A play on a taboo theme ‘Gabsawa’, a new production
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Thilak Nandana Hettiarachchi.
After a long silence Gabsawa, (Abortion) the play that won State Awards as well as Independent Jubilee Awards will be staged again at 3.30 and 6.30 on March 12 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre, Colombo.
The play which won the attention of both the audience and critiques is a stage play by Thilak Nandana Hettiarachchi.
This drama opens an avenue to question the present role of the social tools built by man for the benefit of the human race such as family, morals, culture and language. Further, it invites the audience to question the influence of these tools to determine the value and existence of the form of the human life from cradle to grave. Further, the audience is compelled by this drama to raise the argument whether these concepts, which confirm the existence of a power structure based on sexuality and capital, are making human life meaningless.
The play was first produced in 1997 and for nearly 10 years it was not presented to the public. “Abortion, the main theme of this play was a serious issue nearly 20 years ago. But today it has become worse,” said playwright Thilak Nandana Hettiarachchi.
The play was a result of a thesis done by Hettiarachchi for his final management degree at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. “My research was on cultural limitation of women. Abortion was one of the issues among divorce, virginity prostitution etc. After the degree I thought to do a play on this particular issue of abortion,” explained Hettiarachchi speaking about the background to the play.
However he is on the opinion that the social attitude towards abortion has changed since the time he originally produced the play.
The play won several awards including Best Set, Script and Merit award for acting (Saman Hemarathna) at State Drama Festival 1998.
The two actor cast play stars Jagath Manuwarna (Replacing Saumya Liyanage) and Saman Hemarathna. The stage Set of this drama has been designed by Koralegedara Pushpakumara and Pradeep Chandrasiri while stage lighting and stage management are by Wasantha Kumara and Hewage Bandula.
This special staging is organized by Jude Srimal on behalf of Nirmala Publications and tickets are available at the Lionel Wendt Theatre.