Her plays have graced stages across the island, and even abroad and found their way into the local school syllabuses. She’s widely recognized as the woman who pioneered children’s theatre in Sri Lanka. She set up the Lanka Children’s and Youth Theatre Foundation – the‘Play House Kotte’ for aspiring young actors. Together with other theatre [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Building a thespian

By Duvindi Illankoon
For Somalatha Subasinghe the love of the stage came at a young age which is why the Colombo Theatre Festival for Young Audiences is conveniently timed for the end of school terms and exams
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Her plays have graced stages across the island, and even abroad and found their way into the local school syllabuses. She’s widely recognized as the woman who pioneered children’s theatre in Sri Lanka. She set up the Lanka Children’s and Youth Theatre Foundation – the‘Play House Kotte’ for aspiring young actors.
Together with other theatre greats she also set up the Colombo Theatre Festival for Young Audiences in 2006. Now in its seventh year, it will be held from December 5-9 at the Lionel Wendt.

A scene from Vikurthi

For Somalatha Subasinghe, theatre is in her heart and soul and on no grounds will she let the younger generation miss out on what has defined her life and work.

For a woman who has known nothing but theatre her entire life, Somalatha is surprisingly understanding of the younger generation’s lack of interest. “The poor things never get a chance to know it, now do they?” she smiles wryly. “Parents are so busy dragging children around for this class and that class that they barely have time for theatre, let alone their children.”

School is the ideal platform for children to be introduced to the theatre, says Somalatha, but instead they’re thrown headfirst into an academic bandwagon of facts and figures. “It’s sad. Schools can play such a major role in instilling a love for theatre in young children but this is just not done. When children are taken out for a play, it’s because it’s in the syllabus.

Not for the experience. And certainly not so, god forbid, they can have fun!” She laughs. “And this is where our system has gone wrong. Children aren’t encouraged to feel things-they’re just taught how to learn. And when they learn, it’s not balanced with the beautiful things. They’re not allowed to express emotions or experience them. No wonder they find theatre a strange thing.”

“As a child, theatre meant something very simple to me. It was a joy. It was an absolute, unadulterated joy to get up on stage and embrace the role of another character. As I got older and started performing for the public, I realized that it was also a powerful tool of communication. As artists, it’s our responsibility to use that tool to as great effect as possible.”

“See how we’ve bent over backwards to make the festival accessible to younger audiences? It’s conveniently timed for the end of term and post exam period. Because otherwise, there’s no hope of parents bringing their kids in,” she laughs. “We’ve got some excellent and timely plays at this year’s festival. Hima Kumari, which is a localized adaptation of Snow White I did some years back, is one of the greatest Sinhala musicals. Even if it sounds like I’m blowing my own trumpet!”

Also to be staged are four other plays that are have all been performed earlier-for more mature audiences. But as Somalatha puts it, these plays carry some timely themes for younger audiences. Vikurthi (Distortion), for example, deals with the pressures of the local education system on young children. A semi musical drama written and directed by Somalatha herself, the play has been staged in Sri Lanka, India and Australia to great acclaim.

Sanda Langa Maranaya, based on a translation of Spanish playwright Gracia Lorca’s ‘Blood Wedding’, is based on a love triangle involving two men and a young woman. Ruwanthi De Chickera’s ‘Kalumaali: a fairy tale for grown ups’ deals with motherhood and the hidden issues and complications of the role.

Bernadage Sipirigeya (The House of Bernada Alba) is another translation of a play by Gracia Lorca and revolves around the extremely dictatorial matriarch Bernada and her five daughters who are denied of their freedom. The plays have been picked for their versatility and depth, but also for their universal themes which the organizers feel that the audience would be able to relate to.

The Colombo Theatre Festival for Young Audiences will be held from December 5-9 at the Lionel Wendt. Shows are scheduled for 3.30 p.m. and 6.45 p.m. Tickets are available at the Wendt.




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