performances in response to the demands of their audience. In this instance, the actors attempted to solve a problem that has arisen due to the strains in relations between the Sinhalese and Tamils with members of the audience giving them direction, after the initial introduction to the problem and its main characters.

Given the complexities of Sri Lanka's prolonged ethnic problem, it is unlikely any member in the audience would have been expecting a problem of this nature to be sorted out in the little over hour duration of the play. On the face of it, the problem that the Tamil family faces can look inconsequential to many in the audience, particularly if they do not belong to that community.

The Tamil parents are in a dilemma because their teenager daughter is been harassed/teased/bullied by a group of young Sinhalese men using racial slurs on her way to a tuition class. The Tamil girl's best friend (I assume it's the best friend) is a Sinhalese, her father and the Tamil girl's father are old friends and it is these characters who have to confront the problem and try and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion with the suggestions made by the audience.

The Tamil mother likes to take the easiest way out, i.e. leave the country and in reality this is the solution that a majority of Tamils have sought to get way from the problem of discrimination and insecurity they have had to face.

On the other hand, the Tamil and Sinhalese gentlemen try to first overcome their own prejudices as they move towards resolving the issue but once again the lack of understanding between each other’s points of view means they do not see eye to eye despite being long standing friends. In the meantime the two teenage friends of either ethnicity don't seem to really understand why– they can be friends – adults have to fight.

It can be assumed that the majority in the audience were Sinhalese and hence the suggestions to solve the problem ranged from asking the Tamil father to lodge a compliant with the police, confront the thugs or simply leave the country. I feel many of the suggestions by the audience themselves illustrated the lack of understanding between the two main ethnic communities in the country. Even in this kind of play, the sentiments of the Tamil family is not heard enough as is often the case in the larger sense in the country.

Being Sinhalese, I cannot profess to understand the exact sentiments of a Tamil living in this country but this kind of public discussion does help to bring out in the open issues that many Sri Lankan like to ignore because they are not comfortable acknowledging that things are far from perfect in our society.

With denial comes complacency and many of us like to live in that bubble till the day we get caught up personally in this ethnic quagmire. It's sad but it's true that a person can be persecuted in many parts of this country just because he/she bears a certain name or he/she dresses in particular attire or speaks a particular language.

These problems are very real and if more people are exposed to this kind of open discussion by way of theatre or any other medium, it can at least go a little way in helping each community understand the other better and make a positive contribution to overcoming this widening gulf between the Sinhalese and Tamils.

Credit must go to the Director of the Forum Ruwanthie De Chickera and her team of actors for taking on a difficult task and delivering a good enough performances to attract a lot of discussion which can only mean theatre goers in Sri Lanka would like to see more such presentations.