Children’s play for the August vacation
View(s):A two-day theatre festival for children and youth, presented by Somalatha Subasinghe Play House (Kotte Play House) will go on the boards during the August school vacation on August 5 and 6.
Three popular plays “Vikurthi”- August 5, ‘Punchi Apata Den Therei’ and ‘Toppi Welenda’ on August 6 will be staged at 3.30 p.m. and 6. 45 p.m. at the Lionel Wendt theatre, Colomnbo. All three plays were written and directed by late playwright and actress Somalatha Subasinghe.
Vikurthi (Distortion) is a satirical exposure of a hapless generation of youth whose lives were dominated by an incessant struggle between the parents’ aspirations and the youth’s abilities and preferences.
The production is a semi-musical which is a familiar theatrical experience to the local audiences.
Vikurthi was first performed in 1982 in Colombo and since then had done more than 1000 performances in Sri Lanka. It is also considered as a pioneering effort of the youth theatre concept in Sri Lanka. The professional theatre group of the Play-House-Kotte has performed “Vikurhti’ in English in major cities in India and Australia in 2000.
“Punchi Apita Den Therai” “We Know it Now” and “Thoppi Welenda”-“The Hat Seller” are based on famous international folktales. They are semi musicals based on the Sri Lankan folk theatre traditions and produced with the objective of instilling in children, a sense of basic art forms and a pride in our own culture as well as to promote the importance of the institution of the family and its values. In addition, the lessons of love, humanity and world awareness are refreshingly presented in these plays. In the adaptations, new characters and situations have been incorporated particularly to facilitate an intellectual and entertaining discourse with the Sri Lankan child.
