A drama festival of award winning playwright Rajitha Dissanayake’s productions will go on boards at 7 pm from July 23 to 26 at the Lionel Wendt, Colombo.
Presented by Freedom Group, the festival include Rajitha’s productions over the last decade. Started with ‘Mata Wedi Thiyan Nedda’ (Won’t you shoot me) on July 23 at 7 pm, ‘Weeraya Merila’ (The Hero is dead) on July 24, ‘Sihina Horu Aran’ (Stolen Dreams) on July 25 and on the final day July 26 ‘Apahu Herenna Behe’ (No Return) will be staged.
‘One of the aims of the festival is to create a social mirror to show the reflection of ourselves and where we stand’ said Rajitha who marks the fifteenth anniversary on the stage said describing the backdrop to the drama festival.
Starting with ‘Sakwadawala’ in 1994, so far Rajitha has created six plays including ‘Hansayinta Mang Asai (I Love Swans too) (1996), ‘Mata Wedi Thiyan Neddha’ (1999), ‘Weeraya Merila’ (2002), ‘Sihina Horu Arang’ (2004) and ‘Apahu Herenna Behe’ (2006) most of which were award winners both at the Youth Drama Festival and the State Drama Festival. In addition to winning the Best Original Drama, Best Script and the Best Actress, ‘Sihina Horu Arang’ also was staged at ‘Baharath Rang Mahoths’, National Festival of Drama in India.
Rajitha’s dramas are set to revolve around contemporary society and they discuss in depth important issues relating to political and social problems.
‘The group is comprised of actors like Gihan Fernando, Saumya Liyanage, Dharmapriya Dias, musician Kapila Poogalaarachchi and set designer Pradeep Chandana who were there from the early stages of my career and it is this group that is my strength at the moment and encourage me to do plays’Rajitha said in midst of a rehearsal for the festival.
“They are both a talented and dedicated team,” he added.
Presented by Freedom Theatre Group include Saumya Liyanage, W. Jayasiri, Jayani Senanayake, Gihan Fernando, Priyankara Ratnayake, Dayadewa Edirisinghe, Prasad Sooriyarachchi, Dharmapriya Dias, Bimal Jayakody, Shyam Fernando, Nilmini Buwaneka, Samadhi Laksiri, Gihan de Chickera, Anusuya Subasinghe, Sampath Jayaweera and Saman Malalasekera.
The tickets are prices at Rs. 250, Rs. 300, Rs. 500 and Rs. 750 and the box plan is now opened at Lionel Wendt theatre. A special ticket for all four shows priced at Rs. 1200 is available.
For university students and school children tickets will be on concessionary basis. Contact 0775170100. |
E-mail